Mrs Tom Hanks likely to film HBO series based on Eugenides novel in the D

[oldredfordette]

Such a shallow take on such a great book. Really the best fiction about Detroit.

[davewindsor]

Such a shallow take on such a great book. Really the best fiction about Detroit.

Interesting how you twist a shallow book into me giving a shallow opinion of the "best fiction" A writer who writes a fiction about an incestuous affair is a pretty sick person. I don't even know what to make of someone who calls this the best fiction of Detroit out there. If a lot of people think that way, this is a pretty sick society.

I haven't seen the Virgin Suicides because it sounds like a waste of time to watch. I don't spend all my time watching videos and movies. I rarely watch TV. I have a four businesses to run. But, when I heard all these movies being produced in Detroit, I went to the video store to rent several movies thinking how great it would be see movies filmed locally that I thought would move this city forward and was sadly mistaken. It's just the same old trash pieces, nothing that would really want to make me want to be proud of this city.

[Huggybear]

For those unfamiliar with the Pulitzer winning novel Middlesex you get both the best and the worst of Detroit novels, inasmuch as there is a "best."

Really, it was sophomoric and had all the marks of the Great Detroit Novel - the genre often written by the Detroit native. Every Detroit thing Eugenides could think of was jammed in there, even the macro plot: "There was all this racial conflict, the 1967 riots started right in front of my dad's store, and by the way, my Uncle Lefty was Walid Mohammed." And what was with the ponderous inter-generational and introspective narrative being followed by a quickie: "whoops, I moved to San Francisco and I suddenly found myself" ending?

Middlesex is emblematic of the failure of Detroit literature. Its story actually had promise, but its author got caught up in the "I have to assert my Detroit-itude" school of writing. Contrast Elmore Leonard - who has written more books about Detroit than just about anyone, but rarely [[if ever) does the setting overwhelm the plot. Actually, you can also contrast The Virgin Suicides, a Eugenides book written without so much explicit reference to where it is set - and driven by a plot strong enough that you are not constantly seeing the background through the characters.

For those unfamiliar with the Pulitzer winning novel Middlesex you get both the best and the worst of Detroit. We are introduced to Detroit in the 1920s when immigrants come to work for Ford, and to the the dubious employment practices of the time. We live through the prosperity of Detroit and into the riots of the 60s and then onto suburbia in the 80s. So it's honest and well balanced having been written by a native.

It's a wonderful story about a hermaphrodite trying to accept himself with the immigrant experience portrayed over two generations. We see the family and Detroit develop. Very well written but it takes a little open-mindedness and empathy to accept the characters.

[j to the jeremy]

Dave, it's not really that bad. If your only rationale for hating it is that you think incest and hermaphrodites are gross, that's fine, but you're probably going to miss out on an interesting series.

Last time I checked, there have been a lot of "sick people" writing fiction about incest through the years. Ever heard of Oedipus Rex?

[cloud_wall]

Interesting how you twist a shallow book into me giving a shallow opinion of the "best fiction" A writer who writes a fiction about an incestuous affair is a pretty sick person. I don't even know what to make of someone who calls this the best fiction of Detroit out there. If a lot of people think that way, this is a pretty sick society.

Dave, you haven't read the book. This is not a time to write, "I know the book is shallow, but what am I?!" That is because you haven't read the book. It will be difficult for you to support your arguments going forward.

As to the "sick" thing, be careful. Now that you have written about a writer who wrote about incest, you are at risk of developing the sickness. Someone might even accuse you of being sick, now that you have used the i-word in a sentence. Oh wait. It's a novel. And bad things in real life are sometimes reflected in fiction.

Huggybear, you make some good points about flaws in the book. However, you make it sound like Detroit was his only audience.

Including lots of Detroit historical themes might annoy you - oh, the implausibility! - but it made for a story that sold like hot cakes and won the Pulitzer. Asserting his Detroit-itude worked; the strength of the backdrop worked. Out of towners [[the vast majority of his audience) ate it up, and a lot of people from around here were happy to see an attempt at the Great Detroit Novel, despite its flaws.

[oldredfordette]

Maybe I'll write a book about Detroit. It will be filled with fluffy bunnies and brave doggies, sunshiny days and people without the intellectual ability to read and appreciate fiction.

[aoife]

Maybe I'll write a book about Detroit. It will be filled with fluffy bunnies and brave doggies, sunshiny days and people without the intellectual ability to read and appreciate fiction.

It sounds perfect- but maybe you could just put a summary up on the internet so we don't actually have to read it. That way we can all have informed opinions and review it without cracking a single spine.

[Huggybear]

In almost every hotel nightstand in the United States, there is a book replete with stories of fratricide, incest, adultery, murder, revenge, genocide, and general cheating.

Last time I checked, there have been a lot of "sick people" writing fiction about incest through the years. Ever heard of Oedipus Rex?

[davewindsor]

Dave, you haven't read the book. This is not a time to write, "I know the book is shallow, but what am I?!" That is because you haven't read the book. It will be difficult for you to support your arguments going forward.

As to the "sick" thing, be careful. Now that you have written about a writer who wrote about incest, you are at risk of developing the sickness. Someone might even accuse you of being sick, now that you have used the i-word in a sentence. Oh wait. It's a novel. And bad things in real life are sometimes reflected in fiction.

Huggybear, you make some good points about flaws in the book. However, you make it sound like Detroit was his only audience.

Including lots of Detroit historical themes might annoy you - oh, the implausibility! - but it made for a story that sold like hot cakes and won the Pulitzer. Asserting his Detroit-itude worked; the strength of the backdrop worked. Out of towners [[the vast majority of his audience) ate it up, and a lot of people from around here were happy to see an attempt at the Great Detroit Novel, despite its flaws.

Apples and oranges. I'm arguing against it, not writing a novel about what incest is like and glorifying the idea that it's ok to carry on these kinds of affairs and have these sick values. There's a reason incest is illegal in all westernized countries. And the majority thinks it's sick that's why it's illegal. In fact, I don't know of a country where there isn't some kind of prohibition against it. And, why would I waste my time reading this tripe knowing it's promoting this kind of illegal value.

Maybe I'll write a book about Detroit. It will be filled with fluffy bunnies and brave doggies, sunshiny days and people without the intellectual ability to read and appreciate fiction.

Go ahead and if you glorify sick values like incest in your novel and someone does a post on it I'll be your #1 critic. How about writing about finding romance the way normal people do? It doesn't take a lot of intelligence to know that comedies are very popular and huge money makers. You can even take it a step further and write about how great this city could become or create an idea in the reader's mind that this area could once again become a vibrant business center with positive things happening to people to make them want to move down here instead of reinforcing the ongoing negative image problem this area has so outsiders avoid this city like the plague. Try that and I'm sure you'll make piles of money. You don't need to make a living bashing a city at everyone else's expense.

I read. I went to university for a philosophy degree and was also educated in business. I would never read this tripe based on its plot. I have better things to do with my time.

[FlyingJ]

Maybe I'll write a book about Detroit. It will be filled with fluffy bunnies and brave doggies, sunshiny days and people without the intellectual ability to read and appreciate fiction.

Do they work in the auto industry? Because Arthur Haley & Harrold Robbins set the bar pretty high, y'know

[choquant]

Dave, we already have Danielle Steele to write about finding romance in a "normal way." [[Seeing a handsome man with flowing locks riding in on his steed is normal, right?) Some authors like to explore humanity and play with their audience's sense of discomfort and sympathy.

Really, though, whether you enjoy this particular book is of no consequence. Obviously it has its fans and the fact that it's going to be filmed in Michigan where it is set can only be a positive thing. I am always excited to see national projects coming to fruition here.

[oldredfordette]

IF you were to read the book, you would know that it does not glorify incest. One of it's themes is the sins of the father being passed down through the generations. This is woven through a cracking good yarn about Detroit in the early part of the 20th century.

Lol, Huggybear. That book is too violent for children!

[Huggybear]

....but it made for a story that sold like hot cakes and won the Pulitzer. Asserting his Detroit-itude worked; the strength of the backdrop worked. Out of towners [[the vast majority of his audience) ate it up, and a lot of people from around here were happy to see an attempt at the Great Detroit Novel, despite its flaws.

Well, Scorcese won an Oscar for The Departed and not Goodfellas or Casino. So maybe the Pulitzer was really for The Virgin Suicides?