Review by Mack Hassler “Mixed Genres and True Heritages: From Trollope’s Ralph the Heir to Delany’s Dhalgren,” by D. M. Hassler. in Into Darkness Peering (Greenwood Press, 1997) Most of the nearly thirty titles I have posted at the U.P. Book Review have been single-authored books. This biographical…
Review by Sharon Brunner Denise Vandeville’s “A View of the Century Past: 1887 – 1987: Laird Township Centennial” presents a well-documented account of life in the wilderness of the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) of Michigan in a town called Alston—an area known for its freezing temperatures, logging operations and the mining…
Review by Tyler R. Tichelaar In these pages, we might say the mystery of Bigfoot is solved, and yet, in all of his many aspects, as revealed by former two-time UP Poet Laureate Martin Achatz in this book, he becomes more enigmatic than ever. If you think you know Bigfoot,…
Review by Sharon Brunner Michele Olson’s book “Being Nancy: In a World Lost in Mystery” is filled with intrigue, plot twists, human misery, and enduring friendships. Mackinac Island served as the place where the story took place and some of the main characters are Nancy, Ned, Piper and Cam, two…
Review by Sharon Brunner Dave McVeigh and Jim Bolone’s “Misguided: A Mackinac Island Novel” revealed a lot of plot twists, adventure, and humor. The main character, Jack McGuinn, steamrolled his way into serving as the youngest tour guide at the historic Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island. He joins three other…
Review by Mack Hassler “…so 1984 teaches us, the danger with which all men are confronted today, the danger of a society of automatons who will have lost every trace of individuality, of love…. Erich Fromm, “Afterword to 1984” (1949) I think good writers feel safe when they…
Review by Mack Hassler The Walloon Writers Review annual collection is inspired by Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. The Northern Shore of the UP from East to West is defined by the Big Lake with a small stretch of Lake Huron reaching toward Canada beyond the Bridge. On the…
Review by Sharon Brunner Craig A. Brockman’s “Delirium Wilderness” tells a story about two boys who faced a harrowing journey of mystery, terror, survival, and steadfast friendship. The story begins at the small town of Paradise in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (U.P.). Scotty visits his grandmother every summer and…
Review by Sharon Brunner Tom Lakenen and Nancy Barr’s book Lakenenland: the U.P.’s Most Unique Junkyard Art Park is packed with interesting and creative pictures of artwork made from scrap iron and other metals collected from various sources. Lakenen was born and raised in Marquette, Michigan. He pursued his interest…
Review by Mack Hassler “It is a poetry where the world becomes writing and language becomes the double of the world.” Octavio Paz I think Terri Martin is a clever and witty writer who comprehends the dynamic link of language to her world, not only as…
Review by Jon C. Stott Although Melville in Moby-Dick “Sailed the seven seas,” Whitman in Leaves of Grass embraced the entire United States, and Jack Kerouac in On the Road crisscrossed and re-crisscrossed the continent, many important American writers have explored their themes by setting their characters in specific locations….
Review by Deborah K. Frontiera What makes us “sane” or “insane”? That is the question poet Ellen Lord explores in her collection of poems, Relative Sanity. The opening poem, “Muse”, speaks of thoughts coming to us out of silence. Then there are memories of the poet’s childhood and her unbalanced…
Review by Sharon Brunner Nancy Besonen’s “Off the Hook Too!” book was thought-provoking, extremely humorous, and down to earth. She demonstrated the ability to connect so well with the Yooper culture. A true Yooper is someone who has lived all their lives in the scenic and rustic Upper Peninsula of…
Review by Deborah K. Frontiera If you have not read Sharon Kennedy’s first two in this series, The SideRoad Kids, and The SideRoad Kids: A Summer of Discovery, it won’t matter since the final volume has plenty of backstory to pull you into these characters as adults. It has been…
Review by Mack Hassler “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” Matthew 4:19 Do the Right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” Mark Twain, epigraph to Chapter 22 One of the things that interests me about all of literature, reaching back even to…
Review by Mack Hassler “It is a poetry where the world becomes writing and language becomes the double of the world.” Octavio Paz I will blend in this review of Make It Go In the Snow ideas and effects that I have come across in my general reading on surrealism…
Review by Mack Hassler Recently I flew from O’Hare in Chicago to a conference at Moline, Illinois, and got a good look at the empty prairie West of the Windy City—wide open and empty like the UP. Two very big cities full of mob violence and major crime are the…
Review by Sharon Brunner Tom Chambers delved into the history of Mackinac Island, Michigan from the 1940s to the present in his memoir “Memories of a Mackinac Island Native.” The island is located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan near the town of St. Ignace, Michigan. It served as a…
