Nest Book Club
kpow
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Detroit: An American Autopsy by Charlie LeDuff
I read this for the memoir by man category for the SBC. It is a story about the disaster that is Detroit, but also about LeDuff's return to his hometown and how it effects him.
I knew Detroit was a mess, but it's awful. One of the main stories in the book was about a firefighter who died in an arson. The fire was set by a guy who only wanted to get insurance money for his abandoned house. With so many abandoned buildings in the city, arsons are very common. As one firefighter said, they are cheaper than a movie. The firefighter's alarm was broken (city can't/won't pay to keep equipment in working order) and it probably could have saved him. Not only were the firefighters ill-equipped but they also had to bring in their own toilet paper.
LeDuff also talks a great deal about Kwame Kilpatrick (former mayor) and Monica Conyers (local politician) and their insanity. He includes a text conversation between Kilpatrick and his mistress and talks about Conyers coming on to him.
In the book someone compares Detroit to a third world country by saying the only difference was that there weren't goats walking around Detroit.
While LeDuff is talking about all these things, you can pretty much see his descent in to a bad place. He's angry. When he moved back to Detroit he started working at the paper so he's in the midst of all the drama. Finally he got to the point where he did a 'mike drop' resignation at work and I felt relieved for him.
He talks a great deal about his family. They are a good representation of the people who moved to Detroit with the outcomes common to Detroit's current citizens.
If you are interested in Detroit at all or like non-fiction, you should definitely pick this up. It was really well written and so interesting.
I knew Detroit was a mess, but it's awful. One of the main stories in the book was about a firefighter who died in an arson. The fire was set by a guy who only wanted to get insurance money for his abandoned house. With so many abandoned buildings in the city, arsons are very common. As one firefighter said, they are cheaper than a movie. The firefighter's alarm was broken (city can't/won't pay to keep equipment in working order) and it probably could have saved him. Not only were the firefighters ill-equipped but they also had to bring in their own toilet paper.
LeDuff also talks a great deal about Kwame Kilpatrick (former mayor) and Monica Conyers (local politician) and their insanity. He includes a text conversation between Kilpatrick and his mistress and talks about Conyers coming on to him.
In the book someone compares Detroit to a third world country by saying the only difference was that there weren't goats walking around Detroit.
While LeDuff is talking about all these things, you can pretty much see his descent in to a bad place. He's angry. When he moved back to Detroit he started working at the paper so he's in the midst of all the drama. Finally he got to the point where he did a 'mike drop' resignation at work and I felt relieved for him.
He talks a great deal about his family. They are a good representation of the people who moved to Detroit with the outcomes common to Detroit's current citizens.
If you are interested in Detroit at all or like non-fiction, you should definitely pick this up. It was really well written and so interesting.
Re: Detroit: An American Autopsy by Charlie LeDuff
Sugar & Spice