Say Nice Things About Detroit (22 page)

More Praise for

Say

Nice

Things

About

Detroit

“Lasser . . . composes his sympathetic cast into tableaux that are meaningful, even emblematic. . . . His restrained portrait of Detroit evokes real pathos.”

—
Publishers Weekly
, starred review

“By the end we get to know the city almost as intimately as we know the characters.”

—
Kirkus Reviews

“Readers will savor this fast-paced tale of redemption in one sitting.”

—
Library Journal

“In prose as sparse as the streets of the modern Motor City,
Say Nice Things About Detroit
captures the hopelessness and determination underpinning a blighted city unraveled by racism.”

—
Jewish Book Council

“Lasser's narrative is rich in detail about Detroit geography, weather, music and racial politics, and has an authenticity that's hard to match.”

—
Detroit News

“Mr. Lasser is a fine storyteller and his easy, understated style moves the novel along.”

—
Washington Times

“You'll love Scott Lasser's style. His book spans a few years but keeps moving with dialogue that's natural and alive: whites and blacks in Detroit, a setting you come to know and can feel what it's about. I know; I've been here most of my life.”

—Elmore Leonard

“This is a sharp, clear portrait of who we are now. Scott Lasser continues to shape a very distinct literary map.”

—Colum McCann

“Scott Lasser has written a moving story of people whose lives are stalled until they face events and places they'd rather avoid. His book suggests that for people and cities, life's greatest rewards are only achieved through struggle. A moving tribute to second chances and the august, desolate, melancholy city of Detroit.”

—Thomas McGuane

“In a city famous for ruin, a pilgrim's tale of rebirth and renewal: Scott Lasser's narrative gifts are abundant, his characters a compelling and convincing lot.
Say Nice Things About Detroit
, while true to life's damages and sadnesses, is nonetheless a joyous, vital read.”

—Thomas Lynch

“
Say Nice Things About Detroit
, Scott Lasser's new novel, is a moving, fast-paced, economical story of race, crime, and hope. Weighted by the death of his son and the end of his marriage, David Halpert, a young lawyer, returns home to the chaos of a dying Detroit to discover a love affair and his own brush with violence as the book rushes to its stunning conclusion.”

—Susan Richards Shreve

Copyright © 2012 by Scott Lasser

All rights reserved

First published as a Norton paperback 2013

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Book design by Fearn Cutler de Vicq

Production manager: Devon Zahn

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lasser, Scott.

Say nice things about Detroit / Scott Lasser. — 1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-393-08299-9

1. Life change events—Fiction. 2. Homecoming—Fiction.
3. Murder—Investigation—Fiction. 4. Detroit Metropolitan
Area (Mich.)—Social conditions—21st century—Fiction.
5. Detroit (Mich.)—Economic conditions—21st century—Fiction.
6. Detroit (Mich.)—Race relations—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3562.A7528S29 2012

813'.54—dc23

2012006784

ISBN 978-0-393-34553-7 pbk.

eISBN: 978-0-393-08417-7

W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

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