The Other Side of the River (Abridged) Audiobook

" A great example of digging deeper into a seemingly simple story and seeing what you find. Kotlowitz uses the story of a mysterious death to explore the life of two towns. "

" A real-life mystery that examines a midwest town divided, both literally and figuratively, by a river. A must read! "

" Non fiction. Involves the death of a black teen age boy found in the river between the balck town on one side and the white town on the other. Kotlowitz writes with great compassion and understanding about the complicated issue of race in America. Not as compelling as his best work, "There Are No Children Here" which deals with the same general subject, this is still a great book and a must read for anyone interested in understanding how race continues to have such a profound effect on our society. "

" not really sure how i feel about this. i found it informative and intesting, but left empty at the end, which is probably the point. "

" A difficult book to write without adopting a judgmental voice on the part of the author. The author does a nice job of looking at a series of episodes in the history of these two towns and how race and socio-economics shape our communities and our cultural paradigms. "

" Reading this because I lived in St. Joe for a few years right after this occurred. It's incredible the stark differences between St. Joe and Benton Harbor. "

" Interesting tale about race in Michigan. It opened my eyes to the prejudice and racism that still exists today in what I would have considered a more open minded section of the country. "

" This book made me too sad to view it with any sort of "good book" vs "bad book" eyes. I'm sure it's a perfectly well-written book, and an interesting story(ies) for those disconnected from the area. Do not, however, read this book if you are about to move to St. Joe. :P "

" Interesting read though at times dry and a bit slow. "

" I recently re-read this book and wasn't as thrilled with it as I was the first time I read it. The mystery of the teen's death was never solved, leaving me feeling hanging. "

" Um, got ALMOST through it. can't bring myself to finish. sigh. "

" A tale of the author's obsession with a mysterious death of a black teenage boy found in the river dividing two Michigan towns, one black and one white in the 1990's. A serious, sad, and eye-opening look at race in America. "

" Incredibly well researched saga of southwest Michigan. Explains the distinct class divide between race/socio-economic/"oldtimers"vs."new comers". "

" A good book about race, crime, small minded opinion and the growing segregation of small towns in major metropolitan areas. "

" Great non-fiction about race. "

" i thought this story qwas going to be more about a mistery about a murder but it turned in to two murders that i never thought that was going to happpe. "

" Despite the interesting subject matter, I found the author jumped around too much thus making it easy for the reader to lose focus. It felt like I was reading a series of essays all based around the same subject which were then thrown together to make a book. "

" Ok, this is a bit dated, but it's about my hometown. It's kinda creepy when you know the people in the book. They got some stuff wrong though, but it's still an interesting look at race relations in the US. "

" well written...depressed me to think that there is such prejudices/stereotypes in the present day! "

" An amazing account of what may and may not have happened in two small towns in SW Michigan... "

" Good Book to follow up There Are No Children Here "

" History about Michigan -- Benton Harbor & St. Joseph. A very interesting book for me because I did not know much about the two cities. "

" Interesting read about two towns and the racial tensions - true story. Was a good book to discuss in book club. "

" Interesting study of the racial divide in America. "

" This book makes a lot of assumptions about individuals in it which takes away from its point at the end. I think that a clear presentation of the facts would have been a more powerful statement, actually. "

" A great example of digging deeper into a seemingly simple story and seeing what you find. Kotlowitz uses the story of a mysterious death to explore the life of two towns. "

" We should ALL read this and face facts that racism exists from both sides. "

" A difficult book to write without adopting a judgmental voice on the part of the author. The author does a nice job of looking at a series of episodes in the history of these two towns and how race and socio-economics shape our communities and our cultural paradigms. "

" A tale of the author's obsession with a mysterious death of a black teenage boy found in the river dividing two Michigan towns, one black and one white in the 1990's. A serious, sad, and eye-opening look at race in America. "

" well written...depressed me to think that there is such prejudices/stereotypes in the present day! "

" Reading this because I lived in St. Joe for a few years right after this occurred. It's incredible the stark differences between St. Joe and Benton Harbor. "

" Interesting tale about race in Michigan. It opened my eyes to the prejudice and racism that still exists today in what I would have considered a more open minded section of the country. "

" This book made me too sad to view it with any sort of "good book" vs "bad book" eyes. I'm sure it's a perfectly well-written book, and an interesting story(ies) for those disconnected from the area. Do not, however, read this book if you are about to move to St. Joe. :P "

" Interesting read about two towns and the racial tensions - true story. Was a good book to discuss in book club. "