Crooked River Burning: An Epic Literary Romance – Star-Crossed Love Story in Mid-Century Cleveland

by Mark Winegardner

In 1948 Cleveland was America's sixth largest city; by 1969 it was the twelfth. For Easterners, Cleveland is where the Midwest begins; for Westerners, it is where the East begins. In the summer of 1948, fourteen-year-old David Zielinsky can look forward to a job at the docks. Anne O'Connor, at twelve, is the apple of her political boss father's eye. David and Anne will meet-and fall in love-four years later, and for the next twenty years this pair will be reluctant star-crossed lovers in a troubled and turbulent country. A natural-born storyteller, Mark Winegardner spins an epic tale of those twenty years, artfully weaving such real-life Clevelanders as Eliot Ness, Alan Freed, and Carl Stokes into the tapestry. His narrative gifts may bring the fiction of E. L. Doctorow to some readers' minds, but Winegardner is very much his own man, and his observations of Cleveland are laced with a loving skepticism. His masterful saga of this conflicted city is a novel that speaks a memorable truth.

Genres: Fiction, Novels, Book Club, Historical Fiction, Historical

592 pages, Paperback

First published January 18, 2001

About the author

Mark Winegardner (born November 24, 1961) is an American writer born and raised in Bryan, Ohio. His novels include The Godfather Returns, Crooked River Burning, and The Veracruz Blues. He published a collection of short stories, That's True of Everybody, in 2002. His newest novel, The Godfather's Revenge, was published in November 2006 by Putnam. His Godfather novels continue the story of the Corleone family depicted in Mario Puzo's The Godfather.

According to a press release from Putnam: In a major acquisition, G. P. Putnam's Sons Executive Editor Dan Conaway secured North American rights to The Godfather's Revenge, the capstone to the Corleone family saga, which began with Mario Puzo's landmark novel and was carried forward in Winegardner's 2004 New York Times bestseller, The Godfather Returns. The Godfather's Revenge was written by Winegardner, based on Puzo's original characters.

"It's staggering to contemplate the legacy of the Godfather films and novels," says Dan Conaway. "They have had a deeper, broader and more lasting impact on the fabric of contemporary culture than has any other such franchise in the past 50 years.

It's fitting, then, that The Godfather's Revenge overlays the resonant mythology of the Corleone family onto the most vexing real-life mystery of our age, with a storyline that explores the role organized crime may have had in the assassination of a charismatic young President." [1]

Reviews

[Darlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

While reading this novel, Crooked River Burning written by Mark Weingardner, I was reminded of another novel I read years ago,American Rust by Philipp Meyer. Both authors created compelling stories which unfolded against the backdrop of once-great towns in what used to represent the industrial might of the United States... but is now referred to as the Rust Belt.

Crooked River Burning is an ambitious novel, perhaps even a bit too ambitious because I struggled from time to time to keep up with the enormous cast of characters, some fictional and some real people making cameo appearances from the past (such as Elliot Ness and Dr. Sam Sheppard). The novel is set in Cleveland, Ohio and spans the period from 1948 to 1969, a time when Cleveland went from being the 6th largest city in the United States to the 17th. At its heart, this novel is a poignant love story between two star-crossed characters... David Zelinsky, who was just 14 years old when the story began and lived in a solid working class neighborhood and 12 year old Anne O'Connor, the daughter of the political boss of Cuyahoga County and who lived in the upscale neighborhood of Shaker Heights. The two met and fell in love and they would meet again and again over the next 21 years and each time they came together, the old social class differences would continue to keep them apart. I couldn't help but recognize that the doomed relationship between David and Anne seemed representative of the class warfare that had been plaguing the city itself, the two sides clashing again and again and ultimately unable to breach the divide.

There is something for everyone and every interest in this story. It's the story of the rise of rock & roll, major league baseball, local politics and the inevitable political corruption that plagues many cities. It's also the story of class warfare and racial tensions always close to boiling over.. and even the Cuyahoga River plays a starring role. The Cuyahoga River (which is believed to mean 'crooked') is located in northeast Ohio and flows into Lake Erie. Since 1968, the Cuyahoga became famous (or infamous) for catching fire due to the uncontrolled dumping of industrial waste into its waters. Fittingly, I suppose, this story ended with the river catching fire for the last time in the summer of 1969. Some people believe that this particular fire, witnessed by a 'Time' magazine reporter and photographed for an issue of the magazine provided impetus for environmental activists to push for legislation regarding the regulation of waterways in the United States. The efforts DID pay off... the Clean Water Act was passed and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created.

Certainly, this novel could be viewed as a wistful homage to a time gone by; and it was also an accounting of the rise and decline of a once-great industrial city. I live in the Rust Belt and although I understand those wistful feelings, I can't say that I view this period in history through the same tinted lenses that others do. When I think about the environmental impact alone of industrialization (as I often do these days), I don't view the good ol' days as being as golden as people want to believe. But I understand that when people are facing challenging times, telling half-truths to themselves can be comforting.

If you're looking for a novel that does an excellent job of relating an important story about a moment in time in America's once-great industrial past, I definitely recommend this book.

[Dona's Books · Rating 1 out of 5]

The style is really ostentatious. So distracting. I just couldn't really tell what I was supposed to be paying attention to.

I found an accessible digital copy of CROOKED RIVER BURNING by Mark Winegardner on Libby.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was long and it felt very long. By the end, I didn't care about any of the characters, except the minor ones, the ones that had died and the real life historical figures. Which is sad, because I started off caring so much about the main characters. They couldn't keep my interest. What did keep my interest is the prose. Very good throughout, with a sentence every once in a while that would blow me away. I really liked the parts about Cleveland history and how real people were woven into the story. I do recommend this book, but you must have some patience and endurance.

[James Klagge · Rating 5 out of 5]

A novel that is about and takes place in Cleveland, Ohio. I grew up there late '50's thru mid-70's, while the book takes place 1948-1969. So there was a lot of resonance. I loved it, but I wonder how much non-Clevelanders would. Anyway, I will recommend it to my fellows. It is a sort of tragedy, tracing the downfall of Cleveland over those years, and the mostly disappointments of the main characters. But the closing epigraph is: He who endures conquers. Cleveland endures. The on/off romance between the two main characters is engaging yet rocky...
Among the personalities/events/locations that I remembered or knew about:
Cleveland Indians baseball: 1948 World Series victory, 1954 WS loss, 1960's misery (my era).
Cleveland Browns: 1964 Championship (I listened on the radio), Jim Brown quitting football to star in "The Dirty Dozen" (I saw the movie).
Dr. Sam Sheppard murder trial, and 1966 re-trial (I recall).
Local Newspapers: Plain Dealer, and Press (the one we subscribed to).
The Beatles perform in Cleveland (my friend Bob went to see them).
Race riots: in Hough (1966) and Glenville (1968--we couldn't visit friends there b/c of the danger).
Local TV stations: WEWS, WJW, WKYC (my uncle was a cameraman for them).
Dorothy Fuldheim, local TV news commentator.
Carl Stokes, Mayor (1968-1971).
Suburbs: Independence (I grew up in Brecksville--next town south).

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit disappointing at the end. Fun to have set in the context of Cleveland and its history from the 40's through the 70's but never develops the characters or plot as much as one expects.

[K · Rating 2 out of 5]

Originally I thought I would give this book 3 stars, because it had distinct strengths and weaknesses which initially averaged out to a reaction of, as La Petite would say, "meh-whatever." I ended up lowering the rating to 2 stars, though, because I felt the book was way too long, and that Winegardener went into great detail in describing some less relevant episodes/characters while totally skipping over aspects of the story with the potential to be really interesting. Although I sort of understand why he did this, it didn't appeal to me.

This book reminded me of “The Last Convertible” and of another book (I'm blanking on the title right now) where the time/place seemed to be its own character. 1950s-1960s Cleveland was very much a character in the book, perhaps the main one, and much attention and detail were devoted to developing that character. Although "Crooked River Burning" (like "The Last Convertible") was also the story of a star-crossed love, the love story almost felt like the backdrop to the story of Cleveland in the '50s-'60s, as opposed to vice versa. Maybe if I were from Cleveland, I would have cared enough to appreciate this balance. As someone not from Cleveland and not particularly interested in Cleveland (and Winegardener did not succeed in inspiring my interest in Cleveland, although to be fair, that would have been a pretty impressive feat), I would have preferred to just read about the love story and the various interactions around that.

For example, although I finally did realize what the “moondog” chapter was doing there, it took me a while and I don’t think it needed to be that long/detailed. It was way disproportionate to its actual relevance and apparently minor role in the story. Ditto for the long, detailed baseball games. Although they later proved to have some relevance to the overall plot, and were probably also ways of making the time/place its own character, I just didn’t care and ended up skimming over these details.

I had a similar reaction to the chapters about Dorothy Fuldheim and Louie Seltzer (and the moondog one about Alan Freed, come to think of it), which also reminded me of some of the weirder chapters of “The Ten-Year Nap” – the ones which described the inner thoughts of people like Nadia Comaneci and Margaret Thatcher. What’s with these authors and inserting these lengthy asides imagining mundane vignettes in the lives of celebrities? I find that they really take me out of the story, and don’t seem to serve a purpose that I can see. After a while, I didn’t even bother reading them; I just skipped over them to get back to the main characters.

I feel like if Winegardener were really good, he could have succeeded in making me care about these characters even though they had only marginal relevance to the love story. Well, he didn’t. Additionally, the realist in me says, oh, please, how could anyone possibly know what Nadia Comaneci was thinking as she rode in the car or how Dorothy Fuldheim interacted with her co-workers off the air? If I were reading an entire imagined biography of a celebrity, I might choose to suspend my disbelief if it meant enjoying a fun and interesting read. But to insert it as a random chapter with little apparent relevance to the plot I’m actually following – why? I don’t know why editors allow this. It really doesn’t work.

Meanwhile, many potentially interesting and dramatic moments were totally skipped over. How did David and Anne’s quasi-platonic reunion develop into a full-fledged affair? How did their affair progress, and then break off? Although we’re exposed to one vignette where they’re together, it doesn’t give us a whole lot of information about their dynamics and their overall relationship. How did Irene learn about it? And whoa -- David and Irene got divorced? Irene left David for a surgeon? When? What? These aspects of the story, rife with potential for internal and external conflict, were totally glossed over while boring details of baseball games and imagined celebrity scenarios were painfully spelled out.

On the positive side, I found this book extremely readable, even compulsively so. Winegardner evoked the time and place well; you could really visualize the characters and their interactions. His prose was somehow addictive, even when the story itself wasn’t always compelling. In fact, it’s an interesting experience to read a book where the prose is so much more compelling than the actual story. I often found myself obsessively reading, unable to put the book down, and then finally stopping and asking myself, “So what? What was the point, and why, exactly, was that passage so interesting to me?” and unable to answer the question.

Having said that, the writing did occasionally got annoying. For example: “From downstairs came the sound of a wailing trumpet…Twenty years later, David would purchase a copy of this very Louis Armstrong record. Twenty years after that, he’d replace the worn-out record with a compact disc. But now, he had no clue or even, in this respect, a desire for one.” Paragraphs like these were frequent interruptions which were irritating and took me out of the story, and I couldn’t really see the point.

There were also some instances of really shoddy editing. For example, why does Anne tell David she’s not a virgin, and later lose her virginity to some other guy? If she had a reason for wanting David to think she wasn't a virgin when she actually was, the book doesn't make this clear. Why does it first describe David as an eager hugger, and then, later in the book, report that he had reluctantly become a hugger due to his political career but that he still felt uncomfortable, especially hugging his family? I know these things are kind of petty, but they annoy me as a reader -- I really want to immerse myself in the story and characters, and can't when details like this keep changing.

Overall, I do have to give Winegardener credit for inspiring me to write such a lengthy and detailed review, as opposed to simply saying "Dumb book -- don't bother." I was compelled to finish it, although I definitely did a lot of skimming, especially toward the end. Maybe it really deserves 2.5 stars. It certainly wasn't terrible -- with a better editor, it might have actually been a decent read.

[Sara]

My tittle where i be
magic world i sew it
what moon or sun from my hiden love
my far love
cold age against my myth
over years just city know my secret knowing love
rivir solow my pain and love
cold novmber cant crush me
go around nt me go step step to my goal
kill the dream nt my tittle
love go as my old tree kiss far sky

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mix of fictional and real characters paints a rich portrait of an industrial city from a period of strength in the late forties to the beginning of serious decline in 1969. From the blue collar "ethnics" (my people) to the mafia to baseball of a bygone era, Mark Winegardner weaves together a fascinating array of stories and people.

The writer, a onetime Cleveland resident, captures the personality of the city so well. His dialogue for those blue collar "ethnics" is spot on. And along the way, I learned about my hometown's history as well as a piece of American history -- the Steel Belt/Rust Belt era. I often found myself calling my grandmother back home for her recollections of events in the book.

The "Crooked River" is the translation of "Cuyahoga River" (the original Indian name), and the burning, well -- if you are too young to remember, that's another good reason to check out the book.

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took me almost two years to finish this off; if it was about anything other than Cleveland I would have given up on it. There are some great moments sprinkled throughout -- both in the entirely fictional stories of David and Anne, and in the Dos Passos-y segments on famous Clevelanders. This book,feels really long because not a lot happens. The prose is respectable for the most part but overcooked not infrequently. This is a totally competent jazzy historical novel about the decline of Cleveland in the 40s-60s, but the fictional side of it doesn't hold up. I wouldn't say I hate-read the second half, but it was definitely more of a chore than a pleasure. Can only recommend for Cleveland people who really really dig the sour myth that Cleveland's urban woes were somehow poetic or romantic, like haunted castle romantic more than roses and sex romantic.

[Nancy Gedeon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book in the used book section of a small bookstore in Monument, Colorado. A 500-page novel about my home, Cleveland, Ohio, seemed really out of place there. I bought it in order to rescue it from this sunny small town. It needed to be with someone who understood decline. I was intimidated by it, but when I finally opened it and started reading, it sucked me in. Epic, entertaining, and educational. Would the book have been so interesting and compelling if I wasn't from Cleveland and already familiar with the locations and history - and the mindset of "only in Cleveland"? Maybe.

[David Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and its suburbs in the 1950s and 1960s, so much of this book feels like a homecoming for me; I don't know how much it would resonate for other readers who came of age in other locations. Having admitted my bias, I have to confess that I have not enjoyed reading a novel so much as I did "Crooked River Burning" in a long, long time; I didn't want it to end.

The novel is the account of a two-decade romance between star-crossed lovers David Zielinsky, a working-class mook from the Cleveland's West Side, and Anne O'Conner, a debutante and trust fund kid from Cleveland's East Side suburb of Shaker Heights. Of course, they're like oil and water, but irresistibly drawn to one another. Their story plays out against the backdrop of Cleveland from 1949 through 1969, a time in which the city declined from being the sixth largest metropolitan area in the country to the twelfth largest. And, in the process, Cleveland became a national laughingstock and the butt of endless jokes.

Initially, the book is wry and winsome, perfectly befitting the young characters and the energetic city. Over time though, as the story traces the city's decay and the characters' maturation, the book becomes darker and more cynical. Throughout, the story of Cleveland is as important as the story of the lovers. From my perspective, having lived in the area much of this time, Winegardner gets the milieu perfect: he "knows" Cleveland and communicates it perfectly.

One (slight) criticism: there's an ongoing subtext about the possibe mysterious circumstances surrounding David's mother's death in California after she abandons her family to seek fame and fortune in Hollywood. They "pay off" is not worth the build up. However, this hardly matters.

A really great and satisfying read.

[Rona Proudfoot · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It came recommended to me as the quintessential Cleveland coming-of-age story, and it did not disappoint. They copy of the book I had was a big hard cover (not electronic) so rather than carry it with me and read it whenever, I kept it at home and (like Charlie and his chocolate bar) allowed myself just a tiny nibble (a few pages) a day and stretched the pleasure of reading it out to nearly three months!

I arrived in Cleveland at age 18 and embraced and came to love the city, warts and all. And I learned so much about the city through living there nearly 20 years and working in journalism. And I feel I can safely say I know the city's history in broad strokes. But it is one thing to have read an article here or there and quite another to have lived it. Since I don't have a time machine, a book like this — an incredibly enjoyable story just dripping with history, even some tidbits that are almost hidden — is the next best thing.

Anne and David's story is so relatable I almost hate it. Show me a woman in journalism who hasn't felt like her romantic interests passed her by when she was working late or working 10 straight days, and you're probably showing me someone who married her high school sweetheart.

But the real love story is the characters and Cleveland. I guess the city got me, too, because here I am devouring a book about it!

[Rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic novel. Winegardner's writing captures you at the start and keeps you enthralled throughout. Being from Cleveland, his historical-based stories of various aspects and characters from our town are riveting and enjoyable. I love that he takes tangents along the way to white a short story about so many things that are Cleveland. The basic story of relationships between two likeable characters also enthralls.

This book is highly recommended for all and, especially, if you are a Clevelander with memories back from the 40's through the 60's. You will be taken back in time and engrossed in our city's history - including our crooked river burning.

[Jack Koford · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little bit disappointed. Great story! Gives a great feel for life in Cleveland during the decline of Cleveland in the decades following WWII. The politics, the unions, the sports. Some great characters, both real and fictional. I didn't realize that Cleveland was still a majority white city when Carl Stokes was elected mayor. I somehow forgot about the Cuyahoga River catching fire.

My beef is that I just didn't like the writing style of the author. Worth reading for the story, just should have been more enjoyable.

[Bamboozlepig · Rating 1 out of 5]

Usually this kind of novel is right up my alley. I love the historical aspects and real life characters who interact with fictional ones.

But with this novel, I just couldn't get into Winegardner's writing style. It's too jumpy and in the beginning when David meets Eliot Ness, it felt pointless, like Winegardner was introducing Ness simply because he needed a famous historical person from Cleveland to open the book. At the Moondog chapter, I lost interest.

[Vida · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very slow read. A book about 2 people (whose relationship remains up in the air),in an era of historical events, in a city made a joke over the years. This did not capture my attention but it was of some interest. I learned some things I had not known so not a total loss.

[Pamela Lombardi · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those who want a love story to Cleveland, here it is. A wonderful blend of thinly disguised characters and real Clevelanders, it captures the vitality and grit of a late 20th Century city in the throws of change, decay and endurance.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed it, but parts of it seemed to go on forever. Some side stories could have been left out.

[Katherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not get past the first three pages.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I‘ve read this year. It’s a beautifully written love letter to the city of Cleveland (Who knew Cleveland had such an interesting history?!) and a fascinating re-telling of the collapse of urban America in the mid-20th century, all wrapped up in a great love story.

[Margaret Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cleveland history and references interesting if from Cleveland; book is a little long; ended abruptly - disjointed; glad I read it but probably would only recommend to Clevelanders

[Carly Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very long, slowly paced novel. It was a long novel that felt extremely long. Although it took me about a week and a half to read it, I felt at times that I had been reading it for months. Winegardner writes very detailed prose that vividly captures mid-century Cleveland and is very informative but it can feel like a slog to get through. Throughout the story, Winegardner would intersperse chapters about important Cleveland personalities (Alan Freed, Vic Wertz, a Cleveland Indians baseball player, Dorothy Fuldheim, a local television commentator/journalist, Louis Seltzer, the powerful editor of the Cleveland Press Newspaper, and Carl Stokes, the first black mayor of a white majority city) that covered their entire lives from birth to death (although not told in chronological order) that were interesting but often pulled away from the primary narrative of the lives of David and Anne. Most of the narrative was in the third person, but frequently Winegardner would switch to a strident second-person view (“You were the sort of person around whom myths arose. You said so yourself.” p. 244) The abrupt switches were an interesting stylistic choice but they created an unseen authority that didn’t work with the more intimate relationship story.

I liked the wide swath of Clevelandian history that the novel encompassed (although I am not a sports fan and found the sections on the Cleveland Indians and the Browns rather tedious). However the main characters of David and Anne were not interesting enough or sympathetic enough to sustain such a long narrative. David was dull and strangely incurious about his mother who died when he was a child (there are allegations that she was killed by the mob or his mob connected father) and Anne was at times an unlikeable rich girl. The author told us that David and Anne were perfect for each other and meant to be together more often than showing the readers their connection. Anne and David enjoy challenging each other at sports (golf, ping pong, bowling) and we are told they enjoy each other’s company but I failed to believe that theirs is a great love story.

[Vikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

if i could give this book two ratings, i would: four stars for the somewhat-fictionalized history of cleveland, 1952-1969, two stars for the absurd and unsatisfying love story that is the frame for it. i'd be interested to know whether anyone who's not from cleveland has read this book, and if so whether they enjoyed it. as a cleveland native the story was personal to me, and i thoroughly enjoyed the five or six "sidebar" chapters that profiled cleveland heroes--particularly dorothy fuldheim, whom i remember well, and carl stokes, who was mayor when i was born but whom i remember hardly at all. the story of david and ann frustrated and annoyed me more with every passing chapter; i found each of their stories compelling when they were apart, but after their first idyllic days on kelly's island, every time they came together i hated them both. i don't know why winegardner never really explains to us how they first reunited or what broke them up, but i suspect it's that he didn't really like them either when they got together. this is a strange and, as other reviewers noted, deceptively long book; huge chunks of the love story are omitted--possibly because the book was getting too long, possibly because the story of cleveland is what winegardner really wanted to write, and the love story was just an excuse to do so. if you are interested in cleveland and its history, you will appreciate this book. for all its flaws, there are a great many perfect paragraphs wherein the author captures some really elusive and universal (particularly to clevelanders) human experiences. if you're looking for a good story about thwarted love, look elsewhere.

[Colleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had the author of this book for a writing class I took in college. Being a little petty here, I have to say that he was extremely pompous and I see that that carried over into his writing. I will credit him in that story did have it's merits and it wasn't awful but overall it was so slow moving that it didn't hold my interest (in fact, I had to set it aside and read 2 other books before I could finish it). The characters were not likable. David started out as a good guy, a little guy trying to make good in politics, but over the course of the story turned into a jackass. Anne was the typical rich girl who got everything because of her father's name; she actually was somewhat redeemed by the end. What I really enjoyed about the book though was the history of Cleveland that it gave. How Cleveland went from being the 6th largest city in the country to becoming a laughingstock and the butt of jokes. Did you know that Cleveland was the first major city (with Caucasians as the majority) to elect an African-American Mayor? Or that Cleveland is where the first concert in the country took place (the Moondog Coronation Ball)? Or that the only major league baseball player killed during a game was a Cleveland Indian? (If there's bad luck to be had in sports -- it's in Cleveland!) So even though the story wasn't the best, I still enjoyed learning something about the city I was born (and will most likely die) in.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are from or are currently living in Northeast Ohio this book might be of interest to you. Winegardner paints a very informative picture of Cleveland beginning in the times when unions, union bosses, and "people who know people who know people" ruled the roost and ending with the jeers of a burning river and the best of the city in the past.

The nonfiction stories of people, places, and events he weaves into the fictional account of 2 star crossed lovers had me reading this book along side wikipedia. Not for lack of details or information but because it had me wanting more. Because of this it took me longer than usual to read this book. Regardless, it's not an easy lighthearted read. Winegardner manages to pack much information into small spaces and to truly absorb it all will take a dedicated reader. He is able to capture the feel of each decade with cultural, historical, and personal references both subtle and large.

Admittedly, the back third of the book was tedious to read and I almost didn't finish it. But looking back I realize this plays into the whole theme of Cleveland... beginning with lighthearted young love in a city filled with promise and ending with the tedium of reality and living in a city that has seen it's better days.

Overall this book captures the heartbeat of a city that thrived, tried to make the future by holding on to the past, failed, and yet keeps trying. Not sorry I read this story but still it's not for everyone.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Winegardner starts his story back in the '40s when, according to the jacket, "Cleveland was America's sixth biggest city," a decent place, a hometown to be proud of. His story, complete with star-crossed lovers, advances to 1969, by which time Cleveland had lost population and prestige. Readers like me are willing to let Winegardner tell us: what happened?

Readers like me are not, however, willing to read about Cleveland Indians' baseball games. Winegardner likes to give us blow-by-blow accounts of famous games, or infamous ones, I don't know and don't care. Easily skipped.

He's a fun writer when he's not trying to be too glib. I can see him sometimes, taking a writerly break, making a sandwich and repeating to himself some phrase he just wrote, feeling awfully proud of it, juggling the mayo and the mustard playfully as he puts them back in the fridge.

Cow patty count for this book is 2 1/2 or 3 out of 10.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was long and divided. Half the story was about the (depressing) decline of Cleveland in the 1950s and 60s. The other half was a (disappointing) love story about a rich girl and a boy from the wrong side of the tracks. During the first 300 pages, I was really invested in the characters, but towards the end, I found myself disliking where the plot and development was going.

Despite this, overall I enjoyed the book. The prose is extremely dense, with delicious descriptions and sweeping narrations that bring the Cleveland of the mid 20th century alive. The narration jumps from 3rd person to 1st person and back again, making keeping up with the intriguing narrator a delightful challenge.

For fans of historical fiction and midwestern literature, this is a satisfactory read.

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winegardner gets Cleveland so right. This is core curriculum if you are a native Clevelander and understand the great east side/west side divide. The romance was believable, the mysteries were not as believable but the details, the nuances that the author captures about the characters and the decisions they might have made in the context of a history of a place that has always had an inferiority complex are quite masterfully done.

I started this book shortly before I had my son. My son turns two next week. It is not fast reading and some parts do drag, but it is dense with history; not your typical novel.

[Marti · Rating 4 out of 5]

My husband recommended this book to me. It is about Cleveland, and that's where my mother's family lived. It is a sort of two part book--some sections are factual, about real people and events, and then there is a recurring love story between David Zielinsky, the 'poor' boy, and the aristocratic Anne O'Connor, from the political family. He goes into politics after marrying the nurse, Irene and having three children, but eventually Irene leaves him for a doctor. In the meantime Anne goes from being a reporter to a television anchor who has to undergo plastic surgery to keep her job. Occasionally ponderous, but the love story holds it together.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Winegardner matched history with fiction so perfectly that I kept wanting to Google the characters to see what they’re up to now.

Winegardener's book weaves the story of two people falling in love against the background of Cleveland history. That might not seem like the most interesting or romantic scenario, but Winegardener writes a very personal story interspersed with short narratives about Cleveland's famous and infamous citizens. That these historic sidebars are heavily footnoted add to their authenticity and make the fictional parts of the book seem more real.