Showing posts with label Wisconsin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wisconsin. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Dead Eleven by Jimmy Juliano

 

Dead Eleven by Jimmy Juliano - 464 pages


Clifford Island. When Willow Stone finds these words written on the floor of her deceased son's bedroom, she's perplexed. She's never heard of it before, but soon learns it's a tiny island off of Wisconsin's Door County peninsula, 200 miles from Willow's home. Why would her son write this on his floor? Determined to find answers, Willow sets out for the island.

After a few days on Clifford, Willow realizes: this place is not normal. Everyone seems to be stuck in a particular day in 1994: they wear outdated clothing, avoid modern technology, and, perhaps most mystifyingly, watch the OJ Simpson car chase every evening. When she asks questions, people are evasive, but she learns one thing: close your curtains at night.

High schooler Lily Becker has lived on Clifford her entire life, and she is sick of the island's twisted mythology and adhering to the rules. She's been to the mainland, and everyone is normal there, so why is Clifford so weird? Lily is determined to prove that the islanders' beliefs are a sham. But are they?

Five weeks after Willow arrives on the island, she disappears. Willow's brother Harper comes to Clifford searching for his sister, and when he learns the truth--that this island is far more sinister than anyone could have imagined--he is determined to blow the whole thing open.

If he can get out alive...


I just could not get into this book, I don't know why, the concept was a good one.  In retrospect, it was a good story, and it was decently written.  I guess it just didn't hit for me.

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg
384 pages / 10 hrs, 55 mins

"Mrs. Sookie Poole of Point Clear, Alabama, has just married off the last of her daughters and is looking forward to relaxing and perhaps traveling with her husband, Earle.  The only thing left to contend with is her mother, the formidable Lenore Simmons Krackenberry.  Lenore may be a lot of fun for other people, but is, for the most part, an overbearing presence for her daughter.  Then one day, quite by accident, Sookie discovers a secret about her mother's past that knocks her for a loop and suddenly calls into question everything she ever thought she knew about herself, her family, and her future.

"Sookie begins a search for answers that takes her to California, the Midwest, and back in time, to the 1940s, when an irrepressible woman named Fritzi takes on the job of running her family's filling station.  Soon truck drivers are changing their routes to fill up at the All-Girl Filling Station.  Then, Fritzi sees an opportunity for an even more groundbreaking adventure.  As Sookie learns about the adventures of the girls at the All-Girl Filling Station, she finds herself with new inspiration for her own life."  --from the publisher

What a great idea for a book!  Flagg does an excellent job describing the atmosphere of the 1940s, and the characters are a hoot.  The narrative gets choppy about halfway through with a switch to epistolary style and a few paragraphs that read like a textbook, but I still enjoyed it.