The Last Street Before Cleveland: An Accidental Pilgrimage

by Joe Mackall

Book Overview

The old neighborhood was the place Joe Mackall left. It was a place where everyone's parents worked at the factory at the dead end of the street, where the Catholic church and school operated like a religious city hall, and where a boy like Joe grew up vowing to get out as soon as he could and to shed his blue-collar beginnings and failed, flawed religion. When the mysterious death of a childhood friend draws him back to the last street before Cleveland,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803232551
• ISBN13: 9780803232556
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Length: 152 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Outstanding

I read Joe's book in a day, cried during the reading, and found even more respect (although I didn't think it possible to respect him more than I already did) as a human being, writer, and professor. The story is intriguing and honest, rich and lyrical. Joe really knows how to use language to his advantage. I've passed it on to others already. It's a great book from a great man.

Gutsy, Lyrical

Mackall writes a gutsy book here, looking honestly at drinking, depression, despair, and the similar pitfalls that too often trip-up young men from blue-collar Cleveland (or any other rust belt city), yet he writes with beauty and lyricism, giving us, in the end, a beautiful memoir of faith and redemption.