By China Reevers
For The State News
Peter Ohren's third novel, "Motor City Blues," is the juxtaposition of a young law student's crumbling life with the deterioration of Detroit.
Todd Foster is a second year law student at Wayne State University - a recent MSU graduate - and his life is falling apart. Foster's grades are suffering, his roommates hate him and he hasn't checked in at work in quite some time.
Throughout the novel, situations only get worse for Foster as his decisions get him further and further away from the life he used to lead. Frequently, he reflects back on his days at MSU and how everything, from his grades to his girlfriend, was perfect. Foster attempts to figure out how he ended up so far from where he was, usually under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and finds more questions than answers.
This tale of soul searching also serves as the framework for presenting a social satire. Ohren utilizes Foster's confusion and desperation to present the city of Detroit through an honest and unfiltered viewpoint. In the novel, Foster compares the city to luxurious estates in Grosse Pointe Woods where his girlfriend now resides and the simple suburbs that he himself grew up in. It is his exposure to extreme poverty and extreme wealth that opens his, and the readers', eyes to Detroit's plight.
This book is a swift read and is thorough in its descriptions. It is Foster's stream of consciousness that the reader is privy to and is at times unnecessary. Although fast-paced, the story sometimes lingers far too much on Foster's private thoughts, and attention to detail can become too much.
It is only the social consciousness of this book that makes it a worthwhile read. In relating Detroit to other familiar Michigan cities readers are able to easily identify Ohren's arguments of a town left to those who are unable to maintain it. Ohren uses this novel as a tool to decry the institutions that exist in many major, yet disintegrating cities, and subsidize the flight of people and businesses out of the city.
Ohren himself is a graduate of MSU and Wayne State University Law School. He currently lives in Lansing as an attorney and a novelist. "Motor City Blues" is his third novel and the first in a trilogy of what he identifies as his "baby boomer" novels. His next novel, "The Course of Things" is a about a middle aged man who is struggling with keeping his life together.
In a phone interview, Ohren said the book was not autobiographical and was loosely based on experiences he had himself in college. When asked what if he had any message for college students, he said, "When you're young, dream your dreams so when you get older you have something to aim for, go after your dreams."