The Other Side of the River

The Other Side of the River

A Story of Two Towns, a Death, and America's Dilemma

The Other Side of the River is a a very interesting book by Alex Kotlowitz about two towns that are very different even though nothing but a river separated them.  I thought that the title of this book as very symbolic, the "river" was more then something that just separated Benton Harbor and St. Joseph; the river is a barrier flowing all around the world in between people.  

Overall I thought that this book was very unique, what I mean is that the author had a very unique style of writing.  There were many parts of the book where where you could tell that he was not being literal, instead he used symbol's to represent what he was talking about; this inspired me in my writing to be more symbolic instead of just saying the obvious.  One of the things that I did not like about this book was how the author would be very random at times, those were the parts where this book would confuse me, the book would just all of a sudden change the subject and I didn't really understand why.   I am glad that I read this book in school because if I didn't read this book here, I cannot imagine myself picking this book up wanting to read it, I would think that I would not understand it (sometimes I did not understand it, but most of the time I did).  

I though that this book was very well written, you could really tell that the author did his research because this book was based on on a true story, a boy in Benton Harbor named Eric McGinnis really was found on that early morning of May 1991, and they still are trying to figure out what really happened to him.  Everybody has their own theories, but to this day no one knows what really happened to him.  Alex Kotlowitz went to Benton Harbor in search of the true story.  He spent hours talking to many residents of both Benton Harbor & St. Joseph for many years just for this book.  

When you read the end of this book it makes you realize that this book is more than just about trying to figure out what happened to Eric McGinnis; this book is about Benton Harbor & St. Joseph.  As Kotolowitz was talking to all these people asking about Eric, he got so much more out of them, he learned about their background, their beliefs, their families and so much more; he basically learned more about their life by talking to them about Eric McGinnis.  By interviewing all of these people we learned the differences of the lives of the people on both sides of the river, and how Benton Harbor & St. Joseph were more than just two town separated by a river, but more like two completely different worlds.  

I would recommend this book to people who enjoy reading and who are good at comprehending confusing books.  This book can get very confusing going from past to present.  Reading this book taught me not to give up when you think something is boring because in the end, you might learn something; there were times when I really did not want to read this book and I just wanted to give up on it because I did not understand it, but I kept reading and eventually I grasped the over all meaning of the book.  To me the message of this book is to not let the "river" in your life separate you form other people, everybody is equal.