Bridgman Public Library


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Bridgman Public Library

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BPL Second Wednesday Book Group

In Person in the Community Room @ 5:30

Lively and engaging book discussions.
Pick up your book with the library staff 1 month in advance. Must have a Bridgman library card.

Next Meeting - April 12th

Image of the book cover for, The Help.

The Other Side of the River 

Bestselling author Alex Kotlowitz is one of this country’s foremost writers on the ever explosive issue of race. In this gripping and ultimately profound book, Kotlowitz takes us to two towns in southern Michigan, St. Joseph and Benton Harbor, separated by the St. Joseph River. Geographically close, but worlds apart, they are a living metaphor for America’s racial divisions: St. Joseph is a prosperous lakeshore community and ninety-five percent white, while Benton Harbor is impoverished and ninety-two percent black. When the body of a black teenaged boy from Benton Harbor is found in the river, unhealed wounds and suspicions between the two towns’ populations surface as well. The investigation into the young man’s death becomes, inevitably, a screen on which each town projects their resentments and fears. The Other Side of the River sensitively portrays the lives and hopes of the towns’ citizens as they wrestle with this mystery–and reveals the attitudes and misperceptions that undermine race relations throughout America.

 


2023 Meeting Times

and BOOK TITLES

  • January 11: The Nightingale / Kristin Hannah
  • February 8: Brave New World / Aldous Huxley
  • March 8: The Help / Kathryn Stockett
  • April 12: The Other Side of the River / Alex Kotlowitz
  • May 10: The Death and Life of the Great Lakes / Dan Egan
  • June 14: The Old Man and the Sea / Ernest Hemingway
  • July 12: Run Rose Run / Dolly Parton & James Patterson
  • August 9: Lord of the Flies / William Golding
  • September 13: Farenheit 451/ Ray Bradbury
  • October 11: The Memory Keeper's Daughter / Kim Edwards
  • November 8: Autistic Brain / Temple Grandin
  • December 13: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings / Maya Angelou