The Old Adelphi Rolling Grist Mill: A Memoir in Story Form [Paperback]

Doug Hornig (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 27, 2006

In early April of 1968, a group of young people was sitting on the roof of a house near the line dividing Maryland from Washington, D.C., transfixed by what they were watching. It was the sight of the Nation's Capital burning down. That night, two of th

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Doug Hornig has been writing for as long as he's known what it was. His first job was as a copy boy for the Washington Daily News, back in the days when they still used movable type, much as he did at the age of ten, when he put out a neighborhood weekly

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: Xlibris (December 27, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1425736300
• ISBN-13: 978-1425736309
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,771,742 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Taut, True, Troubling, May 4, 2007

By 

Michael D. Hill (Virginia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Old Adelphi Rolling Grist Mill: A Memoir in Story Form (Paperback)

I must confess an interest: Doug is a good friend of mine.

Reading a friend's book is always nervous-making. What if it, well, sucks? (I am not diplomatic by nature.) Fortunately, the question's irrelevant to this latest volume. Composed partly of earlier stories and partly of new recollections, this book is strikingly executed.

Hornig is a fan of Mailer's The Executioner's Song, and it shows clearly here. The story--stories, really--cover a five year period from '64 to '69, in the life of a young man, Adrian, with a strong family resemblance to Doug himself. The story is occasionally funny, but overall the tone is one of anger. This is the work of a subtle intelligence, and while he does not spare his own character, neither does he spare the strange sad world around him.

Whether you lived through the period or not, you'll find yourself sucked in to a rich multi-threaded story, and ultimately, you will be disturbed, rendered off-balance, and yes, angry and sad as the author himself is.

Five stars: Hornig's best work, risky and personal, funny and troubling, tense and true to life.

1.0 out of 5 stars A Bunch of Nonsense, October 27, 2008

By 

Bob Chorba "Bobbyc" (Milwaukee, Wisconsin United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Old Adelphi Rolling Grist Mill: A Memoir in Story Form (Paperback)

I have to balance out the previous review. I think this is the worst book that I have read by Hornig. He should have stuck to the Swift PI series.
You could not possibly see the DC fires from the Adelphi Mill. You have to read over 100 pages to get to the The story about the DC riots. And the setting of the DC riots story is NOWHERE NEAR the Adelphi Mill. (In fact the "Wisconsin Avenue Waltz" setting is in Montgomery County and the Mill is in Prince Georges County.) What Hornig did is take a collection of previously published Short stories (mainly unrelated) and put them in book and misleading the Public to think these stories are all about the DC Riots. And this is supposed to be a memoir, right? Well, pray tell where is Capitol University. There is a Capital University near Columbus, OH. The colleges in DC are Georgetown, Anerican, George Washington and Catholic. The girl who is injured in "The Wisconsin Avenue Waltz" is taken to a Hospital. Which Hospital? GW, Sibley? If this is a memoir why not name the Hopital who allowed Shock Therapy to be administered,
The book starts out with a "20 years Later" story and ends with a "20 Years Later " story. And the stories are UNCONNECTED. How and why did the girl from the first story die? We are never told.
If you are interested in reading previously published, basically unconnected stories about EXTREMELY unattractive people be sure to buy thsi book.