From a bold new novelist comes a complex tale of friendship and brutality. Set in Michigan s Upper Peninsula, U.P. is the story of four teens immersed in an ugly world, one whose threat of violence is always simmering beneath the surface. R.A. Riekki s distinctive characters and their poignant quest for freedom is a swan song to lost youth, redefining the traditional coming-of- age-story. Four boys, four distinct narratives that converge into a harrowing and heartbreaking whole.
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About the Author
Born in Marquette, R.A. Riekki has studied writing at Central Michigan, Brandeis, Virginia, and Western Michigan. U.P. was nominated by John Casey for the Sewanee Writers' Series.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is the real thing: a great first novel,
A Kid's Review
This review is from: u.p. (Paperback)
The situation and plot might sound like nothing new: boredom, alcohol, violence, and despair lead to tragedy in the North Woods. Coming of age for people who (probably) have no future. Carolyn Chute, David Adams Richards, and others have taken us there before. But that's not what this novel is about. It's about language that's alive. Every sentence in Riekki's book sounds like it's been screaming in his head for years -- he's got a golden ear for the way people talk and the way people _would_ talk, if they could put their real feelings into words. Open any random page, drop your finger, and you'll read something that'll surprise you. He's that good.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Downbeat Coming-of-Age Story from Michigan's Upper Peninsula (U.P.),
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This review is from: u.p. (Paperback)
U.P. is a novel about the tribulations of four young men on Michigan's upper peninsula. The novel has its strong points, but it could have been much better had author R.K. Riekki made some changes. In particular, the book's plot is thin and needs more development.The novel focuses on four high-school age boys: Craig - a would-be ladies' man, J - who is already jaded, due in part his cerebral palsy, antony - a rap-obsessed white kid, and Hollow - who dreams of escaping the U.P. by joining the military. U.P. is strong on character development. The reader comes to know each of the four young men and cheers for them to make the right decisions. Riekki also does a good job of recreating the mood of the late-80s and early-90s when the novel takes place. However, as mentioned, U.P.`s plot is weak. Simply put, Riekki needed to give the characters more to do. Instead, the book meanders along with one scene blending into the next. The mood is bleak. (In fact, the first sentence includes "...nothing good has ever come out of the U.P."). The reader tires of the depressing tone before the book's end. Riekki is a talented writer and U.P. is well crafted. Each chapter is told from the perspective of one of the four boys and the book works in spite of the complexities this introduces to the story. Unfortunately, Riekki chose to write antony's chapters using phonetic spellings as well as nonstandard punctuation and grammar. This gets old after about the first page and the reader dreads the chapters that antony narrates. U.P.'s worth reading, but don't get your hopes too high.
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A powerful novel by a sharp new writer.,
By
This review is from: u.p. (Paperback)
This book is fantastic. It's a novel about Michigan's near-empty Upper Peninsula that turns the stereotype of a tranquil country upbringing on its head; it's a novel about four deeply wounded young men who make fantastic, interesting, compelling, sympathetic, and frightening characters; It's funny as hell, the structure works to support the story, and the ending is absolutely incredible.I polished this one sitting in a backwoods deer blind in northern Michigan. I read the ending again. And again as I sat in the dusk snow darkening around me. I've rarely been so affected by a moment spent with a book.
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