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Midwestern Strange: Hunting Monsters, Martians, and the Weird in Flyover Country by B.J. Hollars
theduchess93's review
5.0
A charming (and fairly in-depth) look at several of the mysteries and cryptids of the Midwest. I wish there had been more of a focus on Indiana cryptids, but that's my own personal bias. I especially liked that he included a lot of details about his research process, especially his interviews and oral history gathering.
guarinous's review
4.0
Eager to continue my trek into the world of cryptids and UFOs in 2019, I snapped up the opportunity to request Midwestern Strange on Netgalley as soon as I saw it. I was particularly intrigued by the author's focus on stories from "flyover country", a part of the States that I haven't visited or admittedly paid much attention to. The accounts in here therefore were mostly fairly fresh to me (with the exception of Mothman, which is always an interesting topic to read about regardless).
B.J. Hollars tackles these stories of small town folklore and strange phenomena with enthusiasm and refreshingly does not try to lead readers towards one particular viewpoint. His stance remains journalistic throughout, reporting the cases as they are. While the majority of the cases can obviously be seen as exaggerations or hoaxes to drum up interest in an otherwise unnoteworthy town, they are still entertaining and at turns fascinating (the giant turtle sighting and the "italians with pancakes" on the flying saucer were my favorites). As with many books like this, some of the cases were more interesting than others, but overall I found this book to be a pleasant diversion from some of the more serious fare I've read this year.
**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to University of Nebraska Press.**
B.J. Hollars tackles these stories of small town folklore and strange phenomena with enthusiasm and refreshingly does not try to lead readers towards one particular viewpoint. His stance remains journalistic throughout, reporting the cases as they are. While the majority of the cases can obviously be seen as exaggerations or hoaxes to drum up interest in an otherwise unnoteworthy town, they are still entertaining and at turns fascinating (the giant turtle sighting and the "italians with pancakes" on the flying saucer were my favorites). As with many books like this, some of the cases were more interesting than others, but overall I found this book to be a pleasant diversion from some of the more serious fare I've read this year.
**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to University of Nebraska Press.**
kappafrog's review
funny
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
3.0
Pros: Some of the stories in here were really interesting! Highlights were Oscar the Turtle, the space pancakes, and the Val Johnson incident. I laughed while reading them, and my whole family laughed when I recounted them. The author's interviews with the people involved really worked well in these stories and added a lot. I especially appreciated how well-represented Wisconsin was since I grew up there.
Cons: The writing style was not great. The transitions were clunky and there were so many fragment sentences for dramatic effect that they just fell flat.
The bigger problem was the author's blind spots in some of the ethnic and racial issues underlying a few of the stories. While the references to Wisconsin as "unexplored" in the 19th century were grating enough, the two worst offenders were the final two stories. In the ELF project, he only interviewed people who had been for it and lumped in Native Americans with protestors he portrayed as ill-educated and misinformed, even after one of the historical heroes of the chapter was racist to them!
The chapter on the Minnesota runestone was embarrassing for an academic to write. It is absolutely a fake, and the author didn't talk at all about why white Scandinavian-Americans get so invested in arguing otherwise. The author came off as almost willfully ignorant about how race relations and settler colonialism play into that story. And finally, I didn't like how violent domestic abuse was treated as a biographical sidenote to the "complicated man" who invented the Hodag. The author seems incapable of evaluating how his own positionality affected his sympathizing with some really awful people.
Verdict: This book was a gift from my family, and we all got a lot of enjoyment out of some of the stories. To bring that much laughter is a great accomplishment for a book. However, the issues with the final two chapters made me retroactively question what parts of the story the author might have been leaving out in other places. All in all, this is a fun source for learning about stories, but I would be very careful about taking the author's presentation at face value on some of them.
Cons: The writing style was not great. The transitions were clunky and there were so many fragment sentences for dramatic effect that they just fell flat.
The bigger problem was the author's blind spots in some of the ethnic and racial issues underlying a few of the stories. While the references to Wisconsin as "unexplored" in the 19th century were grating enough, the two worst offenders were the final two stories. In the ELF project, he only interviewed people who had been for it and lumped in Native Americans with protestors he portrayed as ill-educated and misinformed, even after one of the historical heroes of the chapter was racist to them!
The chapter on the Minnesota runestone was embarrassing for an academic to write. It is absolutely a fake, and the author didn't talk at all about why white Scandinavian-Americans get so invested in arguing otherwise. The author came off as almost willfully ignorant about how race relations and settler colonialism play into that story. And finally, I didn't like how violent domestic abuse was treated as a biographical sidenote to the "complicated man" who invented the Hodag. The author seems incapable of evaluating how his own positionality affected his sympathizing with some really awful people.
Verdict: This book was a gift from my family, and we all got a lot of enjoyment out of some of the stories. To bring that much laughter is a great accomplishment for a book. However, the issues with the final two chapters made me retroactively question what parts of the story the author might have been leaving out in other places. All in all, this is a fun source for learning about stories, but I would be very careful about taking the author's presentation at face value on some of them.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Car accident and Domestic abuse
Minor: Racism, Medical content, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cultural appropriation, Death, and Gun violence
annieb123's review
4.0
Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.
Midwestern Strange is a series of case studies of the weird/paranormal by essayist B.J. Hollars. Due out 1st Sept. 2019 from the University of Nebraska press, it's 224 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.
I really enjoy expository writing and I also enjoy essays. This book is what happens when an academic writer turns to unusual, somewhat outré subject matter. This is a study of the author's personal study of Midwestern, generally rural stories of sightings of UFOs, monsters, wolfmen, gigantic turtles, aliens and the like.
I've been impressed with other titles from the University of Nebraska press and this one was so odd and at the same time well written that it was quite refreshing to read. The author does a remarkable job of remaining unbiased whilst recounting his road trips across the rural American heartland talking to the descendants of the original witnesses and researching newspaper files and photographs.
I don't honestly know how to solidly classify these stories. The author draws no specific conclusions, nor does he attempt to lead the reader, so it's not really technically expository writing. It is, however, quirky and charming and I read it cover to cover in one sitting.The author is adept and the writing is crisp.
Four stars. Five for fans of Roswell, X-Files and the like.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Midwestern Strange is a series of case studies of the weird/paranormal by essayist B.J. Hollars. Due out 1st Sept. 2019 from the University of Nebraska press, it's 224 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.
I really enjoy expository writing and I also enjoy essays. This book is what happens when an academic writer turns to unusual, somewhat outré subject matter. This is a study of the author's personal study of Midwestern, generally rural stories of sightings of UFOs, monsters, wolfmen, gigantic turtles, aliens and the like.
I've been impressed with other titles from the University of Nebraska press and this one was so odd and at the same time well written that it was quite refreshing to read. The author does a remarkable job of remaining unbiased whilst recounting his road trips across the rural American heartland talking to the descendants of the original witnesses and researching newspaper files and photographs.
I don't honestly know how to solidly classify these stories. The author draws no specific conclusions, nor does he attempt to lead the reader, so it's not really technically expository writing. It is, however, quirky and charming and I read it cover to cover in one sitting.The author is adept and the writing is crisp.
Four stars. Five for fans of Roswell, X-Files and the like.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
xxjenadanxx's review
3.0
This book was, to paraphrase Val Johnson in the book, so flat that if you got up on a stepladder on Wednesday you could see both Sundays. I expected a book dealing with monsters and aliens and the mysteries of midwest to be at least a little exciting but it LITERALLY put me to sleep multiple times. I found that it dragged on and on. I think that the author has done himself a disservice writing this as a book instead of perhaps a pod cast, to which I think it would be better suited, in the vein of Wild Things. The material itself is interesting, but the delivery was just too dry.
ashlurtis's review
5.0
This is a really fun, sweet exploration of strange phenomena in the Midwest. Being from Wisconsin, it’s always fun for me to see midwestern settings in books and adding in an element of the strange makes this book that much more fun to read. The author’s voice brings comedic but sobering tone to nine strange cases throughout the region. There were times I laughed out loud. For anyone from the area, this is a fun look at some interesting stories you may not know. For anyone not from flyover country, this is a great intro to all our strange folk lol.
xxjenadanxx's review against another edition
3.0
This book was, to paraphrase Val Johnson in the book, so flat that if you got up on a stepladder on Wednesday you could see both Sundays. I expected a book dealing with monsters and aliens and the mysteries of midwest to be at least a little exciting but it LITERALLY put me to sleep multiple times. I found that it dragged on and on. I think that the author has done himself a disservice writing this as a book instead of perhaps a pod cast, to which I think it would be better suited, in the vein of Wild Things. The material itself is interesting, but the delivery was just too dry.
marrindra's review against another edition
2.0
The writer throws a lot of his own personality in this book and that's something you can either love or... not. For me, it wasn't a match and it kind of saddens me that the book wasn't as much of a scientific research as I had hoped. Instead, it's more of a personal journey, mixed with some fun stories. A shame for me, but I'm sure there's someone out there who will love it.
I received an ARC of this book through Netgalley from University of Nebraska Press in exchange of an honest review.
I received an ARC of this book through Netgalley from University of Nebraska Press in exchange of an honest review.
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