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Chevy in the Hole
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
Named a Michigan Notable Book for 2023
Finalist for the 2022 Heartland Booksellers Award
A gorgeous, unflinching love letter to Flint, Michigan, and the resilience of its people, Kelsey Ronan's Chevy in the Hole follows multiple generations of two families making their homes there, with a stunning contemporary love story at its center.
In the opening pages of Chevy in the Hole , August “Gus” Molloy has just overdosed in a bathroom stall of the Detroit farm-to-table restaurant where he works. Shortly after, he packs it in and returns home to his family in Flint. This latest slip and recommitment to sobriety doesn’t feel too terribly different from the others, until Gus meets Monae, an urban farmer trying to coax a tenuous rebirth from the city’s damaged land. Through her eyes, he sees what might be possible in a city everyone else seems to have forgotten or, worse, given up on. But as they begin dreaming up an oasis together, even the most essential resources can’t be counted on.
Woven throughout their story are the stories of their families―Gus’s white and Monae’s Black―members of which have had their own triumphs and devastating setbacks trying to survive and thrive in Flint. A novel about the things that change over time and the things that don’t, Chevy in the Hole reminds us again and again what people need from one another and from the city they call home.
Named a Michigan Notable Book for 2023
Finalist for the 2022 Heartland Booksellers Award
A gorgeous, unflinching love letter to Flint, Michigan, and the resilience of its people, Kelsey Ronan's Chevy in the Hole follows multiple generations of two families making their homes there, with a stunning contemporary love story at its center.
In the opening pages of Chevy in the Hole , August “Gus” Molloy has just overdosed in a bathroom stall of the Detroit farm-to-table restaurant where he works. Shortly after, he packs it in and returns home to his family in Flint. This latest slip and recommitment to sobriety doesn’t feel too terribly different from the others, until Gus meets Monae, an urban farmer trying to coax a tenuous rebirth from the city’s damaged land. Through her eyes, he sees what might be possible in a city everyone else seems to have forgotten or, worse, given up on. But as they begin dreaming up an oasis together, even the most essential resources can’t be counted on.
Woven throughout their story are the stories of their families―Gus’s white and Monae’s Black―members of which have had their own triumphs and devastating setbacks trying to survive and thrive in Flint. A novel about the things that change over time and the things that don’t, Chevy in the Hole reminds us again and again what people need from one another and from the city they call home.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published March 15, 2022
67 people are currently reading
4758 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 194 reviews
March 15, 2022
This book was initially advertised as a romance and while there is a romance and it is central to the story, I think this is more of a general fiction story with a romance in it. Flint, Michigan is just as important to the story as the main two characters are and it is a doozy of a contender to compete with.
Chevy in the Hole follows August after he has an overdose in his workplace's bathroom. After temporarily dying and seeing what he thinks might have been heaven or at least a good dream, he begins volunteering at a farm outside of Flint. There he meets Monae, a student who works at the farm and dreams of owning her own one day. While their story progresses we see flashbacks into their families lives as they try to survive and thrive in Flint.
The story analyzes and hits on a lot of ideas with regards to race and classism involved not only in the Flint water crisis as it was a few years ago but also throughout the fall of Detroit’s auto industry and slow descent of the city. Its a slow burn of a tale that shows major highlights of the city's history through the tales of families past and of course, the shockwaves of its failures. I really liked the interesperal of fictional characters through real life events such as the auto workers protests and Keith Moon crashing his car into a pool at the Holiday Inn.
While the romance is supposed to be central it never was a sweep you off your feet kind of deal. This made it feel more real and in a way more depressing and anxiety inducing than romances typically are. The problems they go through are not only internal but external with their environment literally poisoning the world they live in. It gets very bleak and very sad but in a way that feels like there are people who are experiencing it or similar and need to be heard.
I will say the feedback I might have is that listening to audio I kept getting whose family member was who mixed up. We went back four generations of each family and it was a bit hard to keep track of where we were in the genetic timeline and of which descendent. There was no easy break between character and timeline and I often took some time to get adjusted. We would also jump years and years between so a character who we last heard from as a child would be a full grown adult in the next flashback and it got a little confusing.
Also this cover is terrible but I did enjoy this book even while it slowly crushed me.
Thanks to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for a copy of this audio ARC. The narrator was Janina Edwards who was excellent but maybe could have used an assist on a few chapters to clear up some confusion on the timelines/families. This book will be published in just a few days on 3/15/22!
Chevy in the Hole follows August after he has an overdose in his workplace's bathroom. After temporarily dying and seeing what he thinks might have been heaven or at least a good dream, he begins volunteering at a farm outside of Flint. There he meets Monae, a student who works at the farm and dreams of owning her own one day. While their story progresses we see flashbacks into their families lives as they try to survive and thrive in Flint.
The story analyzes and hits on a lot of ideas with regards to race and classism involved not only in the Flint water crisis as it was a few years ago but also throughout the fall of Detroit’s auto industry and slow descent of the city. Its a slow burn of a tale that shows major highlights of the city's history through the tales of families past and of course, the shockwaves of its failures. I really liked the interesperal of fictional characters through real life events such as the auto workers protests and Keith Moon crashing his car into a pool at the Holiday Inn.
While the romance is supposed to be central it never was a sweep you off your feet kind of deal. This made it feel more real and in a way more depressing and anxiety inducing than romances typically are. The problems they go through are not only internal but external with their environment literally poisoning the world they live in. It gets very bleak and very sad but in a way that feels like there are people who are experiencing it or similar and need to be heard.
I will say the feedback I might have is that listening to audio I kept getting whose family member was who mixed up. We went back four generations of each family and it was a bit hard to keep track of where we were in the genetic timeline and of which descendent. There was no easy break between character and timeline and I often took some time to get adjusted. We would also jump years and years between so a character who we last heard from as a child would be a full grown adult in the next flashback and it got a little confusing.
Also this cover is terrible but I did enjoy this book even while it slowly crushed me.
Thanks to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for a copy of this audio ARC. The narrator was Janina Edwards who was excellent but maybe could have used an assist on a few chapters to clear up some confusion on the timelines/families. This book will be published in just a few days on 3/15/22!
June 22, 2023
I married into a family with roots in Flint, Michigan. My husband’s grandmother was in the Women’s Auxiliary, taking food to the 1937 GM sit down strikers. After her husband died of tuberculosis, she took a job at the GM plant. The men called her ‘Girl.’ She lived with her sons on Leith Street. My husband’s brother lived and worked in Flint until recently. When we visited my in-laws, we sometimes went into downtown Flint, perhaps to the farmers market, and over the years I saw its changes.
My family lived in Metro Detroit, Dad working in Highland Park at Chrysler. Belle Isle was a frequent day trip, visiting the conservatory with its humid tropical plants room and the aquarium with its gar fish, or watching for freighters going up and down the Detroit River. I was a teenager when the 1967 Rebellion was raging five miles down the road, watching helicopters take National Guard downtown.
Reading Chevy in the Hole was so amazing. Kelsey Ronan captures Detroit and Flint with the kind of accuracy only a local can: the downtown Flint Citizen’s Bank ball turning red to warn of bad weather; drinking Fago Red Pop and Vernors; the Jesus sign along the highway as you near Grand Blanc.
I kept calling out to my husband, “Do you remember…” “Did you know…”
Ronan’s characters live through iconic times: the 1967 Rebellion, the Detroit music scene of jazz, Motown, and iconic rock bands; the Flint Water Crisis and poisoned children; the GM sit down strike; the Great Migration; turning empty lots into farms and buying abandoned houses for rehab. It’s all in the novel, experienced through two interrelated families. At the center is the love story between August, blonde and a recovering drug addict, and Monae, black and on track for college. You learn how their family histories have shaped them, how Flint has harmed them, how their love of their city and each other brings them distress and hope.
I think you decide on someone and somewhere and that devotion is the sense it all makes. You choose someone and you try your best for them. I’ll take it if there’s more, but that’s enough for me. That’s the way I love you. That’s the way I love this place.
Monae in Chevy in the Hole by Kelsey Ronan
I loved these characters, these young people who had everything against them, everything against their hometown, and yet struggled to do their best. How they choose love in the real sense of the word. They have dreams that appear to be shattered, and somehow, like Detroit’s motto, they ‘hope for better things,’ they ‘rise again from the ashes.’
This is a beautiful debut novel and I can’t wait to read more from the author.
I received an ARC from Henry Holt through LibraryThing. My review is fair and unbiased.
My family lived in Metro Detroit, Dad working in Highland Park at Chrysler. Belle Isle was a frequent day trip, visiting the conservatory with its humid tropical plants room and the aquarium with its gar fish, or watching for freighters going up and down the Detroit River. I was a teenager when the 1967 Rebellion was raging five miles down the road, watching helicopters take National Guard downtown.
Reading Chevy in the Hole was so amazing. Kelsey Ronan captures Detroit and Flint with the kind of accuracy only a local can: the downtown Flint Citizen’s Bank ball turning red to warn of bad weather; drinking Fago Red Pop and Vernors; the Jesus sign along the highway as you near Grand Blanc.
I kept calling out to my husband, “Do you remember…” “Did you know…”
Ronan’s characters live through iconic times: the 1967 Rebellion, the Detroit music scene of jazz, Motown, and iconic rock bands; the Flint Water Crisis and poisoned children; the GM sit down strike; the Great Migration; turning empty lots into farms and buying abandoned houses for rehab. It’s all in the novel, experienced through two interrelated families. At the center is the love story between August, blonde and a recovering drug addict, and Monae, black and on track for college. You learn how their family histories have shaped them, how Flint has harmed them, how their love of their city and each other brings them distress and hope.
I think you decide on someone and somewhere and that devotion is the sense it all makes. You choose someone and you try your best for them. I’ll take it if there’s more, but that’s enough for me. That’s the way I love you. That’s the way I love this place.
Monae in Chevy in the Hole by Kelsey Ronan
I loved these characters, these young people who had everything against them, everything against their hometown, and yet struggled to do their best. How they choose love in the real sense of the word. They have dreams that appear to be shattered, and somehow, like Detroit’s motto, they ‘hope for better things,’ they ‘rise again from the ashes.’
This is a beautiful debut novel and I can’t wait to read more from the author.
I received an ARC from Henry Holt through LibraryThing. My review is fair and unbiased.
March 17, 2022
3. 5 stars, rounded up. Chevy in the Hole is Kelsey Ronan’s debut novel. I love strong working class fiction, and the title and book cover spoke to me. But while it shows a good deal of promise, it’s also a cautionary example of how, in trying to do too much, one can do too little. My thanks go to Net Galley and Henry Holt for the review copies. This book is for sale today.
The protagonists are Gus Molloy, who is Caucasian, and Monae Livingston, who is Black. The book opens as Gus is being revived with Narcan on the floor of a dirty restroom in Detroit. We follow him as he meets Monae, a student working at a farm outside of Flint. Their stories are told alternately with bits and pieces of the lives of their predecessors.
The story is promoted as a love letter to Flint, and a tribute to the resilience of its people; it’s a story of “love and betrayal, race and family.” And we do surely see all of those things, but as soon as one aspect or another is touched on, I wink and poof, it’s gone. Gus and Monae are both sympathetic characters, and I can’t help pulling for them, but I suspect the author could have developed them more fully had we not spent so much time and detail on fragments of their parents, grandparents and so on.
If the author’s purpose is to use these characters from the past to showcase the various struggles through which Flint has gone—sit-down strikes, Civil Rights marches, and now, this horrifying industrial sludge that has polluted the town’s drinking water—it could have been done in a paragraph or two, or through some other device than shifting the point of view. The frequent changes of character and time period make it confusing as heck, particularly while listening to the audio version; that’s a shame, because Janina Edwards is a warm, convincing reader.
But we frequently shift from one protagonist to the other, even after they are married, and all of these people from the past have to be sorted by both time period, and by which protagonist they are related to. A story like this should flow. As it is, it’s work listening to it, and had I not been granted a digital review copy as well to refer to, I might have given up.
My other frustration is that both the labor history and the Civil Rights issues—with Black people shut out of company housing in the past, and the issues with cop violence as well as the pollution that is visited most within the Black community—are huge. The pollution problem is immense, and ties back into both of the other issues. This book could be a powerhouse, a call for change to reward to the plucky souls that have stuck with this place through hell and high, toxic water. Instead they present almost like postcards; oh, look at this! Now look at that! Okay, never mind, let’s go on back to the present.
That being said, the author’s mission is an ambitious one, and her word smithery is of high caliber. I look forward to seeing what else she publishes.
If you choose to read this book, I recommend using the printed word, whether digitally or as a physical copy.
The protagonists are Gus Molloy, who is Caucasian, and Monae Livingston, who is Black. The book opens as Gus is being revived with Narcan on the floor of a dirty restroom in Detroit. We follow him as he meets Monae, a student working at a farm outside of Flint. Their stories are told alternately with bits and pieces of the lives of their predecessors.
The story is promoted as a love letter to Flint, and a tribute to the resilience of its people; it’s a story of “love and betrayal, race and family.” And we do surely see all of those things, but as soon as one aspect or another is touched on, I wink and poof, it’s gone. Gus and Monae are both sympathetic characters, and I can’t help pulling for them, but I suspect the author could have developed them more fully had we not spent so much time and detail on fragments of their parents, grandparents and so on.
If the author’s purpose is to use these characters from the past to showcase the various struggles through which Flint has gone—sit-down strikes, Civil Rights marches, and now, this horrifying industrial sludge that has polluted the town’s drinking water—it could have been done in a paragraph or two, or through some other device than shifting the point of view. The frequent changes of character and time period make it confusing as heck, particularly while listening to the audio version; that’s a shame, because Janina Edwards is a warm, convincing reader.
But we frequently shift from one protagonist to the other, even after they are married, and all of these people from the past have to be sorted by both time period, and by which protagonist they are related to. A story like this should flow. As it is, it’s work listening to it, and had I not been granted a digital review copy as well to refer to, I might have given up.
My other frustration is that both the labor history and the Civil Rights issues—with Black people shut out of company housing in the past, and the issues with cop violence as well as the pollution that is visited most within the Black community—are huge. The pollution problem is immense, and ties back into both of the other issues. This book could be a powerhouse, a call for change to reward to the plucky souls that have stuck with this place through hell and high, toxic water. Instead they present almost like postcards; oh, look at this! Now look at that! Okay, never mind, let’s go on back to the present.
That being said, the author’s mission is an ambitious one, and her word smithery is of high caliber. I look forward to seeing what else she publishes.
If you choose to read this book, I recommend using the printed word, whether digitally or as a physical copy.
March 12, 2022
Dubbed as a love letter to Flint, Michigan
Chevy In The Hole centers around August Molley or Gus who just overdosed in the bathroom at a farm-to-table restaurant where he works in Detroit. Soon afterward he returns to his family home in Flint Michigan where he meets Monae. Gus’s whole life soon changes as well as the outlook on his hometown whom it seems everyone has given up on.
With alternating timelines, Chevy In The Hole takes us to 1937 during a factory worker strike at a Chevrolet plant to the present-day Flint water crisis. Not only is the book centered around a love story but it’s also a multigenerational story of 2 families.
This raw, poignant, and frank story is one that I won’t be forgetting any time soon. Kelsey Ronan paints an accurately stunning portrait of modern-day America. The reader learns so much about blue-collar working families and Flint’s history. The town of Flint is a character itself in this story, even though I’ve never been to Michigan I felt the hometown pride along with the characters.
Not only is Chevy In The Hole a powerful and deeply moving story but it’s also at times humorous with a surprise appearance by Keith Moon of The Who. Filled with so much love and faith, I highly recommend this story to readers of contemporary fiction.
Chevy in the Hole will be available on March 15! A massive thanks to Henry Holt Books for the gifted copy.
Chevy In The Hole centers around August Molley or Gus who just overdosed in the bathroom at a farm-to-table restaurant where he works in Detroit. Soon afterward he returns to his family home in Flint Michigan where he meets Monae. Gus’s whole life soon changes as well as the outlook on his hometown whom it seems everyone has given up on.
With alternating timelines, Chevy In The Hole takes us to 1937 during a factory worker strike at a Chevrolet plant to the present-day Flint water crisis. Not only is the book centered around a love story but it’s also a multigenerational story of 2 families.
This raw, poignant, and frank story is one that I won’t be forgetting any time soon. Kelsey Ronan paints an accurately stunning portrait of modern-day America. The reader learns so much about blue-collar working families and Flint’s history. The town of Flint is a character itself in this story, even though I’ve never been to Michigan I felt the hometown pride along with the characters.
Not only is Chevy In The Hole a powerful and deeply moving story but it’s also at times humorous with a surprise appearance by Keith Moon of The Who. Filled with so much love and faith, I highly recommend this story to readers of contemporary fiction.
Chevy in the Hole will be available on March 15! A massive thanks to Henry Holt Books for the gifted copy.
March 4, 2022
I just finished listening to CHEVY IN THE HOLE by Kelsey Ronan. It’s a debut novel about a couple, August and Monae, and their families all living in Flint, Michigan.
.
What I liked:
- August and Monae are an interracial couple, August is white and Monae is Black
- Janina Edwards is an excellent narrator
- expansive timeline that spans several decades and features multiple generations of their families
- so many fun music references throughout the whole book including Keith Moon of the Who
.
What I didn’t like:
- alternating timelines between part and present were confusing
- it’s a quiet story so even though so much time passes nothing really happens
- I wasn’t feeling the love for the couple or the setting
- none of the characters stood out to me
.
So in the end I didn’t love this book and I found the story forgettable but I’d definitely be interested to listen to more books narrated by Edwards!
.
Thank you to Henry Holt Books for my advance reader’s edition and Macmillan Audio via NetGalley for my ALC!
.
What I liked:
- August and Monae are an interracial couple, August is white and Monae is Black
- Janina Edwards is an excellent narrator
- expansive timeline that spans several decades and features multiple generations of their families
- so many fun music references throughout the whole book including Keith Moon of the Who
.
What I didn’t like:
- alternating timelines between part and present were confusing
- it’s a quiet story so even though so much time passes nothing really happens
- I wasn’t feeling the love for the couple or the setting
- none of the characters stood out to me
.
So in the end I didn’t love this book and I found the story forgettable but I’d definitely be interested to listen to more books narrated by Edwards!
.
Thank you to Henry Holt Books for my advance reader’s edition and Macmillan Audio via NetGalley for my ALC!
October 30, 2021
Hard-hitting and heartwrenching, yet darkly humorous, too, this multigenerational novel entwines the fortunes of luckless recovering drug addict August and his would-be love, the earnest but discouraged urban farmer Monae, with the crumbling fortunes of their beloved birthplace, Flint, Michigan, long since poisoned by bigotry, discrimination, and polluted water. The action moves between Detroit and Flint, and between the generations of their family as each member strives to make a future against the odds, with heartbreakingly limited success. Cautious and distrustful, Monae cannot give August the unequivocally tender adoration he lavishes on her, and, confidence shaken, he moves heaven and earth to make it happen for them. A cameo appearance by a bloody, bare-chested Keith Moon of The Who in the backseat of a police cruiser alongside Monae's grandmother Goldie in 1967 after the band's drug-fueled hotel food fight is just one example of the kind of visceral episode, bad or glad, with which this story is replete. Musical references abound, especially in reference to the burgeoning music scene in Detroit and environs in the '50's and '60's. A love story, a cautionary tale of corporate greed and public corruption, and a seedling of verdant hope for the champions of greenspace and healthy generations to come.
October 29, 2021
Chevy in the Hole is a five-star novel filled with gorgeous prose, moving characters, historical perspective and a very good story arc. Kelsey Ronan has done Flint proud. She is a talented writer and story-teller. The nonlinear storyline stretches from the six-week Flint, Michigan, sit-down strike at a Chevrolet factory in 1937 to the present-day Flint Water Crisis. The book opens in 2014 and follows two intersecting characters and their families, going back and forth in time, weaving together a beautiful story of pain, struggle, perseverance and hope. Whether you have lived in Flint, currently live in Flint or have only heard about it in the news, the characters of Monae and August will stay with you for a long time. Ronan’s depiction of Flint fills me with a sense of the humanity and resilience of a city that has been sucker-punched with economic hardship, mismanagement and turmoil. I heartily recommend nabbing a copy of this book when it becomes widely available in March, 2022.
March 10, 2022
Ugh friends, it’s finally happened. My first DNF of the year. When I was sent a review copy I was geeked.
I was SO excited for this one. It was one of my most anticipated books of the year and I cannot do it. I made it 125 pages and finally gave up.
The writing is… thick? Dense? Wordy? It’s almost written like a lyrical fantasy, just about Flint instead of Narnia. It’s got flowery fantastical language but instead of making it a beautiful and wonderful story to read it made it arduous and confusing. The jumps in time were confusing and I found myself having to go back and see what era I was reading in.
Not every book is for everybody. I always feel guilty DNF’ing but I promised myself I wouldn’t waste my minuscule free time reading something I’m not enjoying this year.
I was SO excited for this one. It was one of my most anticipated books of the year and I cannot do it. I made it 125 pages and finally gave up.
The writing is… thick? Dense? Wordy? It’s almost written like a lyrical fantasy, just about Flint instead of Narnia. It’s got flowery fantastical language but instead of making it a beautiful and wonderful story to read it made it arduous and confusing. The jumps in time were confusing and I found myself having to go back and see what era I was reading in.
Not every book is for everybody. I always feel guilty DNF’ing but I promised myself I wouldn’t waste my minuscule free time reading something I’m not enjoying this year.
September 20, 2021
I blurbed it! - “Chevy in the Hole is a story of what we destroy and what we create. Kelsey Ronan beautifully draws out the complex lives in two Flint families who are challenged, again and again, by the possibilities of home and belonging. It's not only about falling in love in a city in crisis, but a love story for the city itself -- its haunted past, its yet-to-be-written future, and most of all, its people. Written with uncommon depth, humor, and generosity of spirit, this is just an extraordinarily good novel. I missed it when it was over.”
March 31, 2022
3.5 ⭐️
It’s hard to imagine a prosperous automobile factory ever existed in Flint, Michigan. If I had to give just a few words about this book it would be an American failure. Besides the fall of the factory there was also the fall of relationships. This brutally honest depiction of Chevy in the hole was at time difficult to listen to. And I wonder if it were to happen today would we still make the same mistakes? Could we have prevented so much damage?
If I learned anything from this, it’s that we have to hold onto something good, healthy and take responsibility for our part of our American story.
It’s never to late to start doing the right thing.
I chose to listen to this book on audio and it was 8 hours and 8 minutes. The narrator was Janina Edwards and she was a 5 star. I don’t know if listening to this would be the best outlet because I was often confused about the present and past.
Thanks Macmillan Audio via NetGalley.
It’s hard to imagine a prosperous automobile factory ever existed in Flint, Michigan. If I had to give just a few words about this book it would be an American failure. Besides the fall of the factory there was also the fall of relationships. This brutally honest depiction of Chevy in the hole was at time difficult to listen to. And I wonder if it were to happen today would we still make the same mistakes? Could we have prevented so much damage?
If I learned anything from this, it’s that we have to hold onto something good, healthy and take responsibility for our part of our American story.
It’s never to late to start doing the right thing.
I chose to listen to this book on audio and it was 8 hours and 8 minutes. The narrator was Janina Edwards and she was a 5 star. I don’t know if listening to this would be the best outlet because I was often confused about the present and past.
Thanks Macmillan Audio via NetGalley.
October 22, 2022
Had August Molloy not returned from the dead that morning in Detroit, the Molloy family line would've ended in the bathroom of a farm-to-table restaurant midway through lunch service.
And so opens this novel about August and how he moved back to Flint and met Monae at a small urban farm near the old General Motors plant. It's also a novel about earlier Molloys living in Flint during the sit-down strike in the thirties at that same plant and during the unrest of the sixties. These other storylines are given much less space than the one that follows August and Monae and despite this, much of the most interesting parts of their story happens between chapters. This is Kelsey Ronan's first novel and it shows. What is also evident is the author's real affection for Flint and her deep knowledge of local history, factors that make this book worth reading.
And so opens this novel about August and how he moved back to Flint and met Monae at a small urban farm near the old General Motors plant. It's also a novel about earlier Molloys living in Flint during the sit-down strike in the thirties at that same plant and during the unrest of the sixties. These other storylines are given much less space than the one that follows August and Monae and despite this, much of the most interesting parts of their story happens between chapters. This is Kelsey Ronan's first novel and it shows. What is also evident is the author's real affection for Flint and her deep knowledge of local history, factors that make this book worth reading.
March 22, 2022
This is not my typical book genre choice. I chose to read this due to the setting of the book.
The book alternates between Flint and Detroit, MI. Since I live in metro Detroit, I thought that this would be interesting - and it definitely was!
I thought this book was so well written and researched. All of the history, the landmarks, the music and the detail, I thought, were just sprinkled throughout so perfectly and really gave me a sense of nostalgia.
The characters were likeable and relatable. Gus and Monae did not have a happy fairytale relationship - they had struggles that create a more accurate portrayal of real life.
The Flint Water Crisis was major influence on their relationship, which again, is something that portrays real life. The hardships that the people of Flint went through and are STILL going through to this day, really reverberate throughout the novel.
When the Flint Water Crisis first came to light, it was devastating news - everyone I knew, including myself, was donating cases of water or donating to a cause that was helping. Children in the area were rallying at their schools and even outside of their schools, to collect water, among other things needed, to take to Flint. I couldn't even imagine what the people of Flint were going through - but this book will allow you TO imagine that. Its heartbreaking and yet the resilience of the people of Flint and Detroit - is also so beautiful.
Even when Monae is talking about her dreams and plans for abandoned lots in Flint - I just cant help but think - how many people do this? How many people can see the beauty and potential in the blight and dream up something so wonderful, something to make change while also giving back to the community? Not many. But the people of Detroit do. The people of Flint do. I witnessed the power of these communities and the resilience that breaks through despite being left behind by city and state leaders and others who fled the community and never looked back.
I agree with other reviews that the shift between time lines was confusing, at times. It didn't really bother me too much, or take away from the story overall, though.
Many thanks to Henry Holt and Co. for my Advanced Review Copy
The book alternates between Flint and Detroit, MI. Since I live in metro Detroit, I thought that this would be interesting - and it definitely was!
I thought this book was so well written and researched. All of the history, the landmarks, the music and the detail, I thought, were just sprinkled throughout so perfectly and really gave me a sense of nostalgia.
The characters were likeable and relatable. Gus and Monae did not have a happy fairytale relationship - they had struggles that create a more accurate portrayal of real life.
The Flint Water Crisis was major influence on their relationship, which again, is something that portrays real life. The hardships that the people of Flint went through and are STILL going through to this day, really reverberate throughout the novel.
When the Flint Water Crisis first came to light, it was devastating news - everyone I knew, including myself, was donating cases of water or donating to a cause that was helping. Children in the area were rallying at their schools and even outside of their schools, to collect water, among other things needed, to take to Flint. I couldn't even imagine what the people of Flint were going through - but this book will allow you TO imagine that. Its heartbreaking and yet the resilience of the people of Flint and Detroit - is also so beautiful.
Even when Monae is talking about her dreams and plans for abandoned lots in Flint - I just cant help but think - how many people do this? How many people can see the beauty and potential in the blight and dream up something so wonderful, something to make change while also giving back to the community? Not many. But the people of Detroit do. The people of Flint do. I witnessed the power of these communities and the resilience that breaks through despite being left behind by city and state leaders and others who fled the community and never looked back.
I agree with other reviews that the shift between time lines was confusing, at times. It didn't really bother me too much, or take away from the story overall, though.
Many thanks to Henry Holt and Co. for my Advanced Review Copy
March 10, 2022
First of all, I just wanted to thank Henry Holt and Company for sending me this finished copy of Chevy in the Hole by debut author, Kelsey Ronan. This book is set to hit shelves Tuesday, March 15th and I'm so excited to preview it for you.
Another excellently characterized 5/5 star read for me. Kelsey Ronan tells the harrowing tale of decades upon decades of generational trauma for two families in a city that just can't seem to catch a break -- Flint, Michigan.
From the mid-thirties and their sit-down/worker strikes to the sixties with its racism-filled segregation in specific neighborhoods, to the once-booming auto companies outright leaving the city and crashing the economy, to even most recently, their polluted water supply which started back in 2016 -- which is crazy that it's been 6 six years of that nonsense for those innocent citizens.
Starting off in present day, we follow August and Monae, each with their bloodlines tied to Flint, going through their own struggles. With August fresh into sobriety and NA classes and Monae having to care for her Mother and graduate with her degree, the two form a bond where they brave the misfortunes that plague their journey going forward and looking back.
5/5 I highly recommend this one.
Another excellently characterized 5/5 star read for me. Kelsey Ronan tells the harrowing tale of decades upon decades of generational trauma for two families in a city that just can't seem to catch a break -- Flint, Michigan.
From the mid-thirties and their sit-down/worker strikes to the sixties with its racism-filled segregation in specific neighborhoods, to the once-booming auto companies outright leaving the city and crashing the economy, to even most recently, their polluted water supply which started back in 2016 -- which is crazy that it's been 6 six years of that nonsense for those innocent citizens.
Starting off in present day, we follow August and Monae, each with their bloodlines tied to Flint, going through their own struggles. With August fresh into sobriety and NA classes and Monae having to care for her Mother and graduate with her degree, the two form a bond where they brave the misfortunes that plague their journey going forward and looking back.
5/5 I highly recommend this one.
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August 30, 2021I can’t decide how I feel about this book, and so I have let the review go for far too long. If I had written this immediately after finishing the book, I may have given it a solid 3 stars, but now that a couple of weeks have gone by, I am not sure I’d even give it those 3. I am having trouble remembering much about the story except some quirky details - a recovering addict buys a house near a river, strikes at an auto plant, a character steals the horse head costume her father wore years ago from the basement of the museum where she works - these are the things that stayed with me, along with the frustration of
how often and sudden the shifts of time and place occur in the storyline. It was difficult to stay engaged with the story, or to get a real sense of the characters because it all felt so disjointed and haphazard. This one was simply not for me.
how often and sudden the shifts of time and place occur in the storyline. It was difficult to stay engaged with the story, or to get a real sense of the characters because it all felt so disjointed and haphazard. This one was simply not for me.
December 9, 2021
I am a maniacal binge-reader who is not happy unless she has three different books going at any given time--I don't like to waste my time reading one book at once because I am an addictive, insatiable reader. CHEVY IN THE HOLE screwed that up for me in the best possible way--I had to slow down, I had to savor, and I was more satisfied than I've been in any reading experience this year.
Full of heart and grit, historical and contemporary, an elegy and a celebration. I've sworn off novels for the rest of 2021 (I know it's only a few weeks) because this was the best read I read all year. Can't wait to revisit when it's published in March.
Full of heart and grit, historical and contemporary, an elegy and a celebration. I've sworn off novels for the rest of 2021 (I know it's only a few weeks) because this was the best read I read all year. Can't wait to revisit when it's published in March.
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July 20, 2024I loved so many components of this story. Although, I feel like the jump in time from Gus and Monae meeting, to dating, to marriage is a bit jarring. I feel as if alot of the stuff that makes a relationship is skipped over, but I do appreciate the movement in time and the pain this story embodies. I love that it is so heavily anchored to place. I feel like there are components to the book I would love to see expanded, but for a debut novel this book was absolutely phenomenal. I loved the family connections in time. I loved the 2022 epilogue. This one is definitely worth the read (especially as a Michigander).
March 16, 2023
There is not a single thing I liked about this book. If I hadn’t had to read it for work, I would never ever have touched it. I hated the authors word choices and description style, I hated all the characters, and the was just— nothing! No story, no plot, just shitty characters in multiple timelines cheating on their spouses and fucking up their children. But then there’s a million references/name drops to Detroit and Flint, because god forbid the reader forgets for half a second where the book takes place.
March 10, 2022
4.5 star rating!
As soon as I saw this book on Goodreads giveaway I was super excited to read it. For those of you not from the Flint, MI area Chevy in the Hole is a former site of a Chevrolet factory.
I really enjoyed this book. It was a great mix of historical fiction and contemporary literature.
As someone who was always lived in the Flint area and comes from a GM family I really appreciated the history of Flint and GM throughout the book. And I loved how the history of Flint wove into the present story of Monae and August.
Thanks Kelsey for highlighting some of the issues that plague Flint. Hopefully this reaches people in a way a news article can’t!
I was given an opportunity to read this book by Goodreads, Netgalley, and Henry Holt & Company in exchange for an honest review
As soon as I saw this book on Goodreads giveaway I was super excited to read it. For those of you not from the Flint, MI area Chevy in the Hole is a former site of a Chevrolet factory.
I really enjoyed this book. It was a great mix of historical fiction and contemporary literature.
As someone who was always lived in the Flint area and comes from a GM family I really appreciated the history of Flint and GM throughout the book. And I loved how the history of Flint wove into the present story of Monae and August.
Thanks Kelsey for highlighting some of the issues that plague Flint. Hopefully this reaches people in a way a news article can’t!
I was given an opportunity to read this book by Goodreads, Netgalley, and Henry Holt & Company in exchange for an honest review
March 30, 2022
A slow but moving read with two main characters you passionately want to succeed interspersed with chapters about their family members from previous generations. It was a little confusing at times, and sometimes broke the rhythm of the story with the two MCs. But it did help set the stage for the generational traumas both the characters and the city of Flint faced. A worthy read.
March 13, 2022
I was lucky to win this book from a Goodreads Giveaway. I learned a great deal about the past and present struggles in Flint, MI as it was brought to life in this well written story.
I definitely recommend this book to all!
I definitely recommend this book to all!
May 12, 2022
I was excited to read this book, mainly because of the description: walking through the lives of 3 generations in Flint, Michigan. Unfortunately it did not meet those expectations. Because it tried to cover 3 generations and 2 different families in each, there was not time to develop any of the characters or even for the reader to learn sufficient information about them. On top of that, reading it got confusing for me. Because we had such little time with the characters, it was hard to make sense of who was who. There needed to be more clarity on that earlier.
Monae and August’s characters seemed to be the central characters in the book, but their storyline was upsetting and left largely unresolved. In essence, their story was of 2 people who got married after hardly knowing each other, had a baby at age 20, then august had a near brush with a drug addiction relapse, and then things got magically ok in the last 10 pages of the book. Their storyline was just sad and disappointing from start to finish.
Monae and August’s characters seemed to be the central characters in the book, but their storyline was upsetting and left largely unresolved. In essence, their story was of 2 people who got married after hardly knowing each other, had a baby at age 20, then august had a near brush with a drug addiction relapse, and then things got magically ok in the last 10 pages of the book. Their storyline was just sad and disappointing from start to finish.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 21, 2022
Ronan really nailed the Flint culture in this book, billed as a romantic fiction which it was not - it was a gritty, brutal, observant story of survival in a once beautiful and thriving industry town which was abandoned and left for dead along with all its inhabitants. She really captures the working class, disenfranchised culture as well as the unique aspects of the Motown influences as she goes back and forth between the sixties and the protests, and the decay into the Rust Belt and the attendant problems of addiction, poverty and racism. But she also captures the nuances of daily living in that environment, that town, that area of Michigan. I was born there and although not raised there, my maternal family lived in Flint all their lives so I was present continuously for the many decades before they died or moved out and so much of the tiny details ring true and clear. It's the kind of book people should read to understand America's political position today, quite frankly.
April 11, 2023
I'll admit it - I saw myself in so many corners of "Chevy in the Hole" that my review is admittedly biased, but I am not alone. My sister called Kelsey Ronan's debut novel "a love story to Flint." Being that she and I both grew up in Flint, Michigan (and then the suburbs) - and that I returned to Flint for the first 7 years of my teaching career - I immediately understood what she meant. "Chevy in the Hole" is an uncanny trip through our past as Flintoids, unfolding the significant historic moments and cultural markers of a city that has been repeatedly dismissed as godforsaken, repeatedly underestimated and undervalued.
The story layers the slow-cooking romance that builds between two young Flint Natives. Gus has miraculously survived after o.d.ing in a restaurant bathroom in Detroit and moved "home" to his sister's apartment in Flint to find himself through NA, bible passages, his love of music, and through volunteer work at an unexpected urban community farm. Monae works at the farm and is utterly no-nonsense, focused on her studies and on bringing health and wellness to the food desert she grew up in. It is 2015, and the Flint Water Crisis is just moments from exploding and destroying the city - but it is not the first time that Flint has been the victim of corporate greed, abandoned by those in power.
Ronan cleverly weaves in almost a century of Flint history in the strands of the lives of two families - one white and one black - both connected to Monae and Gus' families. She brings to life multiple historic moments that have defined Flint: scenes from the iconic auto plant sit down strike of the 1930s that was foundational in establishing the United Auto Workers, the auto industry forsaking Flint for greener pastures, scenes of powder-keg-ripples of the Detroit riots, redlining, and Motown music shuttling up I-75 to Flint. And my personal favorite Flint eff-up: the unbelievably laughable plan to "save" Flint with a Six-Flags theme park called Autoworld (it closed after just 6 months).
If you lived in Flint at any point in your life, you'll see just how much attention to detail, how much research Ronan put into writing this book. From the characters' choice beverage of Vernors to Keith Moon (drummer for The Who) trashing the Bristol Road Holiday Inn after playing Atwood Stadium, Ronan's fiction is bolstered by a cultural and political backdrop that make it read as not only a love story, but HISTORY.
Ronan is nobody's fool. She seems to understand that Flint has been godforsaken time and again, but through the story of Monae and Gus, through their families, we can see that out of the ashes comes something new and fearfully formed. Some may even call it hope.
The story layers the slow-cooking romance that builds between two young Flint Natives. Gus has miraculously survived after o.d.ing in a restaurant bathroom in Detroit and moved "home" to his sister's apartment in Flint to find himself through NA, bible passages, his love of music, and through volunteer work at an unexpected urban community farm. Monae works at the farm and is utterly no-nonsense, focused on her studies and on bringing health and wellness to the food desert she grew up in. It is 2015, and the Flint Water Crisis is just moments from exploding and destroying the city - but it is not the first time that Flint has been the victim of corporate greed, abandoned by those in power.
Ronan cleverly weaves in almost a century of Flint history in the strands of the lives of two families - one white and one black - both connected to Monae and Gus' families. She brings to life multiple historic moments that have defined Flint: scenes from the iconic auto plant sit down strike of the 1930s that was foundational in establishing the United Auto Workers, the auto industry forsaking Flint for greener pastures, scenes of powder-keg-ripples of the Detroit riots, redlining, and Motown music shuttling up I-75 to Flint. And my personal favorite Flint eff-up: the unbelievably laughable plan to "save" Flint with a Six-Flags theme park called Autoworld (it closed after just 6 months).
If you lived in Flint at any point in your life, you'll see just how much attention to detail, how much research Ronan put into writing this book. From the characters' choice beverage of Vernors to Keith Moon (drummer for The Who) trashing the Bristol Road Holiday Inn after playing Atwood Stadium, Ronan's fiction is bolstered by a cultural and political backdrop that make it read as not only a love story, but HISTORY.
Ronan is nobody's fool. She seems to understand that Flint has been godforsaken time and again, but through the story of Monae and Gus, through their families, we can see that out of the ashes comes something new and fearfully formed. Some may even call it hope.
May 16, 2022
I could not finish this book written by a white woman who has loose stereotypical views of people of color in Flint
As A white male I recognize the hypocrisy of even leaving this review but I couldn’t even get 30% into this book. As a Flint Native I appreciated the setting and the way it was described. What I did not appreciate however is that this author, a white woman, chooses to write the story from the perspective of two generations of African American families. Flippantly writing about an experience and describing a group of people in generalized and stereotypical ways that seem to be based on experiences she herself knows nothing about. I couldn’t keep going as I felt clingy and uncomfortable and felt she should have been more mindful of her choice of words and perspectives
As A white male I recognize the hypocrisy of even leaving this review but I couldn’t even get 30% into this book. As a Flint Native I appreciated the setting and the way it was described. What I did not appreciate however is that this author, a white woman, chooses to write the story from the perspective of two generations of African American families. Flippantly writing about an experience and describing a group of people in generalized and stereotypical ways that seem to be based on experiences she herself knows nothing about. I couldn’t keep going as I felt clingy and uncomfortable and felt she should have been more mindful of her choice of words and perspectives
October 1, 2021
A beautiful novel about the possibilities of redemption, not only for individuals but entire communities. Protagonists Gus and Monae struggle amidst the Flint Water Crisis after generations of family trauma and a city wrecked by the loss of dignity that comes with the loss of work. Flint herself is a transcendent character, her familiar streets and stores and sidewalks playing the role of Mother Nature, capable of both savage devastation but also a beacon of hope.
April 14, 2022
My sister came across this book in the little library of Lyons, Colorado and sent a text to ask if I’d heard of it. We were both intrigued by the title and soon realized it was a story based in Flint, Michigan.
Flint is about an hour north and a world apart from Ann Arbor, where we grew up. However, while reading this story, I learned some history about Flint and Detroit, and also remembered bits of events and pop culture that reached me far away in A2. I kept asking my husband if he remembered this and that, and my sister and I shared surprise bits of history that popped up. (Who knew that Keith Moon drove a Caddy into a Flint hotel pool on his 21st birthday?)
The mysterious title, “Chevy in the Hole,” sounds like the title of a bluegrass tune, but turns out to be the nickname for part of a GM factory in Flint. The buildings have long been demolished but the area still exists as a flat desert of concrete.
This is a love story about people in Flint, and a love story about the city of Flint: what it was, what it is, and what it might be. The author is from Flint and her love of her home town comes through, even as she describes the heartbreak of its collapse from a thriving, wealthy industrial community, to its impoverished, shuttered buildings, demolished factories, and eventually to its polluted drinking water at the hands of criminal politicians. It is a history of greed, disregard, classism, and racism.
A main character expresses hope for what is yet to come, in both her love for her husband and her love for their city when she says, “I think you decide on someone and somewhere and the devotion is the sense it all makes. You choose someone and you try your best for them. That’s the way I love you. That’s the way I love this place.”
The story moves back and forth in time, which I found confusing when I tried listening to it on Audible. The reader was excellent but when I switched to a hard copy, I enjoyed it much more.
I’m glad my sis happened upon this unique book about Michigan way out in Colorado. It’s given me much to think about and it’s fun reflecting on it with her.
Flint is about an hour north and a world apart from Ann Arbor, where we grew up. However, while reading this story, I learned some history about Flint and Detroit, and also remembered bits of events and pop culture that reached me far away in A2. I kept asking my husband if he remembered this and that, and my sister and I shared surprise bits of history that popped up. (Who knew that Keith Moon drove a Caddy into a Flint hotel pool on his 21st birthday?)
The mysterious title, “Chevy in the Hole,” sounds like the title of a bluegrass tune, but turns out to be the nickname for part of a GM factory in Flint. The buildings have long been demolished but the area still exists as a flat desert of concrete.
This is a love story about people in Flint, and a love story about the city of Flint: what it was, what it is, and what it might be. The author is from Flint and her love of her home town comes through, even as she describes the heartbreak of its collapse from a thriving, wealthy industrial community, to its impoverished, shuttered buildings, demolished factories, and eventually to its polluted drinking water at the hands of criminal politicians. It is a history of greed, disregard, classism, and racism.
A main character expresses hope for what is yet to come, in both her love for her husband and her love for their city when she says, “I think you decide on someone and somewhere and the devotion is the sense it all makes. You choose someone and you try your best for them. That’s the way I love you. That’s the way I love this place.”
The story moves back and forth in time, which I found confusing when I tried listening to it on Audible. The reader was excellent but when I switched to a hard copy, I enjoyed it much more.
I’m glad my sis happened upon this unique book about Michigan way out in Colorado. It’s given me much to think about and it’s fun reflecting on it with her.
August 4, 2025
I liked this book and would give it 4 stars overall. Although I think it’s my personal perspective that makes the book really enjoyable. Knowing the places she talks about and having that same connection and nostalgia to those places was so special to read about, especially because so often the outside ideas/perceptions we hear about Flint are terrible. Reading and seeing these things in print- the same things I saw happening as a child and teenager- was just so affirming.
The last 3 chapters really rounded things out for me and tied everything together nicely. I really enjoyed the themes of reconciliation in these chapters - not only within a romantic relationship that’s been put through the wringer due to poverty, mental health/stress and overall environmental injustice but also with the city of Flint itself and the relationship of being a community member and resident. And it all ended with a scene on Mott Lake which was the best cherry on top <3
The last 3 chapters really rounded things out for me and tied everything together nicely. I really enjoyed the themes of reconciliation in these chapters - not only within a romantic relationship that’s been put through the wringer due to poverty, mental health/stress and overall environmental injustice but also with the city of Flint itself and the relationship of being a community member and resident. And it all ended with a scene on Mott Lake which was the best cherry on top <3
March 25, 2023
Received this book from someone who couldn’t ‘get into it’ and would say this story has some difficult social issues addressed- no spoilers there. I live in Flint now and was here prior to the water crisis. Its a city that’s had a bad reputation. I admit it has some truly awful aspects but those DO NOT outweigh the amazing things and resilient people that live here. Although this is a work of fiction, the characters have a ring of authenticity. The many challenges citizens face in this story are relatable to other blue collar communities who have lost their tax base and the profound affect it has on the people who remain.
#toughasflint
#toughasflint
March 11, 2022
This is a beautiful debut full of characters that work to navigate life in Detroit and Flint, Michigan. Its the story of August and Monae at heart, but includes multi generations in the past to show how their families have gotten to the point they are. Thank you to Henry Holt Books and Goodreads for this Giveaway win!
September 1, 2025
The story of Flint, MI from GM strikes, to riots to water crisis, forms the backdrop of the family stories, romance and struggles of sobriety. Flint is humanized through these stories, which at times get confusing because of different time periods and different characters.
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