Reviews
“At this point, I forget whether Pete Wurdock is a photographer who writes or a writer who takes great photographs. But I know I love the way he combines words and images to bring to life wise birds, Pine Stump Junction and so much of what makes the Upper Peninsula our state’s North Star.”
Neal Rubin, Detroit Free Press
“With A NOSTALGIC LENS, by Michigan author Peter Wurdock, the pristine and untarnished memories of his own experiences as a youth roaming the open and uncontaminated terrain of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula flow full circle with pristine clarity as an adult in this poignant and thoughtfully rendered portrait; which is a blend of starkly shot and panoramic black & white photographs and family photos spanning the decades, woven together and framed with short and deeply moving essays detailing his life in the Upper Peninsula after leaving the hustle and bustle of Metro Detroit.”
Robert Martin, Review Magazine
“In a voice at once elegiac and vividly present, Peter Wurdock takes his reader on a personal journey through joy and sorrow, wonder and pain, and some of the America’s most arresting landscapes, captured in the author’s stark photographs. Equal parts memoir and travelogue, A NOSTALGIC LENS embraces a life bifurcated by hundreds of miles and half a century, becoming a prayer for the simple pleasures and burdens of a time now past. You will be transported and captivated. And you will fall in love with Wurdock’s greyhounds.”
Bryan Gruley, Award-winning author of the Starvation Lake trilogy
“Peter Wurdock’s photos and words capture the ineffable in this lovely collection. That he knows and loves the UP—along with the human heart—is clear from page one. His book will have a special spot on my mantle as he conveyed much that I long to.”
Ellen Airgood, two-time Michigan Notable Book award winner, UP Notable Book Award winner, Midwest bestseller.
“In his latest work of prose and photographs, Wurdock captures the essence of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula – from the divinely majestic to the beautifully mundane – delivered with the spirit of a wayward traveler.”
Fred Nahhat, Producer and Host, Detroit Public Television
“A beautiful tribute to the Upper Peninsula, Wurdock’s poetry and
photographs combine to make this a lovely, inspiring look at the hidden
– and obvious – beauty of Michigan’s U.P.”Grand Rapids Press
“Peter Wurdock's exquisite photographs and moving words combine
beautifully to create an aesthetic that is extremely unique and rare in this
fast paced world and reality we all find ourselves currently living in the
21st century. Places I Hide is a wonderful oasis of beauty and
contemplation, and it beckons all to come and sit awhile to see and feel
the real beauty of this world.”M.L. Liebler, Professor & Author of the award winning
Wide Awake in Someone Else's Dream (Wayne State University Press)
“Between the Cottages" is short, just 44 pages of pictures and text giving
a brief history of family and of summer life at Assembly Park, a 214-
cottage colony on the north side of Delavan Lake near Lake Lawn Lodge,
but in those pages and with few words, Wurdock evokes the timeless,
seemingly endless lazy summer days spent lakeside.”Janesville Gazette, Janesville Wisconsin
“Peter Wurdock’s book Between the Cottages is a masterpiece of art and
beauty.”M.L. Liebler, Dept of English, Wayne State University Co-Editor,
Michigan Writers Series Wayne State University Press
“"In Bending Water and Stories Nearby, Peter Wurdock has infused new life
into the literary landscape with a collection of short stories that are reminiscent
of the pioneering narratives of Hemingway’s Nick Adams stories, avoiding the
pitfalls of the derivative by plotting a course through the rough, unpredictable,
and often isolated terrain of Michigan’s natural splendor, populated with
characters wrestling with emotive realization in a voice that is as equally
fresh as it is contemporary."
"Possessing a gift for concise, laconic, and lyrical prose, Wurdock fashions
together a series of vignettes embracing the overwhelming density of the
forests that often confines these characters to the haunting echoes of their
past and leads both character and reader to the light of realization and
epiphany that ultimately sets them free, for better or worse, in a manner
that is worthy of such literary landmarks and meditations on small town
life as Sherwood Andersen’s Winesburg, Ohio."Robert E. Martin • Editor & Publisher • Review Magazine