"Riding back
To where the highway met
Dead end tracks
The ground is now cement and glass
And far away
Heal her soul, carry her, my angel, Ohio
Green green youth
What about the sweetness we knew
What about what's good what's true
From those days
Can't count to
All the lovers I've burned through
So why do I still burn for you
I can't say
Sorry that
I could never love you back
I could never care enough in these last days
Heal her soul, carry her, my angel, Ohi0" – “Carry Me Ohio” by Mark Kozelek

I’m not sure I can give this book the review it deserves. Ostensibly, it is a novel about turmoil, the inner feelings and the outer experiences, that transpired in the years since 9/11, specifically for a group of small town high school friends who came of age during this time. However, as I read it, I felt a pull back to my own youth and the observations and feelings we experienced during the Viet Nam war. There are many differences, to be sure, but the same conflicted emotions and beliefs, the same struggles to make sense of it all in the midst of the exuberance and wild excesses of youth – none of that has changed.

This novel weaves in and out, backward and forward, among students in New Canaan, Ohio. They are the jocks, both football heroes and the hero-worshipping volleyball-playing girlfriends or cheerleaders. They are geeks and nerds. They are children trying to figure out who and what they are and what they believe, in a town where alcohol and meth and oxy and sex and love and sorrow and Christianity cross all lines and blur together. The story is told in separate chapters from the points of view of the main characters, and move from the present to the past and back again in each chapter. This writing style could go horribly wrong in some books; in this one, it works to perfection. This is an intricate, detailed story; every character is key, and it’s important to pay attention all the way through. I made the mistake of slightly skimming through the prologue, because I erroneously believed at that point that the book would be mostly narrative, and I wasn’t sure I was going to like that. I was wrong on both counts; there is substantial dialogue throughout, and I found myself, at 75% through, going back to re-read the prologue because I loved the book so much, I wanted to make sure I understood every step the author had led me through before I reached the end.

This is not a pretty book, but it’s a beautifully written one. It is filled with darkness and horror, despair and pain. The sadness is overwhelming at times, but never does it not seem absolutely, one hundred percent real. There are lines that made me want to weep with the beauty of them, with the sheer lyrical loveliness of them. I’m a sucker for any story that paints a picture so heart-breaking that you believe while you’re reading it that you’ll never read anything more perfect. Ohio did this for me.

Be aware that this may not be an easy read for some of you. There are events that happen throughout that are unpleasant and traumatic, all the way to the very end. But I loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the privilege of an advance reading copy in exchange for my honest review. 5 stars, at the very minimum.

Ohio by Stephen Markley is the story of a Rust Belt town and the people who live in it. Markley is the author of the memoir Publish This Book: The Unbelievable True Story of How I Wrote, Sold, and Published This Very Book and the travelogue Tales of Iceland.

Growing up and living in Cleveland, I remember the tail end of the 1960s, 1970s, and the early 1980s, before leaving for the Marines.  I can recall the culture and impending doom that Ohio brings out. The industry-based economy had been stumbling for quite some time with several false starts towards recovery. My parents moved to the suburbs in the 1980s which seemed nice, basically major crime free, nice schools, park, and library. Today the opiates have replaced marijuana. Unemployment leaves a chronic shadow on the community.

I was drawn to the book not only by name and location, Northeast Ohio but also by the cover. I try not to be drawn in by the book covers but this one took me back. Although the convenient store on the cover displays the colors of the 7/11 chain, I was reminded of the Lawson's store at the corner of my street. There were quite a lot of memories tied to the store from drinking Coke on the loading dock, buying lunch food at the deli, and playing pinball inside the store.

The writing in this novel is superb. There is a great effort in the setting and the characters that creates depth to the story moving it from just a novel into literature: 

A vortex of blue light spilled across the pavement, the streets, the downtown buildings, swirling violet violence and a piercing hiss as the oxygen was sucked into another dimension.  It flew backwards into the hot cerulean spiral, gazing mad black eyes, and when it passed over the edge of existence, the puncture in the universe wheezed painfully and then zipped up like a wound stitching itself shut. 

Like the cover shot in the night, most of the book seems to take place in a darkness. The image of an eternal night is filled with things that are not seen by all or even most people. Night hides a variety of ills which the book slowly reveals. 

The city itself is New Canaan which plays on Biblical Canaan. The Biblical Canaan was the promised land of the Israelites -- the land of milk and honey. New Canaan, however, is the land of broken dreams and anguish.  Glory Days have turned to drugs, drinking, and self-mutilation.  Industry has left, the real estate market never recovered, homes are foreclosed, a few bars and a local restaurant is all that seems to remain. 

The economic disaster that has come to define the region is brought out through the characters lives, four of which have come back to the city for various reasons.  Bill Ashcraft an activist and outspoken anti-war crusader, whose life has become a blur of alcohol and drugs, comes back as a courier for former classmate Kaylyn.  Stacey Moore a Ph.D. candidate in English returns to meet with the mother of her high school lover.  Dan Eaton a veteran of three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and balances his need to escape New Canaan and the girl he left behind.  Tina Ross the daughter of a minister struggles with popularity and her beliefs.   Also having a major role in the story, but only through flashbacks, are the football hero and Marine Corporal Rick Brinkland whose funeral opens the book.  Lisa Han, half Vietnamese, raised by a single caucasian mother plays a central role connecting the other characters together.  She remains a bit of the mystery as no one has seen her since high school but some have received emails and postcards. 

The story introduces separate threads that weave together into a complete story.  Each bit of information revealed in the story is tied together wonderfully by the end of the novel.  Markley manages to introduce almost every key issue of that generation into the novel without forcing any issue into the story.  Crime, drugs, terrorism, war, anti-war, sexuality, murder, sex, abuse both physical and emotional, are all pieces that complete the picture.  Revealing the sins of the past brings little cheer to the reader. Instead, the reader will be rewarded with a dark story that is played over and over in may Rust Belt cities.  Those who live or lived there know it well and others will be introduced to the American nightmare.  Fiction mimics real life in Ohio.

Available: August 21st 2018

2 stars

This is an interesting debut novel.

This books is a story about four late-twenties people who are tortured by their past. They came from a small town in Ohio nicknamed “The Cane” for New Canaan, Ohio. They are trying to forge a future for themselves.

The town itself has suffered hard times for quite a while. From the Great Depression to drug wars and, lately, the banking crisis with its attendant foreclosures and evictions; these all play a part in the story. The people who live there seem to be sunk into a kind of depression; a lethargy and hopelessness about their daily lives.

We meet Bill who is an addict and a drunk who is on a secret mission to The Cane.

This is a depressing book. I really couldn’t understand the purpose of writing it at all, Dan, who is a three-time veteran of the Iraq war who is very shy and planning to take a former girlfriend out on a date. There is Tina who is lost in her own problems and others.

While memorable, I really had no sympathy for any of the characters, especially Bill. I began to page through anything that had to do with him. I was tired of his ramblings and his nonsensical talk.

I can’t say that this book was well written and the plotting seemed to wander at times. As I said before, I didn’t really care about any of the characters. I used sheer willpower to plow through this book, and I did not enjoy it. It was a trial. I don’t believe that I’ll read any more of Stephen Markely’s books. On the surface, the premise seemed so good and promising. I was truly disappointed.

I want to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for forwarding to me a copy of this book for me to read.

Certainly not a favorite. This book was so wordy, it wasn't a fun read.
Thanks to publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read. While I got the book for free, it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

I was caught up in this book and couldn't put it doen! I live in Ohio near where I figured out that this story takes place. The characters are fully developed, believable. Each character has their own problems, and the relationships between characters are Fascinating.

My College Sociology Notes. Circa 1997:
Definition of Identity.
How others see you.
How you want others to see you.
How you see yourself.

This novel took me back to that classroom in college. My professor was trying to teach us the “academic language” for what we were supposedly doing in those four years of schooling. Even though I am four or five years older than the characters in Stephen Markley’s novel Ohio, I know exactly what they are going through. And really, we are all dealing with the same things in that point in our lives: Responsibility, politics, economics, sexuality, careers, religion, family.

This masterful contemporary novel is about four people in their late 20s who are forced back to their hometown after being away for a long time. Caught between 9/11 and The Great Recession, New Canaan’s residents have not fared well; several tragedies have hit the town hard in the last several years, from the economic downturn to heroin addiction to a soldier’s death. Ohio forces the reader to take a long look at what happens to yourself and your town in those ten years after high school. How do young people grow into adults? How does the outside world infringe upon the innocence of our childhood?

Markley focuses on six characters in total, four main stories which are bookended by a short prelude and coda. These characters are raw and complex. Some were strongly connected when growing up, yet all will collide into each other on this trip home. Bill is a lifelong rebel who has been asked to make the long drive home from New Orleans to deliver a mysterious package. Stacey is a current grad student whose sexuality does not exactly mesh well with the religious community in town. Dan is an army vet who has found a purpose outside of The Cane (New Canaan’s nickname), but still has not found wholeness. Tina is a victim of many abuses and while she has found some stability in her life, she will not and cannot leave those wrongs behind. The authors tells these character’s stories and the whole town’s stories through flashbacks and character-told narratives. Markley’s writing is impressive on every page; it’s mature, lyrical and deserving of much praise.

Ohio is not a book about living in the past, nor is it about trying to change the past, but as Markley so eloquently puts it, it’s about the storm called progress. For me, the narrative combines a Richard Russo novel, Hillbilly Elegy, and Billy’s Long Halftime Walk. It’s an excellent contemplation of small town life in a part of this country, and a war that many people have forgotten about. I wholeheartedly recommend Ohio; it is very important literature.