I'm on page
of Ohio
Review Thank You Net Galley for the free ARC.

I was hoping to get something along the lines of "American Rust" by Phillip Meyer and I did, even though this book is even darker and more despairing. It is the story of four former high school friends coming back to their home town and the changes unemployment, drugs and the loss of hope have wreaked on it and them alike. Good social critique.

I don’t even know what to say. It’s crude and vulgar and violent and political and sad and emotional and gorgeous and so damn amazing I am stunned by what I read. The storytelling is meandering and time hops and uses multiple POVs, which I ordinarily hate, in such a way that I enjoyed the different yet connected storylines. He is a magnificent writer, I hated and loved almost all of the characters, his research and detail are phenomenal that even when it’s a little tedious, you want to keep reading. I need to sit with this one for awhile.

This book is just luscious. Markley's prose is remarkable - he seems to change how he writes depending on the character telling the story. The characters are vivid and interesting and struggling to find themselves as adults while still tethered to the people and incidents that defined them in high school. Every one of the characters reminded me of someone that I knew in high school, in spite of the fact that I did not grow up in the midwest and went to high school twenty years earlier. Loved it and can't wait for the next one.

Mr. Markley is clearly a very insightful and well-educated individual, touching on political and social hot-button issues that he has researched considerably. His writing is remarkable, with vivid images, and sophisticated vocabulary. I appreciated the breathtaking landscape descriptions; he does an amazing job of luring the reader in with his imagery.

However, the sheer darkness and despair of this novel, made much of it incredibly difficult to stomach. When I first read the blurb, I had hopes for something akin to The Big Chill, replacing college buddies, with highschool friends. However, I was certainly mistaken, as there was little to no redemption or hope for any of the characters. It was simply pain, hardship, regret, and loss. The great majority of characters were unfathomably edgy, and being teenagers, it made the story quite disturbing. I honestly had to read past several scenes that were too gruesome to imagine a child doing.

Despite such difficult scenes, Markley did an incredible job of creating a feeling of desperation and recklessness that was all-encompassing. I felt each of the characters' anguish, and I was invested in the outcome of their situations, if for no other reason than a hope for redemption for these poor souls.

I really tried to read this book. After about 5 days of attempting I finally gave up. I just kept getting lost on who was who. The story line sounded good but it flipped around far too much for me

What a well-written and heartbreaking story. The level of detail in Stephen Markley's Ohio is at times overwhelming, in a good way. Though I was not as invested in all of the major characters as much as I had hoped, and the plot moved a bit slowly for my personal taste, I am sure others will disagree. Ohio is definitely worth checking out. I will not be surprised if I see this book on many "best of" lists for 2018.

Stephen Markley comes out of the gate swinging with this debut novel. Told in four parts each narrated by a different character, Ohio tells the stories of several classmates who grew up in New Caanan (not a real town, but based on Markley's small hometown in Northeastern Ohio) and graduated together several years before. Everyone has their own cross to bear and grudge to hold, There are military veterans, drug addicts, survivors of sexual assault, cutters, lesbians, travelers, activists and one mysterious classmate who seems more than a little off her rocker. Beyond the stories, which culminate in a completely banana-pants climax in the fourth part of the book, the writing is absolutely captivating. Markley hits the bleakness of small town life dead center; but fails to bring any sunshine to bear. A dark , twisty entertaining debut.

This book is a doozy. To be completely honest, I can't decide how I felt about it. It's told from the perspectives of multiple characters, all with vastly different stories to tell. The story takes place in a midwestern town of Ohio, called New Canaan and the characters all meet up one summer night in 2013, brought together by their shared history and shared secrets.  

Like I said, I enjoyed this book, but I can't say that it was my favorite read. It interested me since the story takes place in Ohio, and I like in Ohio, but the story didn't seem to mesh well in my opinion, and just felt slightly choppy. Still an enjoyable read, none the less.

Author Stephen Markley has attempted to grasp the confounding impulses of Millenial lives and the early decades of this new century and create a major theme of loss and regret. In OHIO, he is mostly successful; there is no question he creates a picture of this current era and its early adult population with amazing clarity and insight. His focus on the rust belt and its citizens leaves us with no sense of hope, though. If this is our present, our future is grim. This is a fascinating tale, as much for what is missing from it as for what is revealed. Some of the writing is breathtaking and memorable; Markley is truly gifted. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

High school history can stick with you for the rest of your life. In a small town in Ohio, people who grow up together are defined by those years, no matter how long it’s been or how much they’ve changed along the way.

In the prelude we get to know about the image the town presents during Rick’s memorial parade. A parade that is steeped in patriotism. New Canaan is a staunch bastion of patriots - the right side of politics. Lurking in the shadows, though, is a meth and opiate crisis. The stuff that people like to hide in the shadows. Markley gives us this prelude as insight into what we are about to experience with Bill, Kaylyn, Rick, Stacey, Dan & Tina, and the assorted others involved in their lives.

We start with the story of Bill Ashcraft. He’s an “activist” but also a drug addict/alcoholic. He was asked to transport something back to his hometown that he really didn’t want to go back to, save for one Kaylyn, the girl he’d always loved. Stacey Moore was Bill’s high school girlfriend, with secrets of her own involving Kaylyn. Tina Ross, the good girl, who was once involved with Bill, but later moved on, wasn’t such a good girl after all. Dan Eaton, the good guy through and through, who served in Iraq, has come back for just a one night dinner with his ex. And lastly, Rick Brinklan, big time football dude who lost his life in Iraq and is still thought of as a war hero in his hometown.

This story takes place over just a couple of days in “the Cane”, but it travels through time retelling history from high school. Markley does an amazing job of immersing the reader into each character’s story, each nuanced little bit of what has followed them from high school into adulthood. The timing of the middle east wars and the recession in the US sets a backdrop for New Canaan, a once middle-class bastion, now just a rundown suburb with a Walmart for its hub. The drug epidemic that America is facing takes center stage in this town that was once a thriving factory community. The tale of New Canaan is not unlike what is happening all over America today.

Not an easy read, this book is powerful in its storytelling. Stephen Markley is a master of words and character development. The threads of each person’s story is sewn together in a climax that will leave the reader stunned. As a debut novel, this is a powerfully written story that will stick with you.

OHIO (August 2018)
Stephen Markley
Simon & Schuster, 496 pages.
★★★★★

One of my college students recently said to me, “I hear people use the phrase ‘since 9/11’ a lot, but I don’t really know what that means.” If that shocks you, consider that she was two when the towers fell; the only reality she has ever known is the post-9/11 world. I must tell her to read Stephen Markley’s new novel, Ohio. And so should the rest of you—especially if you’re still trying to figure out why Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election.

The question of when America began to lose its innocence rages from the halls of academia to backroom bar booths. Was it the JFK assassination, Vietnam, urban race riots, Watergate, the energy crisis, or something else? However it began, 9/11 was the tipping point in which the assumption of American invincibility toppled from its pedestal to be replaced by bleak narratives of decline, division, and deficiency—the City on the Hill transformed into Babylon on the cusp of the fall. Consider, for example, that no one challenged the very premise of Trump's “Make American Great Again” slogan. Remember when Jimmy Carter was excoriated for suggesting that the American Dream was in jeopardy?

Excuse the digression, but you need to consider these bigger questions to appreciate the chilling power of Stephen Markley’s Ohio. It opens with a funeral: that of Rick Brinklan, who was killed in Iraq. As some townspeople spout the usual nostrums of Brinklan as a fallen hero, his best friend from high school, Bill Ashcraft, prefers to blister his brain with drugs and booze rather than take part in the charade; he sees Rick’s death as senseless. Markley takes us inside the generation that came of age of age with 9/11—high schoolers in an already-depressed town faced with individual searches for identity and meaning. Rick became a knee-jerk patriot; Bill became an anarchist jerk. Yet they both hated the same things; both railed against their impotency within a chaotic and faith-challenged universe.

Markley takes us back and forth between 2003 and 2011, the latter date one in which four high school acquaintances pass through their hometown of New Canaan, Ohio: the cynical Ashcraft; soft-spoken Dan Eaton, who lost an eye in Afghanistan; Stacey Moore, a doctoral student; and Tina Ross, a beautiful woman with deep hurts and secrets. There is no such town as New Canaan, but Markley situates it in Northeast Ohio; that is, near rusted out cities such as Cleveland, Akron, and Youngstown. It’s also where you’ll find Kent State University. Cue Neil Young and a lot of unpleasant history. Markley’s New Canaan is akin to Richard Russo’s Mohawk on steroids. Or maybe I should say crystal meth. The very existence of towns such as these—of which there are myriad examples—calls into question the nation’s future. New Canaan is a place where factory workers have given way to Walmart greeters and convenience store clerks, the fate of the high school football team is a diversionary passion, and vultures circle to prey on the desperate: real estate speculators, home equity loan sharks, drug peddlers, military recruiters, right-wing hate groups, evangelists….

Markley divides his book into four sections: “Bill Ashcraft and the Great American Thing,” “Stacey Moore and a Theory of Ecology, Literature, and Love Across Deep Time,” “Dan Eaton and the Murder That Never Was,” and “Tina Ross and the Cool at the Edge of the Woods.” Each section unspools personal narratives, but also spotlights changes in New Canaan and insights into post-9/11 mindsets. Ashcraft is the one who wanted to get away, but only partially did so; he has seen much of the world, is deeply alienated, and now lives underground, though he carries with him New Canaan’s narcotic haze, alcoholic stupefaction, and hopelessness. Moore, an out lesbian and literature scholar, is the one closest to escaping New Canaan, though she has never forgiven the hypocrisy of New Canaan Christians—the ones who quote Jesus in one moment and pop pills and sleep around the next. Dan Eaton is the quiet vet still pining for the girlfriend he gave up to serve three military tours. Call him a semi-tragic figure—a guy who wants to be decent and kind but isn’t sure what those words mean anymore. Ross is darker—outwardly beautiful, but her body is scarred from self-inflicted cuts. She is also the key to unmasking New Canaan’s monsters.

Markley is masterful at character development—not just their actions, but also their internal thoughts, dreams, and nightmares. This makes the book work, as his is a large cast—not just the four central figures, but also pivotal dramatis personae such as the vivacious, wild, and sometimes vulgar Lisa Han; Eaton’s ex-girlfriend Hailey, whose life is as compromised as his; Cole, Tina’s salt-of-the-earth but dull-as-dishwater husband; and Kaylyn, the slutty but outwardly goody-two shoes Christian girl who is nothing but trouble. There is also Ben Harrington, the sensitive musician who dies young; and a bunch of ex-football players, a few of whom have turned dangerous.

That’s a lot and it’s to Markley’s credit that he makes his characters live—even the ones who are dead. He also embeds a mystery within what is essentially a tragedy. Ohio is a tough book and a slow read, but it’s also one of the most honest works on post-9/11 America I have yet to encounter. You feel despair, desperation, and flickering hope on every page. If this sounds depressing, it is at times, but if you want to understand the mindset of those who turn to opioids, bigotry, misanthropy, and charlatans, Ohio is the ticket. Some early reviewers have given up on Ohio and more’s the pity; Markley makes it clear that self-anesthetizing doesn’t work, a list that includes head-in-the-sand ignorance.

Rob Weir

the book was very interesting. Plot was well developed. really enjoyed this book and the characters.

Debut novel? NO WAY! I am super impressed with this novel! It was emotional and one that was hard to put down. The storyline was unique and well written. A group of midwestern people who live in a small Ohio town, with a past that haunts them all.
Small towns have their secrets and this book pretty much proves that theory.
I loved reading this and can't wait for it to be published so I can grab myself a finished copy and read it again.

Best book I’ve read this year by far. Stunning novel. The lives of the high school students are interwoven in such a way, that makes the book tight from Chapter One onwards. Expect big things from “Ohio”

I am very glad that I read this book and especially glad that I received it through NetGalley, because I might not have finished it otherwise. Frankly, I didn't like the first section, partly because I didn't care for the character featured in the section and the plot was very slow to develop. In another circumstance I might have put it down, but I am so glad I read the whole book.

Subsequent sections feature different characters, all of whom bump into each other in an event fulled night. The narrations skips quickly and seamlessly between the happenings of that night and the events of their lives, particularly in high school, that brought them there.

And then later on, the reader becomes aware of a couple of very dark subplots and mysteries that are revealed in a slow and almost tantalizing manner. My eyes are bleary today from staying up last night reading the last third of the book, I literally couldn't put it down. I would never have predicted that after the start of the book, and while that's part of the thrill of this book, it's also the only negative. If the beginning had been more concise and a little more fast paced, this would be a five-star review.

Read this book.

This was a novel in the style of Heat and Light by Jennifer Haigh. Ohio is the setting, and rather than fracking, the decline of industry is the focus. The author is very insightful and brings home the plight of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary xircumstanes.

This book has some wonderful reviews and the foreword by the editor is truly touching, but the lengthy descriptions just kept losing me. I started to get impatient paging through description after description of the people. the town, the situation and it didn't feel like I was ever going to get to the story. I unfortunately could not finish this book.

I was drawn to this book because I am from Ohio. I didn't really know what to expect but I was blown away by the writing. Ohio was a completely immersive story that will leave you thinking. New Canaan was a town much like many other small towns in Ohio. It has fallen on hard times and the people were struggling. The characters were flawed, emotional and wonderful. This is a really emotional book and at time it was really heavy. I don't think this book will be for everyone but some will absolutely love it.

Beautiful written about a landscape, time and culture I could really envisage and feel, but unfortunately, I struggled to keep track of who was who and didn't come to love or route for any of the characters despite them all being well written with great backstories. I would have liked it to zoom in on just a couple - but by a quarter way through I couldn't remember who was in Iraq, who had died, who was the drug smuggler etc. It all blended in together too much. The murder mystery element was too long winded and just hinted at for far too long. Seriously, the writing was still very good - it did feel like he was writing-up a little but I'd love to try him again in a year or so.

You passed your time in the cage, he figured, by clinging pointlessly and desperately to an endless series of unfinished sorrows.

The character developement in this book is fantastic, because they are all heavy with some sort of sorrow. This town is like many others, falling into hard times, gritty, poverty striken, drug riddled, and it’s people as worn down and burned out on life or drugs. The author takes you into the dark recesses of his lost characters. There isn’t much hope here. Of all the stories, the last hit me between the eyes. Tina Ross is returning home to Ohio, her mind on love. If her theory about love, ‘that you can only have- really, truly- one love of your life”, then it comes early and leads her back to Number 56, for her. This love, of her re-telling, descends into serious abuse, which got me to thinking about teenage girls in general and unhealthy love. Really, you can pick any woman, search her heart’s timeline and for most, there is a relationship where she likely succumbed to self-destruction for one partner. Love hurts, love hurts, love hurts playing on a loop in her love-sick mind. Tina has returned to see 56, her one true love, who may have ruined her for any normal healthy relationship. I wish I could get deeper into this twisted story but I don’t want to give away what happens.

The first story is about Corporal Richard Jared Brinklan, killed in action in Iraq, whose life intersected with the characters in each story. A ceremony to honor the fallen soldier, immediately doesn’t feel so honorable when one who is chosen to speak, high school girlfriend Kaylyn Lyn is ‘stupefyingly high’, and their love story was one she ended coldly, cruelly. She is a mess herself, if once pretty and popular she is washed out and just as wrecked as anyone else in the novel. Then there is Bill Ashcroft, the smuggler distracted by the ‘fraternity’ of fellow aging, used up small town football athletes at the bar. It’s a given, after all, to run into the boys ‘relics’ anytime one is back in town. High out of his mind and drunk, remembering his glory years where memories are tainted, and out of some misdirected rage others became targets, and each story veers off elsewhere. No two memories are the same.

A small town like any other, bored teens with nothing to do but ruin each other or self-destruct. Factor in 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the earnestness when one first ‘joins up’ to fight a cause, the disaffected, broken returns, ambition that sinks you deeper until you abandon hope and you have Ohio. The writing is rich and while not every story held me, I was engaged. A promising new talent to be sure!

Publication Date: August 21, 2018

Simon & Schuster