Ohio

By: Stephen Markley

Narrated by: Caitlin Davies, Jayme Mattler, Joy Osmanski, Jonathan Todd Ross, Corey Brill, Gibson Frazier

Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

The debut of a major talent, a lyrical and emotional novel set in an archetypal small town in northeastern Ohio - a region ravaged by the Great Recession, an opioid crisis, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - depicting one feverish, fateful summer night in 2013 when four former classmates converge on their hometown, each with a mission, all haunted by the ghosts of their shared histories.

Since the turn of the century, a generation has come of age knowing only war, recession, political gridlock, racial hostility, and a simmering fear of environmental calamity. In the country’s forgotten pockets, where industry long ago fled, where foreclosures, Walmarts, and opiates riddle the land, death rates for rural whites have skyrocketed, fueled by suicide, addiction, and a rampant sense of marginalization and disillusionment. This is the world the characters in Stephen Markley’s brilliant debut novel, Ohio, inherit. This is New Canaan.

On one fateful summer night in 2013, four former classmates converge on the rust belt town where they grew up, each of them with a mission, all of them haunted by regrets, secrets, lost loves. There’s Bill Ashcraft, an alcoholic, drug-abusing activist whose fruitless ambitions have taken him from Cambodia to Zuccotti Park to New Orleans, and now back to “The Cane” with a mysterious package strapped to the underside of his truck; Stacey Moore, a doctoral candidate reluctantly confronting the mother of her former lover; Dan Eaton, a shy veteran of three tours in Iraq, home for a dinner date with the high school sweetheart he’s tried to forget; and the beautiful, fragile Tina Ross, whose rendezvous with the captain of the football team triggers the novel’s shocking climax.

At once a murder mystery and a social critique, Ohio ingeniously captures the fractured zeitgeist of a nation through the viewfinder of an embattled Midwestern town and offers a prescient vision for America at the dawn of a turbulent new age.

©2018 Stephen Markley (P)2018 Simon & Schuster Audio

Absolutely Moving and Deeply Haunting

This was not something I thought I would enjoy. I'm from a small town in Ohio and graduated high school in 2004. So I don't need someone telling me about the crashed economy and the opium epidemic. While there is a lot of this book that is very real and I was able to see a piece of myself in every character the story is something else entirely. This is a book about consequences and childhood. It's about how what you do when you don't know any better can haunt your whole life. When we were young we never knew what we would regret forever but we all made mistakes that we never get over. This is that book. If you decide on this story my only advice is pay attention to the many characters involved as there are alot. The experience is so deeply rewarding.

Great book :)

A lot of characters, so gotta pay close attention. But damn, it’s a great book.

Incredible writing but

The quality of writing is exceptional however I cannot recall when I have more hated, or simply not cared about, characters in a book. At times I had to convince myself to keep listening and it was only my love for quality writing that kept me going. This is not an easy read. There is a desperate depressing tone pervasive throughout the book. Certain scenes are quite captivating because of the author’s skill but for me it was hard to appreciate because there was just no moments of light in this very dark book. Some of the voices were very staccato in their delivery and one was so much so I thought it might be computer generated. I have never before written a review but thought listeners should know what they are getting into. #Profanity, #depressing, #hateful characters, #tagsgiving, #sweepstakes

Wow! Captivating... surprising... wow.

This is quite a story. Told with such detail that you wonder how the author’s mind could produce it without being a part of the story himself. Loved how the readers changed with the characters. I was truly engrossed the whole way through. Highly recommend

Not that bad

I'm from Ohio so I thought I would check it out. It starts slow, with death, but soon it starts rolling and gets good and then the ties expected to come together never do. This author name dropped cities and towns like they are all easily accessible from not a town New Canaan and they arent and it was annoying. It was like New Canaan floated around the northern half of the state. Geography aside, kids from Ohio act just like this, football players videoing gang raping a roofied girlfriend of one of them, anothers girlfriend slipping her the drug and taking her to the basement. What's unbelievable is that all this is happening and your central characters dont seem to know it. High school is a masterclass in gossip, doublespeak, and rumor as truth so no way is this crap just getting discovered 10 years on. It also could have been edited alot more, the stuff about blonde hairs on a guys leg glistened in the sun made me think how I would be typing this sentence. The more I write the more I realize I should have left this on the shelf. You be the judge...

Without Words

I do not even know where to began to do the justice of a proper review for this novel. Being a born and breed Ohioan myself I reminisce throughout the chapters of those long summer nights with friends who's names now long forgotten. Reminded by the month of September that those fresh faces in the classroom will fade out too when silver covers my head like the lines around my eyes. Markley doesn't force the memories of high school years rather he brings the sounds, smells and voices that filled those days back like a rippling wave of the lake one so often jump into on those hot summer nights in Ohio. I suggest not to read any more reviews and starting listening to the fantastic narrators of the impeccable novel that is Ohio!

Scarily entertaining

This was an amazing listen. The characters are all fascinatingly flawed, which causes you to both care about them and be revolted by them. The author tells the story from one character's perspective at a time, which allows for truly jaw dropping twists as the story unfolds. You will have to stop and re-think your perceptions of each character as you learn more about them than they know themselves. In the end the story is a tragedy, that is completely believable which makes it even scarier. #ComingOfAge #Dark #Mindbending #America #Tagsgiving #Sweepstakes

This one is different

I decided to try this book based on the Audible recommendation. I'm glad I did. Best book I've listened to in several years. Not a happy story, but great character devlopment and engaging all they way to a very good ending.

Just get it. You won't regret it.

Great Story Great Performance

having gone to school in that area. And dating someone and living there part-time for a couple years. I found the story very good. found it very relevant and I like the idea of the complexity of the characters that were able to be developed. I also like the multi voice performances it gives you more of a sense of telling an individual side of the story which was the first time I've experienced that in Audible.

very well done all around and I highly recommend the book.

So good, you will want to listen again

I have not listened to a book this well written since The Nix! I highly recommend this book!