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A review by amelia555
Ohio by Stephen Markley
4.0
A drama with thriller and mystery elements is how I would describe this book. It's set mostly in the 00s (our present is 2013 but we go back in time very often) in the small town in American Midwest. The towers fell, the mood is sour, the unemployment rates are high, the drugs make their way into town. Our protagonists are former high school frenemies who happened to be in the same place at the same time. Bill, a former star basketball player turned junkie and yapper; Stacey, a former churchgirl who discovered something important about herself when in high school that changed the course of her life; Dan, a former bookworm turned army vet; Tina, a former school beauty turned Wallmart employee in another town. These are the characters who have chapters from their POVs, but there are many important folks who don't: Rick, another army vet, a former football star (the book starts with his funeral); Kaylyn, a mess of a person; Todd, evil incarnate.
The messages this book drives home are: 1) American high school is hell on earth; 2) Midwest is too, kinda. Or at least a purgatory. It's very dark, has some very violent scenes, and the trigger warnings list is pretty substantial: self-harm, sexual assault, murder, violence of different kinds. Don't pick it up if you like your books harmless.
What's interesting about it is looking at a whole picture as a reader, seeing what characters have what information and trying to figure out some answers. We the readers find out things our characters never did. This puzzle-like structure is fun in books for me. Also it gives us this whole "different perspectives on the same person or event" deal that's also very interetsing. For example, one character's memory of an eventful night is him being a hero, while in the eyes of the third party he was a pitiful loser that time.
It's a story about ordinary people with their ordinary failings: cruelty, disinterest in helping others, interest in helping others and punishment for it, addictions, delusions, childhood traumas that lead to brokenness, and love, which is a failing sometimes too. Not a light read by any means, and I doubt I'll ever see this book again, but I don't regret reading it.
The messages this book drives home are: 1) American high school is hell on earth; 2) Midwest is too, kinda. Or at least a purgatory. It's very dark, has some very violent scenes, and the trigger warnings list is pretty substantial: self-harm, sexual assault, murder, violence of different kinds. Don't pick it up if you like your books harmless.
What's interesting about it is looking at a whole picture as a reader, seeing what characters have what information and trying to figure out some answers. We the readers find out things our characters never did. This puzzle-like structure is fun in books for me. Also it gives us this whole "different perspectives on the same person or event" deal that's also very interetsing. For example, one character's memory of an eventful night is him being a hero, while in the eyes of the third party he was a pitiful loser that time.
It's a story about ordinary people with their ordinary failings: cruelty, disinterest in helping others, interest in helping others and punishment for it, addictions, delusions, childhood traumas that lead to brokenness, and love, which is a failing sometimes too. Not a light read by any means, and I doubt I'll ever see this book again, but I don't regret reading it.