Stephen Markley

I wanted to live this book it came so highly recommended. Needless to say I didn’t love it. It’s just too much. The first several chapters are like short stories, very good short stories, but all about different people. If you read this book, take notes on these first chapters and the characters. There are a LOT of characters, and no warning who you are dealing with as you begin a new chapter. Some chapters are “white papers” or internal monologues. It’s well written, but there is just too dang much of it. And after finishing I’m still not sure whether it was a good ending or bad.
… (altro)

Stephen Markley had high ambitions for his book: “emotionally reorient the reader around what’s happening, so we can actually feel in our hearts what the stakes of this moment actually are.”

This moment refers to the ongoing predicament of our biosphere: The Deluge is climate fiction.

As with any book, it won’t work for everyone. Especially if you don’t believe rapidly reducing our carbon emissions is necessary, or if you feel the current American political & economical system generates enough equity, The Deluge might annoy you for ideological reasons. Markley does try to be balanced – more on that below – but it’s no denying this book advocates progressive measures rather than conservative ones. It’s impossible to write books that appeal to everybody on the political spectrum, and this book won’t convince anyone who doesn’t already think society is in peril because of human emissions. But for those who do, it will put the urgency in much, much sharper focus.

So, for me, Markley did achieve his goals: the novel gave me new insights, and it affected me emotionally. I cried numerous times while reading it, and it put a knot in my stomach – tight and then even tighter.

The Deluge is set in the US, and its 880 pages chronicle 2013 to 2040. It is a big, big book of the sprawling kind, told through the eyes of seven characters – a scientist, a poor drug addict, an ecoterrorist, a Washington policy adviser, an advertising strategist, a high profile activist and her partner.

These characters all have families and friends, and it is trough their well-drawn relations Markley managed to evoke strong emotions in me, as the cast experience climate catastrophes and political upheaval primarily while they are connected to other human beings. In a sense, this book is as much about love and friendship as it is about ecological systems and politics: we fear for what’s coming, because we fear for our loved ones.

The Deluge is immersive, cinematic reading. Stephen King called it the best book he read in 2022 and “a modern classic (…) Prophetic, terrifying, uplifting.” I concur. At times I felt 14 again, utterly absorbed by The Stand. Markley wrote that kind of book – with the occasional boardroom debate thrown in. It’s arguably better, as The Stand had no real-world stakes.

The novel was 13 years in the making, and so Markley had to constantly revise and change stuff he’d already written to suit new political and scientific developments. It makes it an exceptionally timely book: to really experience what Markley pulled off, you need to read this now – not in 10 years.

So what exactly does he achieve in The Deluge – aside from showing, on a basic level, what could happen the coming decades: drought, fire, flood, food scarcity, inflation, migration & death?

(...)

Full review on Weighing A Pig Doesn't Fatten It… (altro)

I was drawn to read Ohio by Stephen Markley because I grew up in Ohio. The simple title of the novel had me feeling nostalgic and intrigued. Set in New Canaan, four former classmates return home on the same day in 2013, with a purpose. New Canaan is a small town impacted by a recession, opioid epidemic, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The story is told from the perspective of each main character. First is Bill Ashcraft, an alcoholic and drug abuser who has traveled the world and is delivering a package to New Canaan. Next is Stacey Moore, a doctoral student who returns to meet with her former lover’s mother. Then, we meet Dan Eaton who is a military veteran. He returns home to have dinner with a former high school girlfriend. Lastly, is Tina Ross, former girlfriend of the high school football quarterback. The reason for her return is completely sinister.

I feel like I have had a strange relationship with this novel. Initially, I struggled to connect with the book. I didn’t feel grounded, as though I had a good understanding of what was happening and where this story was taking me. I contemplated pressing pause and trying again at another time. As I continued listening, I began vacillating between being drawn into Bill Ashcraft’s story and being disinterested and bored. As soon as Stacey Moore’s story began, my interest was piqued, and the book had my full attention until the end.

Interesting how our high school years are truly so formative and how naïve we are to that fact at the time. The relationships we develop and later lose, the successes, and the tragedies are what really shape us for adulthood. The classroom learning is so insignificant and forgettable compared to the real-life lessons we learn through our experiences. The conclusion of this novel left me a bit paralyzed; needing time to process and decipher my thoughts about it. This is a book I struggled to connect with in the beginning and as I neared the end, I knew I was going go miss these characters. It’s a heavy read with a lot of graphic descriptors that convey the shocking realities for these four traumatized characters. Author Stephen Markley is an incredible writer. The way he describes scenes and expresses the characters’ emotions just exudes amazing talent.

I’m glad I read this book. In fact, I kind of want to read it again. Knowing what I know now, I may have a different perception of Bill’s story. There are many other characters intertwined with the four main characters and I got confused several times. I think a re-read would help me better grasp some connections I likely missed.

I purchased the audiobook from Audible. The large cast of narrators was a perfect fit for the structure of the story. Each character has a different narrator, which includes Caitlin Davies, Jayme Mattler, Joy Osmanski, Jonathan Todd Ross, Corey Bill, and Gibson Frazier.

I have photos and additional information that I'm unable to include here. It can all be found on my blog, in the link below.
A Book And A Dog… (altro)