50 States of Reading: Ohio

Ohio, a land of great writers, including Donald Ray Pollock. The book was recommended to me by the Horror Aficionados over there in Good Reads.   The book was an original in the field of Southern Gothic, as it takes place in Ohio, not in the deep south of O'Connor. The rural descriptions were eerie,  especially when I was reading it in Cedar Key and Monticello Florida. I was feeling like these could be my neighbors; I didn't go out of my way to be friendly.  The book will also cure your need to hitch-hike.*  The characters are all flawed and all in need of redemption.   However, the redemption they find is straight from the devil. At times the book bogged me down, and the flow was difficult.  I found myself re-reading sections where the novel skipped a beat.   But, all in all, I loved the book and would recommend it as an alternative to Flannery O'Connor or Raymond Chandler. 
  

*you need to read the book to find out why.





Reverand Gary Davis

Declaration
Shout To The Devil
"son" said the preacher " ‘for i break the news
Let me take you to the heart of this promised land"
Built on the green hill far away
Where somebody cried somebody died in the wind
You don’t have to run to the palaces of gold
Bricks and mortar one day must surely fall
And son you will look monroe right between the eyes
And pray that somehow
Someone’s gonna come along
And save her, save her soul
And we're gonna
Shout to the devil shout to the sky
Shout to the gods almighty high
Preacher teacher
Preacher teacher
It’s in the hearts it’s in the soul
Look no further than your own backyard
Live your life as it should be lived
Follow your heart for the truth is everlasting
And the wine runs cold in the blood of men
The bread is dry, stale pushed in the back of your mind
And the senator’s dream is running wild today
And the big duke’s star in death
Still fighting off the hounds of hell
For we all fall short of the glory my friend
Even all the king’s horses and all the king’s business men
I’ve got a golden eagle flying high
But i and i still find it hard to keep the wolves at bay
And we're gonna
Shout to the devil shout to the sky
Shout to the gods almighty high
Preacher teacher
Preacher teacher
It’s in the hearts it’s in the soul
Look no further than your own backyard
Live your life as it should be lived
Follow your heart for the truth is everlasting
And we're gonna
Shout to the devil shout to the sky
Shout to the gods almighty high
And we're gonna
Shout to the devil shout to the sky
Shout to the gods almighty high

(preacher)
This train is bound for glory
This train
It's pulling away
Right away, right away, right away
I'm born tonight
Yeah we've got to ------ child
And over here
A young man, i call him the leader of our band
I name our band the quarrymen
Yes that's right, sirs
And also, we've got the harmonica band
Yeah, come aboard, come aboard
It is finished
Declaration
Shout To The Devil

Quick Facts About Ohio from Lonely Planet
Nickname: Buckeye State
Population: 115 Million
Area 44,825 Sq Miles
Capital City: Columbus
Other Cities: Cleveland, Cincinnati
Birthplace of: Thomas Edison (Inventor) (1847-1931)
Toni Morrison (Writer) (b. 1931)
Harvey Pekar (American Splendor comic artist)(b. 1939)
Donald Ray Pollock (Writer) (b.1953)

State Rock Song: 'Hang On Sloopy'