Monday, July 16, 2012

Review of Awful, Ohio by Jeff Neal



Overview

Every morning the sun rises, waking Awful, Ohio, overlooking all of its residents, guiding them towards another productive and profitable working day. The economy is strong and the money is abundant, all of which are offered to whomever produces and profits the most product. The masses rejoice daily over the informed opportunity, with the exception of Troy Slushy. 

Troy Slushy wakes every morning to the intrusion of the sun abruptly charging into his home, removing him from his enchanting dreams. The sun exposes his collection of worthless possessions, his depressed wife seeking salvation, his withering home struggling for support, and the life-decimating job that is undesirably forced upon him daily. This is Troy Slushy's existence in Awful, Ohio, and because of this exposure to this monotonous misery, Troy's enemy is the sun. 

Heavily sedated by a dream-enriched epiphany, Troy removes his concerns for the demands and priorities of Awful, Ohio, replacing them with the objective of permanently removing the sun from his existence. He gathers his wife and begins a quest to save them both from their sun-exposed lives of suffering in Awful, Ohio, concocting plans and blueprints of various sun-destroying methods. Unfortunately for Troy, this proves to be easier said than done. But luckily, Troy discovers that perseverance is much more eminent in accomplishing a goal than feasibility, as he is able to assemble a massive scheme to achieve perpetual darkness, but not without affecting Awful, Ohio and all of its production, profits, and population.
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Recommended: Yes, you need to check it out!


About Awful, Ohio
Available as: Paperback $10.00 from Amazon.com ,  E-book $3.00 from Amazon.com Kindle's Edition 
                                                  Recommended Ages: 15 and Up
                                                             Paperback: 256 pgs.
PublishedPublished 2011

For This Review: *Book Copy Provided For Review Purposes*
If you like this review - Likef It on Goodreads.com


From the beginning , Awful, Ohio had the tell-tale signs it wasn't going to be just any regular old novel. And entirely proud to have the opportunity to have read this novel. Awful, Ohio is this blog's raison d' etre (reson for being) considering, Book & Movie Dimension a Blog, was made for discovering unique and or books that are just amazing. Awful, Ohio falls under both categories: a unique and amazing book!

On the whole believe Awful, Ohio is an impressive book not only from its story's actual make-up but also in its characters. Troy Slushy a heavily overworked man seeks to escape with his wife, Lacy Slushy, from a life of empty materialistic lives that he sees only makes them unhappy. Troy thinks the sun is his enemy when each and every day it forces him to get up to another productive day of working at Mad Ted's Uckin Hot Auce ware house where he is a worker. A worker in producing some of the town of Awful, Ohio's most sold hot sauce. Awful, Ohio a town that has grown to be a town of the highest wealth thanks to its citzens's drive to work day in and day out. People wish to work and work in exchange to later buy what they most desire. Since the citizens hae one of the most financially stable places on Earth therefore named Awful, Ohio for being so awe-inspiring. All of the citizens are satisfied with their lives except Troy. Still unbeknowst, to Troy there are quite a few others that have their own problems with how things are run in Awful, Ohio. Wilsie McHickoryboob, a nespaper journalist, who hates that Mad Ted wont share how his warehouse (Mad Ted's Uckin Hot Sauce warehouse)  is so efficient in having led Awful, Ohio to great success. Wilsie's poking around only takes her in the direction of some misguided criminals: Sammy Ammo, Chuck Splatter, and Doink McTriggers who want to obtain the information she has gathered on Mad Ted in an attempt to garner Mad Ted's power. These characters go on their quests to find out the truth of Awful, Ohio's success.

A book that has an individual fascinating type of language. Tge writing deeply flows and is so exact. Ok, he is an example [below]:

Chuck Splatter was frustrated at having to listen to listen to Wilsie, and even more frustrated to rely on her for information. He felt inferior, submissively listening and following her towards the boiler room, as if the years of working with Sammy Ammo no longer held any value. The tender flesh constructing his misaligned face began to swell from the anger-induced heat, as it began to conquer all of his nerves. Chuck Splatter involutarily leaned forward, balancing on the tips of his toes, ready to lunge towards Wilsie and strangle her neck until she was permanenty incapable of ejecting words from her mouth. But before he could commit to his intentions, a gentle fly glided through the air, softly hovering above Wilsie's shoulder, ready to ease down for a smooth landing. But on high alert her pony tail launched out like the tongue of a frog, grabbing a hold of the fly before it could land. The tips of her hair quickly tied around seperate parts of the fly's body, pulling away in direction, dismembering the fly in several pieces, before engulfing each body part. Chuck Splatter prevented his assault, as he watched the pony tail devour the fly, one body part at a time, with each portion protruding from the surface of Wilsie's pony tail, like the outline of a freshly swallowed fawn entering into the evaporating bowels of a satisfied python.

While at first having never encountered writing like it felt out of element but soon jumped right in. As a reader its a new experience. On the characters, Awful, Ohio has quite an array of characters with many distinct differences. They all have good complimentary angles to the complete story. Troy Slushy is also determined but obviously misguided other times. He's searching for something beyond what he has and is. He's a definite interesting character. Then there is Wilsie McHickoryboob who is always seeking fame as a journalist in the Awful Gaette happens to have a pigtail a mind of its own. Her ponytail with whipping capabilities against objects and even a unsuspecting fly. Another character that should highlight is Chuck Splatter his name making note of his horrendous face as a splatter. Chuck is a huge devotee of Sammy Ammo who is Chuck and Doink's leader in past and present criminal activities. Mostly as a reader these are some fine characters to encounte. Entirely witty and humorous.

Awful, Ohio is a true work of literary art. Awful, Ohio can be counted on being surprising, if given a chance. Jeff Neal truly seems to know what to do to make an impact with a novel. Awful, Ohio is sure to be a good one. 
Overall: Amazing read!
Genre: Fiction 


About the Author



Jeff Neal is a 26-year-old Caucasian male. From the dawn of his genesis, he's been heavily inebriated by music and movies, endowing him with a prental awareness sparked the fuse that ignited him into Temple University, where he was spoon fed a secondary education of english and philosophy that spawned the beginning of Awful, Ohio, while strolling down Norris and 12th street in Philadelphia in 2008. Although no longer living in Philadelphia, this prental awareness remained within, following him back to York County, where he currently resides with his beautiful wife. When not selling worms, inventing absurd products, jamming his guitar with sloppy chord changes, and engineering new plot lines for upcoming novels, he enjoys his days with his wife. They both spend their time fending off the demonic mortagage monster that attempts to devour their savings, but also engage in whatever activities attract their rountinely altering interests. Currently, they are fixated with website development and salads.

Visit Jeff Neal's Website: awfulohio.com

1 comment:

Ara @ My Book and My Coffee said...

Hi Cassandra! Great review. Very informative. It's so cool when a certain novel exceeds expectations. The characters you mentioned here are, indeed, interesting. Especially Troy.

"He's searching for something beyond what he has and is." .. hmmm. I am definitely curious now and will want to find out more. I will check this one out!

Thanks for the review.

I'm Ara, by the way. New visitor and follower. Followed you via GFC, Linky, Networked Blogs, and Twitter.

You can find my blog at My Book and My Coffee

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