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Poetry Canadian

Jeremiah, Ohio

by (author) Adam Sol

Publisher
House of Anansi Press Inc
Initial publish date
Sep 2008
Category
Canadian
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780887847912
    Publish Date
    Sep 2008
    List Price
    $18.95

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Description

In Jeremiah, Ohio, Adam Sol reinvents the Biblical prophet and doomsayer Jeremiah for the postmodern age, and sends him on a reeling road trip through the strip malls and back roads of the United States with an ordinary, everyman companion, Bruce. The mismatched pair are thrown together by accident, but come to value each other as they travel in early September toward the promised city of New York.The verse in this ambitious, politically charged, and beautiful book alternates between the two main characters -- while Jeremiah delivers strange, super-charged prophecies full of incendiary language and deliberately mixed metaphors, Bruce offers down-to-earth catalogues of mundane details and daily struggles in the American empire. With these inspired creations, Adam Sol fully delivers the mastery of language and subtlety of insight promised in his earlier work.

About the author

Adam Sol has published four collections of poetry, the latest of which, Complicity, was released in 2014. His previous collections include Jeremiah, Ohio, a novel in poems that was shortlisted for the Trillium Award for Poetry; Crowd of Sounds, which won the Trillium Award for Poetry; and Jonah’s Promise. He has published fiction, scholarly essays, and reviews for a variety of publications, including the Globe and Mail, Lemon Hound, and Joyland.com. He teaches at Laurentian University’s campus in Barrie, Ontario, and lives in Toronto with his wife, Rabbi Yael Splansky and their three sons.

Adam Sol's profile page

Awards

  • Short-listed, Trillium Book Award

Editorial Reviews

Sol's foray into the form [of a 'novel in poems'] more than holds its own...[and] could easily collapse into gimmicky or facile politicking, but it is saved by Sol's deep engagement with both scripture and modern America...A number of the poems stand alone as virtuosic set pieces...but Jeremiah, Ohio also coheres beautifully as a narrative...

Quill & Quire

Sol has created a most gripping story...Jeremiah, Ohio has it's own unique and polyphonic music. Jeremiah and Bruce are two fully realized characters...engaging and suspenseful.

Malahat Review

[A] stylistically excellent journey.

Dalhousie Review

Sol's skill at combining Jeremiah's oratorical mode with the seemingly incongruous language of the interstate makes the story compelling.

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