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“Beatty evokes the familiarities of genre, history and place while drafting them for a wild new context. In this regard, Cuyahoga is a breezy fable of empire, class, conquest and ecocide… Beatty revels in fabulizing a region he clearly knows and loves,” —New York Times Book Review
“Pete Beatty’s very funny, rambunctious debut novel, “Cuyahoga”…could be read with pleasure in 2002, or 1950. Or 1837, when most of it is set. It’s a satire of tall tales, but not a distant, too-cool treatment. Beatty, a Cleveland-area native, deeply inhabits the tone and style of the form, paying sidelong homage to an essential American genre… A healthy society might stand to be more skeptical of the myth-making that creates such figures. But in the society we have, they endure, and Beatty wrings absurd and serious pleasure from them,” —Los Angeles Times
"A hilarious and moving exploration of family, home, and fate ... you won't read anything else like it this year.” —Buzzfeed, most anticipated
"A boisterous adventure." —The Millions, most anticipated
“A vigorous American story of competition and heroism… a richly embroidered, most original tale." —Akron Beacon Journal
“A rollicking, inventive, satirical twist on fables and tall tales…with an engrossing style of prose and humor that critics have compared to John Barth, Thomas Pynchon and Charles Portis.” —Cleveland Scene
"Really good: boldly conceived, imaginatively written and wholly original… Following in the fantastical footsteps of novelists such as John Barth and Thomas Pynchon, Beatty uses his home state as a jumping-off point for a wild, far-fetched tale… Most satisfying is Beatty’s redolent prose.” —Columbus Dispatch
"An improbable, downright preposterous yarn ably spun and a great entertainment for a time in need of laughter.” —Kirkus, starred review
“Cuyahoga defies all modest description: It’s deliriously fun to read: nonstop laughs, pages that whiz by, and a style that seems to gather up and beautify an entire history of American bullshit artistry... Cuyahoga is ten feet tall if it's an inch, and it's a ramshackle joy from start to finish.” —Brian Phillips, author of Impossible Owls
“Pete Beatty’s glorious Cuyahoga is a booming hymn of history, a praisesong both somber and funny…This unlikely, beautiful novel sings with a heart as big as its subject, and with sentences that demand your complete and total attention.” –Jessica Anthony, author of Enter the Aardvark
“A work that manages to simultaneously deconstruct the tall tale while igniting its evolution…Beatty expertly bridges the gap between larger than life exploits and the molecular moments that make up human existence and significance." —Sergio de la Pava, author of A Naked Singularity and Lost Empress
“As comically genius as a Coen Brothers film; with narrative skill and voice as singular as Faulkner... Page by page, I felt like the top of my head had blown off: even the most seemingly thrown-away lines left me astonished at their efficiency and beauty.” —Natalie Jenner, author of The Jane Austen Society
“…Cuyahoga is a steroidal frontier romp of whiskey and vernacular, a hundred boisterous souls fumbling to make their city a whole, and one humongous romance. In his rousing debut, Beatty has handed Cleveland a tall tale equal to its own ragged, enormous truth.” —David Giffels, author of Barnstorming Ohio: To Understand America
“A great big American bouncy castle of a book—strange, exhilarating, hilarious and alive—and every sentence so perfect! An absolute delight.” —Ben Loory, author of Tales of Falling and Flying
“…Cuyahoga is a singular feat of language and energized inventive storytelling. In Big Son, I met a mythic American hero, and in his brother Meed, a gifted, indelible raconteur… This marvelous tragicomic tale impressed upon my head and heart—twin joys.” —Mitchell S. Jackson, author of Survival Math and The Residue Years
About the Author
Pete Beatty is a Cleveland-area native. He has taught writing at Kent State University and the University of Alabama. He currently works at the University of Alabama Press. He lives with his wife in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Cuyahoga is his first novel.
Winter. In the stories you are used to, a stranger arrives at the castle, or the king is gnawed by crisis. Swords bang together. Ghosts trouble a pale hero. Lovers’ hearts boiling. We drink down such wild stories to drown our worries. They are whiskey to wash out our brains.
My brother’s stories are more apple cider. They are good to drink but you will not forget yourself entirely. Wholesome tales, without too many fricasseed widows. True mostly – I will not lie any more than is wanted for decency. Simple and moral, easy to grab, the better to encourage someone over the head with. Not too quiet – you must not fall asleep. Let us have commerce and racing horses. Progress and the mastery of nature. Swap swords for axes and plows. Let us have tenderness but also a dash of cussedness and tragedy. All in the manner native to Ohio.
In this story lovers’ hearts do not boil but go slowly like stew. The crisis has got square cow’s teeth instead of fangs. There is not a king to be seen. Only my brother as hero.
And we will have a stranger at the castle.
I will take that good part.
My name is Medium Son.
We are no longer strangers any – folks call me Meed.
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I've struggled to find a way to describe this unique novel. Is it a fable? A fairy tale? Set in 1837 Ohio, it's the story of Big Son, who wants nothing more than to marry Cloe. The story, however, is narrated by Meed, his brother, who also loves Cloe. Big Son is trying to prove himself to Cloe but every venture, notably the bridge over the Cuyahoga, ends in problems. Meed's got his own range of occupations and he's got a big voice. There's a lot going on between these two, the town, the townspeople, and so on. It's an unusual read that can both exasperate and enthrall the reader. Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC. Stick with it.
Welcome to the Tall Tales version of the story of the city Cleveland on the Cuyahoga river as narrated by the younger brother of Big Son in 1837. Big Son is portrayed as a clear rival to the more northern Paul Bunyan and the tales are at least as tall. Great fun! Can't wait to get a copy for my #3 son who lives in that very same Cleveland! I requested and received a free ebook copy from Scribner/Simon & Schuster Publishing via NetGalley. Thank you!
Part tall tale and part historical fiction, this is a story about spectacular feats. It’s a story about unrequited love and perhaps some jealousy, too. Intertwined with this Paul Bunyan like story is the story of two cities at odds with each other. This colorful debut novel is written in the vernacular which took me a little while to get used to. It’s sort of like reading Dickens or Austen only this book reflects the language of the Midwest. The ending was unexpected, one I didn’t see coming. I like it when a story surprises me. It’s a fun read, different from most, and one I enjoyed. 3.5 stars
Cleveland was on the eastern bluff at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. "As Cleveland grew, handfuls of folks spilled the river looking for an emptiness more to their liking...In order to make good emptiness, you have got to clear land...but...we only nibbled out our few acres...the trouble come when the nibbling spread out into eating-up," the words of Middle Son (Meed). In describing his brother, Big Son (Big), "My brother was democratic in his feats...hung church bells one-handed...hunted one hundred rabbits in a day...this taste come from his first feat...when he whipped ten thousand trees. This is a story of the west." This is a tall tale, the tale of how Big cleared ground for Ohio, in 1837, for a town on the western bluff of the Cuyahoga River. Dueling towns would soon be jockeying for dominance.
"At first, Big did not mind his empty palms...it were enough for him to be wondered at and adored...but...the only income Big had ever known was wonder won by feats". He needed a real job, one that would provide him with "a wage and a prospect and a Cloe". (The girl he was aiming to marry). Would Big get the girl? Meed, as narrator, provides commentary of his brother's adventures and misadventures.
A tale of two testy cities, warring about a bridge being built over the Cuyahoga River, funded solely by the deep pockets of wealthy Cleveland resident Mr. Clark. "Built in the interest of the future of the two cities...in perpetuity free without toll". The bridge built at the Columbus Road "... came out of the fat farm country... [and]... would roll down the hill straight into Cleveland and never into Ohio City starving the little sister of commerce and custom". Residents would face challenges, perhaps the bridge was a nuisance to greater good!
"Cuyahoga" by Pete Beatty is populated with humorous characters who converse in colorful language. Our narrator, Big's brother Meed, works as a coffin maker. "A good coffin will do as a bench-a chest of linens-a wardrobe if you turn it on end". Dogstadter Gricer (Dog) was "...a considerable success as a whiskey grocer, but his true gift lies in spinning wild stories from between his frightful teeth..." Ozia Basket (Oze), a teamster, had a barn full of mules, all with "respectable Bible names". These are just a few residents of Ohio City the reader will encounter. "...everyone has a story to tell here in wildly entertaining fashion". Debut author Beatty has written a novel that is a comical, quirky, imaginative romp. Very original and highly recommended.
Tall tales, yarns and (literal) wildness in the settling of Ohio envelope this fish story from medium brother about Big Son, our hero. He is larger, stronger and braver than anyone you’ve ever heard of or ever will hear about. Sit right down and enjoy this tale of monstrous delight. And wish even a sliver of it were possible. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.
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