“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” Francis Bacon, Sr.

Coal Run

By

Tawni O’Dell

For those of you (us) who are not familiar with the early days of the Coal Industry in the United States, this book is a must. Ms. O’Dell takes you through a one week journey in “Coal Run”, a small Pennsylvania coal town that has seen much better days.

Ivan Zoschenko is the son of a Ukrainian immigrant who managed to escape the gulags of Russia and make his way to the United States. His Dad has already been killed in a mine explosion (along with most of the men of the town), and Ivan has had troubles of his own. He was a college football star with a promising career in professional football (he had been drafted by the Chicago Bears) that was extinguished before he attended his first practice by an injury he received during a night of drinking. The story is about a week in his life after he has returned to Coal Run after a 16 year hiatus.

Ms. Odell fills the story with several dynamic interrelated characters that tell an intriguing and emotional story. She has an amazing talent of gradually unfolding the story, the relationships between the various characters, the hidden secrets of years before, and the hardships of an industry that is at the core of the development of the United States. Each chapter takes place in a day, and when you finish the chapter, you feel that you have been through a month (in this case, this is a good thing).

The story by itself makes the book worth reading, but I don’t think it should overshadow what message Ms. O’Dell is delivering.

The coal industry, which has been and is such an integral part of our Country, has left a trail littered with despair. The mine workers were mostly immigrants and the children of immigrants working for meager wages. They lived in housing provided by the coal mine companies, shopped in stores owned by the coal mine companies (paying high prices for necessary goods) and went to church in churches built by those companies.

Mr. Zoschenko (Ivan’s Dad) was typical in the respect, that life had been so bad in Russia, that this was much better. Despite the poverty and awful conditions, they had a sense of family and found much pleasure in the most basic of things.

Ms. O’Dell, with her fantastic literary skills, puts you right in the middle of this town many years after its heyday among all of its citizens and stories and gives you a sense of what it may have been like to have been one of those folks.

We have a wonderful Country, but this was one of its dark sides. I walked away with a sense of the cruelty imposed on these wonderful people, however, on the positive side, amazed by their resiliency and character. These people truly form a strong core for our Country.

This is another chapter of the story of our amazing Country, and everyone should know about it.  You will like the book.