Here is another outstanding entry from the Cion summer essays, by Mark J. Pierce.

After reading Cion, by Zakes Mda, I felt like I had a greater understanding of the culture and tradition surrounding Ohio University and the Athens area. Touted as fiction, I feel that the situations that the characters encounter in the book are similar to situations students at Ohio University encounter. The author seems to have had a purpose of writing in a way that the students of Athens can relate. The Halloween festival, the names of the roads, rivers, and towns all illustrate a picture for the readers. This is an informative book with an informative and sincere form of writing. Mda chose a perfect technique that allowed his writing to come off the page as more than just a novel the students were suppose to read before arrival. The story is told in way that seems like the author is telling it to every individual reader directly. It has that kind of feel like when a mother or father reads a bedtime story to their child.

I recently visited Ohio University one week before I was scheduled to move into my dorm because I was working with the Grid Iron Glory program. I had read the book prior to this visit. On my way down I noticed signs and landmarks that had been mentioned in the book. The Hocking River, the Uptown of Athens, etc. Once I remembered the familiar names, I remembered the traditions and cultures that are connected with the names. This book is the reason for that. I am a freshman at Ohio University. I have not yet experienced the customs and traditions the returning students have experienced. But I got a visual illustration in my mind of what those situations and experiences may be like due to this book. As I walked to the radio television building, I could see in my imagination all the characters in costumes the way they were described in the story. I am eager to experience this in a first person format, but it is good for freshman students to have an idea of what to expect.

I agree that this book is a fiction story, created in the mind of Zakes Mda. The characters and actions of the characters are also created in his imagination. The interesting thing is inside all the creative techniques he uses, he incorporates a theme of real and authentic places and situations in his writing.

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