Knockemstiff
by Donald Ray Pollock
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Book Summary Information
Author: Donald Ray PollockEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-03-18
ISBN: 0385523823
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Doubleday
Book Reviews of Knockemstiff
Book Review: Dark and gritty
Summary: 5 Stars
Here's one town you don't want to live in! Knockemstiff, Ohio is a small town populated by high school drop outs, drunks, and chain smoking folks living in beat up trailors (think "hillbillies"). The book is written as a series of entertwined short stories, with the same characters often popping up through out the book.
Pollock does an outstanding job of making the characters seem so real. I guarantee it that you'll spot a bit of an annoying in-law, or that mouthy, gossiping neighbor in this book. Be forewarned, the book does contain some violence and, well, some just plain disgusting moments. It's also not a "feel good" type of book; avoid if you don't like dark and disturbing. But if you do occasionally like to take a walk on the dirty and gritty side of things, you will be unable to put this one down.
Summary of Knockemstiff
In this unforgettable work of fiction, Donald Ray Pollock peers into the soul of a tough Midwestern American town to reveal the sad, stunted but resilient lives of its residents.Spanning a period from the mid-sixties to the late nineties, the linked stories that comprise Knockemstiff feature a cast of recurring characters who are woebegone, baffled and depraved-but irresistibly, undeniably real. Rendered in the American vernacular with vivid imagery and a wry, dark sense of humor, these thwarted and sometimes violent lives jump off the page at the reader with inexorable force. A father pumps his son full of steroids so he can vicariously relive his days as a perpetual runner-up body builder. A psychotic rural recluse comes upon two siblings committing incest and feels compelled to take action. Donald Ray Pollock presents his characters and the sordid goings-on with a stern intelligence, a bracing absence of value judgments, and a refreshingly dark sense of bottom-dog humor.
With an artistic instinct honed on the works of Flannery O'Connor and Harry Crews, Pollock offers a powerful work of fiction in the classic American vein. Knockemstiff is a genuine entry into the literature of place.
Amazon Significant Seven, March 2008: A quick Internet search for "Knockemstiff, Ohio" reveals a lazy nexus of shabby houses and dirt roads in southern Ohio, lacking a post office and grocery store, but rich in legends of epic fistfights and swamp-dwelling ghosts. Donald Ray Pollock, a native of this "ghost town," populates his own Knockemstiff with living revenants: huffers, murderers, sex fiends, and their hapless (though not innocent) victims, all tethered to the woebegone "holler" by their own self-inflicted shortcomings and depravities. Pollock pulls no punches--his prose is blunt and visceral, as well as stylish and skilled--and reading these mini grand guignols can be like crunching on a mouthful of your own broken teeth. He resists casting judgment (or sympathy) on his doomed reprobates; predator or prey (or sometimes both), Pollock contemplates his characters with all the warmth of a "frozen bleach bottle." It's an astonishing debut. --Jon Foro
United States Books
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