Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock
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Book Reviews of Knockemstiff
Book Review: Welcome to planet Knockemstiff!
Summary: 5 Stars
I keep hearing and reading that this is a book about Knockemstiff, Ohio, and of course, it literally is. But this is the best kind of book because it transcends geography, demography, socioeconomics. This is a book about human beings.
Chekhov wasn't just writing about Russians, Borges, the Argentines, Virginia Woolf, the plight of a bourgeois existence, Faulkner, the evolving South. No, these men and women were writing about people, regardless of their affiliations. And Donald Ray Pollock has that same brilliant gift: he can pick the right words to speak to all of us, any of us, and that may be the greatest compliment you can give any writer. Pollock can tap a total stranger on the shoulder and whisper truth in our ears.
Read this book! It's a breathing document into our pathos and letdowns and maelstroms of rage and tiny increments of joy. It's our diary, whether we've been to Knockemstiff or not.
Book Review: Knock Out Writing
Summary: 5 Stars
Knockemstiff
I was initially interested in Donald Ray Pollock's linked story collection "Knockemstiff" because he's a local guy. I also knew that his professors and fellow students at Ohio State University think highly of his work. However, I was unprepared for its power. His stories are intense. Most of the characters are not likable, and the situations are disturbing. If you have any interest in fine storytelling, don't let those facts deter you. This one of the most compelling books I've read in a long time. Some have said they couldn't read it all in one sitting. I couldn't stop reading until I had finished every story. I believe all of the best writers show us the universal in the particular. Donald Ray Pollock does that with this collection. The people of Knockemstiff are everywhere.
Book Review: Captivating despite (or because of) the wretchedness
Summary: 5 Stars
These stories are intense, quirky, a little down-dirty, and fascinating.
If someone had described this book to me before I'd read it, I might have thought "not my thing". The characters are not especially likable, the stories are not particularly uplifting. Then again, that's part of the point. Even though part of me kept thinking "can't one of these folks get their bleep together and live a happy life?", the rest of me was busy wallowing in their misery.
Aside from the content of the stories, the writing style is interesting. Some of the descriptions made me chuckle, and a few of them brought on the thought "yeah, that's it exactly!".
There are a couple of Pollock's stories to be found online if you want to get a taste before committing to the book- but it's hardly necessary. You probably won't be able to turn away.
Book Review: Incredibly well crafted book for people who love great writing
Summary: 5 Stars
Short stories are supposed to grab you in the first sentence and every one of them in this collection does that....and then some. I went back over sentences and paragraphs in these stories marveling at the writing. The stories are compeling, raw and unsettling;every one of them satisfying. When there is foreboding, it is subtle yet sets the reader on edge. The stories speak to a specific region, a specific class of people, and yet you suspect you might have met people like them without knowing their story. When done, you read the book a second time, it is that good. Obviously Doubleday thought so, too. I look forward to the publication of Mr. Pollock's first novel, no matter what the topic.
Vicki Stoddard
Columbus, Ohio
Book Review: 120 Proof !
Summary: 5 Stars
If you like short stories that wander around for three or four pages before getting your attention you should avoid Knockemstiff. Pollock hits you right between the eyes in the first paragraph and you move on from there, impossible not to finish one of his stories. These stories are gritty and grimy and extremely well crafted, telling of the lives and struggles of the characters of Knockemstiff, a real place although the characters are fictional. Pollock has a voice for sure and, hopefully, we will be hearing more of him.