Knockemstiff Author:Donald Ray Pollock Spanning a period from the mid-sixties to the late nineties, the stories in KNOCKEMSTIFFfeature 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 ... more »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 and a bracing absence of value judgments.
With artistic sensibilities reminiscent 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.« less
Knockemstiff is a collection of linked short stories about the lives of Knockemstiff, Ohio's residents. Donald Ray Pollock writes in a powerful and distinctive voice. The stories explore the racism, misogeny, addictions, and sense of hopelessness that life in an impoverished town can cause. This collection is not for the faint of heart, and those who cannot stomach the opening story in which a son tries to earn his father's approval by savagely beating up a stranger should not read further. Those who make it through the rest of the book will surely appreciate Pollock's dark portrayal of small town life, and how Knockemstiff's inhabitants imprison each other in their hopeless lives.
These stories aren't pretty and they don't even have good personalities. They are ugly, violent, depraved little addicts that I wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley (or anywhere else for that matter). Several times I wondered why I was still reading, but I just couldn't look away. I kept reading because I just wanted the nightmares to be over. I've heard Pollock classified several ways, including Hillbilly Noir, but this is just straight horror without any supernatural elements.
I insanely loved The Devil All the Time and this collection has similar characters and features one of the novel's settings: Knockemstiff, Ohio. But the stories lack the soul and sense of purpose that made the novel so great for me. I remember at least a few of the novel's characters having redeeming qualities, but those are very, very few and far between in the short stories featured here.
In general, I'm not a fan of short story collections, mostly because I dislike having to reset my brain for new settings and characters with each story. Pollock mostly avoids that by unifying this collection with a single setting and many overlapping characters. That created a new problem (at least, for me) because I kept trying to remember which characters I'd "met" (shudder) before, especially when some of them shared first names.
Overall, I can't say I enjoyed these stories, but Pollock's writing is amazing. Therefore, I couldn't give this collection less than three stars. But, but, but...I don't recommend this to anyone unless you want an intense look at the darkest, most violent and depressing side of American culture. (Even Pollock says at the end that the people he knew growing up in the very real town of Knockemstiff are nothing like that. Of course, he probably had to say that or they would hunt him down and beat the $#!@ out of him.)
This book is gritty, a little too gritty for my taste. I only read the first four stories before determining these were characters I just didn't want to spend another minute with.
