Knockemstiff - Hardcover

Pollock, Donald Ray

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385523823 ISBN 13: 9780385523820

Publisher: Doubleday, 2008

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

DONALD RAY POLLOCK grew up in Knockemstiff, Ohio. He dropped out of high school to work in a meatpacking plant and then spent over thirty years employed in a paper mill in southern Ohio. Currently, he is a graduate student in the MFA program at Ohio State University. His stories have appeared in the Berkeley Fiction Review, the Journal, Third Coast, Chiron Review, Sou’wester, Boulevard, and Folio, and he has contributed essays on politics to the op-ed page of the New York Times.

Reviews

Critics agree that Knockemstiff is an outstanding debut, one born of experience. Pollock, who grew up in Knockemstiff, dropped out of high school to work in a meatpacking plant and then worked for 30 years in a paper mill. He turned to writing after he quit “drinking and druggingâ€� and enrolled in the MFA program at Ohio State University. His eponymous town serves as the same binding force as Winesburg, Ohio, does in Sherwood Anderson’s story cycle, but Knockemstiff is an uglier, more grotesque place, with oozing sores visible everywhere. Critics commend that Pollock, despite his dark themes, suspends judgment and, in spare, graphic prose reminiscent of Raymond Carver and Cormac McCarthy, portrays his characters with wit and empathy. This powerful collection may be an uncomfortable readâ€"but it’s worth every second.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

A native of Knockemstiff, Ohio, Pollock delivers poignant and raunchy accounts of his hometown's sad and stagnant residents in his debut story collection that may remind readers of its thematic grand-daddy, Winesburg, Ohio. The works span 50 years of violence, failure, lust and depravity, featuring characters like Jake, an abandoned hermit who dodges the draft during WWII, lives in a bus and discovers two young siblings committing incest on the bank of a creek, and Bobby, a recovering alcoholic who must face the imminent death of his abusive father. The language and imagery of the novel are shockingly direct in detailing the pitiful lives of drug abusers, perverts and a forgotten population that just isn't much welcome nowhere in the world. Many of the characters appear in more than one story, providing a gritty depth to the whole, but the character that stands out the most is the town, as dismal and hopeless as the locals. Pollock is intimate with the grimy aspects of a small town (especially one named after a fistfight) full of poor, uneducated people without futures or knowledge of any other way to live. The most startling thing about these stories is they have an aura of truth. (Mar.)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0385523823
• ISBN 13: 9780385523820
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 206