Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"Knockemstiff is a powerful, remarkable, exceptional book....Pollock knows these people, what they want and think and feel, and he takes us there without flinching." Los Angeles Times
Review
"These are absorbing stories that linger and haunt. They crept up on me, leaving me breathless and shaken." The Oregonian
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"Startling, bleak, uncompromising and funny....This is as raw as American fiction gets. It is an unforgettable experience." San Francisco Chronicle
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"More engaging than any new fiction in years....Knockemstiff gives us the impossible — fast, funny stories about the saddest people you'll ever meet in fiction." Chuck Palahniuk
Review
"[Donald Ray Pollock] could be the next important voice in American fiction." Wall Street Journal
Review
"Profanely comic....Pollock's tales are spiked with a lurid panache that handily earns its own literary genre: Southern Ohio Gothic." Elle
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"After every story in Knockemstiff I had to take a walk and let my head cool down. I keep reaching for some other writer to compare him with — maybe a Raymond Carver with hope and vitality, or a godless Flannery O'Connor — but Pollock is no shadow of anybody else. This is a powerful talent at work." Katherine Dunn, author of Geek Love
Review
"[I]n spare, graphic prose reminiscent of Raymond Carver and Cormac McCarthy, [Pollock] portrays his characters with wit and empathy. This powerful collection may be an uncomfortable read, but it's worth every second." Bookmarks
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"Pollock doesn’t so much push the envelope as incinerate it, but his potent narrative gifts (and pitch-black humor) make it impossible to look away from the flames." The Washington Post
Review
"The stories in Knockemstiff depict some of the most heartbreakingly original characters and situations of recent memory....Pollock's writing doesn't just hook you; he grabs you by the throat." Gerry Donaghy, Powells.com (read the entire Powells.com review)
Synopsis
"More engaging than any new fiction in years." Chuck Palahniuk
An unforgettable work of fiction that peers into the soul of a tough Midwestern American town to reveal the sad, stunted but resilient lives of its residents. Knockemstiff is a genuine entry into the literature of place.
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 irresistibly, undeniably real. 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.
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Synopsis
The stories in this collection feature a cast of recurring characters who are woebegone, baffled, and depraved but irresistibly, undeniably real. With artistic sensibilities reminiscent of Flannery O'Connor, Pollock offers a powerful work of fiction in the classic American vein.
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.