Knockemstiff
by Donald Ray Pollock
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
Fans of Chuck Palahniuk or Denis Johnson
“Forgetting our lives might be the best we’ll ever do."
The stories found In “Knockemstiff,” Donald Ray Pollock’s raw and powerful literary debut, are not for the faint of heart. Brutal and uncompromising, they capture the hardscrabble lives of the residents of Knockemstiff, Ohio – the very same town that Pollock comes from (although he cautiously points out in his acknowledgments that the actual residents of his hometown are really “good people who never hesitate...more
The stories found In “Knockemstiff,” Donald Ray Pollock’s raw and powerful literary debut, are not for the faint of heart. Brutal and uncompromising, they capture the hardscrabble lives of the residents of Knockemstiff, Ohio – the very same town that Pollock comes from (although he cautiously points out in his acknowledgments that the actual residents of his hometown are really “good people who never hesitate...more
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Read in June, 2008
"As my parents' bed thumped loudly against the floor in the next room, I lapped the blood off my knuckles. The dried flakes dissolved in my mouth, turning my spit to syrup. Even after I'd swallowed all the blood, I kept licking my hands. I tore at the skin with my teeth. I wanted more. I would always want more."
So ends "Real Life," the first story in Donald Ray Pollock's knockout of a debut. It seems that every review I've read uses two phrases to describe this collection...more
So ends "Real Life," the first story in Donald Ray Pollock's knockout of a debut. It seems that every review I've read uses two phrases to describe this collection...more
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Read in November, 2007
I read this book last week- I've let it sit with me for a while before writing a review. It's definitely the kind of book that sticks with you. Overall I thought it was very interesting, maybe even fascinating... it's a little like picking at a scab- it might hurt, it might be nasty, but you can't help yourself. The characters are just so f*ing miserable, hapless, and hopeless that I couldn't help but to feel frustrated while reading about them. At the same time, it draws you in so that you expe...more
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Read in May, 2008
Like Sherwood Anderson's classic Winesburg, Ohio on speedballs comes Donald Ray Pollock's Knockemstiff. Told from the viewpoints of a variety of hopeless, fuck-ups from the little town of Knockemstiff, Ohio through the years, this novel is a truly (and wonderfully) brutal piece of work.
Each story builds upon those before it in theme, character and story itself. People show up again and again, their problems doubling and tripling, the path of destitution continuing to spiral downward. As i...more
Each story builds upon those before it in theme, character and story itself. People show up again and again, their problems doubling and tripling, the path of destitution continuing to spiral downward. As i...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
train riders lookinf for a fast read
After the first 2 stories I was beginning to feel like Pollock was saying the same thing over and over. His writing is fluid at best, but frequently trite and cliche-ridden. His characters dwelled in a deprevity that seemed to only express itself in sex and drugs and never relented in away that spoke to the truth of peoples more complex inner lives.
If I saw a short story by him again, I would read it and I think his stories/writing have potential but to compare him to Denis Johson at this poi...more
If I saw a short story by him again, I would read it and I think his stories/writing have potential but to compare him to Denis Johson at this poi...more
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Read in April, 2008
This a collection of short stories of interconnected characters of a period of decades. There are no real dates attributed to the stories, but rather vague references by way of cars, movies, etc. I really liked it and finished it in a couple of evenings.
This is not really the type of book I would normally like, the characters are just utterly hopeless, joyless, and completely dismal. After hearing about this book, I was intrigued, being from Ohio, and Knockemstiff is an actual town is rural...more
This is not really the type of book I would normally like, the characters are just utterly hopeless, joyless, and completely dismal. After hearing about this book, I was intrigued, being from Ohio, and Knockemstiff is an actual town is rural...more
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Read in May, 2008
Yep. I'll put it on my all-time faves list. Donald Ray seems to be working on a much higher, much riskier level than any other new writer out there. This set of slightly-connected stories (they all take place in Knockemstiff, Ohio) is so constantly great that I couldn't help but shake my head. Some people I've talked with about this book have suggested it's too brutal for them to read in long stretches but I found that Pollack's bleak narratives were often spiced up with enough strange details a...more
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Read in July, 2008
Not for the faint of heart (I'm talking about you Mike Terry)... this book certainly goes overboard in a couple of places a la Chuck Palahniuk, but is a lot less graphic. (I think it actually works quite well with the narrative.) The author paints a compelte picture of this little hick town where the bored uneducated locals turn to huffing drugs, throwing darts at the fat kid (his idea), and getting into fights.... just to pass the time. The book is split into several short stories where some ...more
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recommends it for:
fans of short stories; Raymond Carver
There's no denying the brutality that seeps through the pages of this book; blasted lives aimlessly scraping together another day in Knockemstiff, Ohio.
What makes these stories so compelling though, is Pollocks carefully nuanced narratives. Pollock doesn't use the despair or violence or behavior simply to shock--regardless of the reader's background, one develops an empathy for the characters. We recognize those moments of weakness in ourselves, the road not taken for fear of the unknown, of...more
What makes these stories so compelling though, is Pollocks carefully nuanced narratives. Pollock doesn't use the despair or violence or behavior simply to shock--regardless of the reader's background, one develops an empathy for the characters. We recognize those moments of weakness in ourselves, the road not taken for fear of the unknown, of...more
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Probably best not to read these straight through. Maybe take a break between stories and go pick a flower, spin some Yanni. This stuff is smelly and mean. And yes, it does seem like a lot of short story writers have an easy time depicting brutal people doing nasty things to one another and the world at large, and a lot of those same writers have no interest in originality. Not so with this writer. It's like he's got an extra gear – e.g. not only is the hash a couple of dudes are smoking causin...more
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Read in February, 2008
Don't get me wrong; the writing is good, and the acts of the characters are unapologetic and seem to be basic fucntions of their personalities. But I simply cannot read the inner thoughts of a segment of the population that would sooner call me nigger and blame me for their lot rather than the very fact they're stuck in a dead-end life. I'm not emotionallly involved in the book, and started to actualy root for them to screw each other's life up.
Others have remarked how touching the book was;...more
Others have remarked how touching the book was;...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
Erin
The book is very well written. Some of the tragically funniest stories about the saddest characters you'll ever read about.
All of the interconnected stories are set in the fictitious town of Knockemstiff, Ohio. But as I was reading of this fictitious town I couldn't help but feel the town sounded familiar. It was a little too reminiscent of the town where I grew up. I couldn't help but feel some of the people whom I came in contact with growing up were the type of people on which the c...more
All of the interconnected stories are set in the fictitious town of Knockemstiff, Ohio. But as I was reading of this fictitious town I couldn't help but feel the town sounded familiar. It was a little too reminiscent of the town where I grew up. I couldn't help but feel some of the people whom I came in contact with growing up were the type of people on which the c...more
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Read in March, 2008
I grew up in Cincinnati, and whenever I read Raymond Carver, all the characters seemed to speak to me with an Appalachian accent. Wrong of course, but it felt right to me.
Now here comes Pollock's "Knockemstiff," set in the hopeless oxycontin hollers of Southern Ohio, and those Carver-like characters of Appalachia have a fine writer who knows how to give them voice.
Half the stories (the first fourth of the book and the last fourth) are very fine indeed. and the others--althou...more
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Read in May, 2008
Wow, very bleak stories about down and out people in a small town that has little to offer its residents and diminishing prospects for each successive generation. These are stories of people who can't get a break and just keep making it worse for themselves. You have to take a breather after each story. But there's some painfully beautiful writing, a keen turn of phrase that hits the bullseye in describing the character, situation, feeling. This guy can write. And, I think in the final story...more
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Read in July, 2008
There's a lot to like in Pollock's writing - it's unflinching, brutal, specific. But the stories started to feel repetitive: almost all of them are told by white males living in the same small town. Almost all of them involve drugs/booze, sex, and violence. All of them have dead-end lives. I understand the point of showing the repetitiveness of being trapped in a small rural town, but the longer it went on, the more it took away from the feeling of realness for me. And some of the stories f...more
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This book takes place in southern Ohio, in an Appalachian county south of Columbus. It has more violence (including sexual violence), drug use, and use of the n-word than I almost ever will keep reading. And it's very depressing generally. I read it because I wanted to know more about SE Ohio, about which I know almost nothing. It's very well written, and the author worked in a paper mill in Chillicothe for 30 years. He clearly knows intimately what he's writing about. Eventually he got his degr...more
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Read in August, 2008
recommended to Kate by:
Reviewsrecommends it for: former Ross Countians (Janelle, this means you!)
This collection of short stories about a small town in southern Ohio is definitely very well-written, and this book does deserve all the praise and good reviews it has gotten.
But for me, it was just too much -- too much with the depressing and hopeless characters, and the horrors of their lives. I literally could not read more than a few pages of this at a time. I only read about one-third of it and then gave up after The Fish Sticks Girl. The killing, the drug-use, the incest, the unhappines...more
But for me, it was just too much -- too much with the depressing and hopeless characters, and the horrors of their lives. I literally could not read more than a few pages of this at a time. I only read about one-third of it and then gave up after The Fish Sticks Girl. The killing, the drug-use, the incest, the unhappines...more
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Read in June, 2008
Ok, so this doesn't belong on my "read" shelf because I didn't read much of it. I don't think it was poorly written, probably quite the opposite. It just deals with characters and lives that I don't want to deal with. Sorry, too many books to read to spend time on stuff I don't want to read about.
I've had a fascination with going to Knockemstiff, Ohio ever since I heard about the place 20 years ago. Having read a couple of chapters, I don't think I want to go any more.
The...more
I've had a fascination with going to Knockemstiff, Ohio ever since I heard about the place 20 years ago. Having read a couple of chapters, I don't think I want to go any more.
The...more
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Read in July, 2008
recommended to Lori by:
Heard about it on local NPR recommends it for: fellow Ohioans or those with interest in the region or in Appalachia
Greetings from the Buckeye State...specifically the town of Knockemstiff. This town does, indeed, exist (I have been there on a lark) and the author is a native who escaped, but could not forget the place.
These are desperate characters trapped in the holler. Some aspire to life beyond but many are terrified of the thought of leaving. The town is a blend of hilarity and treachery, violence and pathos. I am not sure how I feel about this book yet. But it has a quirkiness that will probably ...more
These are desperate characters trapped in the holler. Some aspire to life beyond but many are terrified of the thought of leaving. The town is a blend of hilarity and treachery, violence and pathos. I am not sure how I feel about this book yet. But it has a quirkiness that will probably ...more
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Read in June, 2008
I can't begin to say enough good about this book, so I won't try. The only thing wrong with this book is that I had trouble trying to write while I was reading it, because his stories were in my head instead of my own.
These are dark stories. Looking for a pick-me-up? Go somewhere else. Looking for happy endings and life lessons? Somewhere else. But if you're tired of fiction about people whose problems don't seem all that problematic, maybe you're ready for the sad lives of the people of Kno...more
These are dark stories. Looking for a pick-me-up? Go somewhere else. Looking for happy endings and life lessons? Somewhere else. But if you're tired of fiction about people whose problems don't seem all that problematic, maybe you're ready for the sad lives of the people of Kno...more
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