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Sempre o Diabo

Donald Ray Pollock,

Maria do Carmo Figueira (Translator)

4.12 · Rating details · 23,859 ratings · 3,459 reviews

Localizado no sul rural do Ohio e da Virginia, Sempre o Diabo segue um elenco de magnéticas e bizarras personagens, desde o fim da Segunda Guerra Mundial até 1960: Willard Russell – veterano atormentado pela carnificina no Pacífico Sul – que não consegue salvar a sua bonita mulher, Charlotte, da morte agonizante de um cancro, por mais sangue sacrificial que derrame sobre o ...more

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Paperback, 324 pages

Published April 2014 by Quetzal Editores (first published July 12th 2011)

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Apr 07, 2012 karen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: appalachian-noir-southern-gothic, grit-lit

oh, great. another book i can never recommend to elizabeth...

this book is vicious. understand that. this is a hyper-violent book, filled with completely unsavory characters in a filthy landscape where crimes are committed with breathtaking casualness.

and i gotta confess, i loved it.

because that's not all it is. this isn't just gratuitous violence for shock value and testing of the reader's limits. there is also that heartbreaking thing i love so much in my literature: small-town desperation. th ...more

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Dec 20, 2017 PirateSteve rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: gothic

Donald Ray Pollock wrote this book using many characters, including preachers. There are at least three of'em in The Devil All The Time. One good old preacher is dying but won't admit it for nothing. The other two ... Well, they done got themselves into just the kind of trouble Mr.Pollock likes to write about.
From the Bible we find in
Matthew 5:9 "Blessed are the peacemakers ... "
No. Wait a minute. That one doesn't apply here. There ain't no peacemakers in Knockemstiff, Ohio.

so let's try Ezek ...more

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May 17, 2013 Paul Bryant rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: novels

UPDATE

Well, finally the movie arrived (on Netflix) and it's.... just about adequate. Yeah, that good. I mean, everything is in place, kind of, (aside from Mr Robert Pattison, how did he get in there with his weird accent) but like the movie Trainspotting it's sooooo watered-down. Bookreaders will know this feeling. I note that Donald Ray Pollock himself is the narrator in this movie version (and he has a great voice) so he must have liked it but for me, naaah. Read the damn book, it's great.

And ...more

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Apr 04, 2017 Melissa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: grit-lit, unforgettable-reads, scared-me, horror, 2017, dark-and-twisted, mind-fuck

This compelling piece of fiction, written with a deft hand, takes the cake for disturbing and depraved. Unwavering in his delivery, Donald Ray Pollock gives us a peek at the world, through the eyes of some gnarly and grotesque individuals. What stands out is the casual ease in which the violence and carnage is served up, sans the antics that reek of shock value, making this deliciously dark plot palatable in some strange and unnerving way. That's not to say the reality these people call life is This compelling piece of fiction, written with a deft hand, takes the cake for disturbing and depraved. Unwavering in his delivery, Donald Ray Pollock gives us a peek at the world, through the eyes of some gnarly and grotesque individuals. What stands out is the casual ease in which the violence and carnage is served up, sans the antics that reek of shock value, making this deliciously dark plot palatable in some strange and unnerving way. That's not to say the reality these people call life is easy to choke down, especially for those of us that have impulse control and a moral compass; so prepare yourself. Sometimes their decisions are born out of desperation and other times it's pure evil at the helm, or the devil all the time, if you will. Most disturbing of all is the twisted rationalization that tends to happen within the mind—the justification that this act, whatever it might be, is the only way to feel a connection to their maker.

“It’s hard to live a good life. It seems like the devil don’t ever let up.”

There’s the husband with the makeshift alter, deep in the woods, where blood is spilled in the name of sacrifice. It’s the only way this devoted husband can see to save his wife from the painful end she’s staring down. And his son, forever changed by the bloody horrors he's had to witness, was the one and only character I found myself clinging to—rooting for some sort of redeeming end.

Creepiest of all, the traveling pastor that claims faith alone helped him to overcome his very real fear of spiders. Now he shocks congregations by covering his body with the eight-legged freaks (*cringe*) or eating them (*gag*) to prove his message. Have I mentioned how much I hate spiders? My fear runs so deep, my skin is crawling even writing this. And you can’t forget the pastor’s strange sidekick—a man that opted to drink poison to prove his faith, earning him a pair of shriveled legs and a bad attitude.

Then there’s the husband and wife that spend their ‘vacations’ trolling the highway for ‘models’. She's the bait for the next man deemed lucky enough to sate the disgusting photographer and his relentless quest for the perfect picture.

There’s a host of death, destruction and evil deeds connecting two small towns in Ohio and West Virginia, and the way the author pieces the multiple storylines together is shocking in all its perfection. Some might even say fitting, for this dangerously dark cast. ...more

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Aug 27, 2020 Larry rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Emphatic 5 star review! Chose to read this book as a long shot, based solely on the book description, and as a result of a recommendation to paperbackdreams YouTube channel - I am so glad I did! Totally blown away!

Can’t wait for the Netflix movie in September so I can see on the screen the story that played out in my head as I read.

Will absolutely read everything by this author, he is a gem!

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Jul 23, 2012 Richard Derus rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This review has been revised and can be found at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud.

2020 UPDATE The film's Netflix debut comes in September, and here's a taste of what's to come. (Please overlook the source, the info is in fact good.)

2019 UPDATE A casting change, but apparently no delays in the Netflix film of this excellent book.

2018 UPDATE Filming begins February 2019.

***2017 UPDATE***A FILM IS COMING***starring Robert Pattinson as Reverend Roy. This will be interesting.***

It's National Book Lovers ...more

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Oct 16, 2016 Jennifer Masterson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Every single star for this extremely dark and disturbing novel. Even though it took me a long time to finish, not once did I want to give up on it. I listened to the audio version. I think that the brilliant narration by Mark Bramhall added to this novel. He is one of the best narrators that I have come across. If you listen to audio this is a good one.

This is my first Donald Ray Pollock novel but it certainly will not be my last. Highly recommended to people who can handle dark and disturbing ...more

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Nov 19, 2018 BlackOxford rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: american

Appalachian Spring

Combine the Heartland evangelism of the Origin of the Brunists with the Appalachian haplessness of The Glass Castle, then season with a few homicides and sexual perversions as in American Psycho and you have The Devil All the Time, an everyday tale of disenchantment with the land of opportunity and its principles.

The main action takes place in the hill country of Southeastern Ohio. The hamlet of Knockemstiff, a real place, is ground zero. The place names are telling. Knockemsti ...more

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Jun 12, 2020 Robin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Southern Gothic devotees

Shelves: noir, american, thriller, 2020, southern-gothic, horror, debut

Christ's image is everywhere - but the Devil's carnage is too, in this compulsively readable, blood-soaked thriller.

Although he's less "artiste" than Flannery O'Connor and William Gay (the crowned Queen and King of Southern Gothic), Donald Ray Pollock holds his own among such venerated company. His prose is taut, hard-boiled, and so is the tension he creates. There's a sick decadence here. It's ripe with all the grotesque ingredients necessary for such a story: twisted revival meetings, a travel ...more

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Oct 12, 2012 James Thane rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: noir, crime-fiction

This is a beautifully-written, captivating book about a number of mostly poverty-stricken rural characters, some of whom are down on their luck and others of whom are simply bad to the bone.

Set in rural Ohio and West Virginia, the story takes place over a period from the end of World War II until the middle of the 1960s. It weaves together the strands of several different stories, and the characters include a husband and wife team of serial killers who hunt their male "models" along the nation's ...more

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Jul 23, 2012 Dan Schwent rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: hick-lit, 2012, crime-and-mystery

Willard Russell prays over a prayer log for his cancer-ridden wife with his son, Arvin. A spider-eating preacher is convinced he can bring back the dead. A husband and wife pick up hitchhikers, photograph them, and kill them. How will all of their paths intersect?

Knockemstiff was one of my favorite books this year and I was anxious for Donald Ray Pollock to try his hand at a novel. Now I'm anxious for him to write a couple hundred more.

The Devil All the Time dips into the same well as Knockemsti ...more

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Jan 01, 2012 Kemper rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: rednecks, 2012, crime-mystery, modern-lit, sky-cake

Hey, parents, having problems getting you kids to behave in church? Let them spend a Sunday with Willard Russell. Willard isn’t a preacher, and he doesn’t have one of those big mall-like mega churches. What Willard has is a log in the woods. That’s right, a damn log in the woods. A prayer log if you will, and he’s hung up some crosses around it, and he makes sure that his son Arvin is out there all the time praying with all he’s got. Don’t mind all that dried blood and animal bones. Willard thin ...more

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Sep 13, 2016 Zoeytron rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: public-library

A preacher who eats spiders, trying to strike his own parable with the church folk. His little talks with Jesus end up turning his deluded notions into full blown insanity.

A husband and wife comb the backroads picking up young male hitchhikers, all of them coming to an end in a true photo finish. The woman, thinking herself a slightly better class of trash than her husband, idly scratches her “jigger” bites and dreams of moving on without him.

A sheriff who recognizes that being the law in a ba ...more

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Jan 10, 2017 Matthias rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Matthias by: Ɗẳɳ 2.☊

Shelves: my-reviews

The places described in this book are said to be located somewhere in Ohio. Small towns and highways connecting them to other small towns with convenience stores, schools, cornfields, dirt roads, churches, wood-paneled homes and their sheds. But it doesn't take you very long to know that this decor is just a façade for where you really are. The plants have withered, the dogs are skinny, all eyes are dead. Everything is thirsty. The pure thirst for water is numbed and buried in dust. Alcohol and The places described in this book are said to be located somewhere in Ohio. Small towns and highways connecting them to other small towns with convenience stores, schools, cornfields, dirt roads, churches, wood-paneled homes and their sheds. But it doesn't take you very long to know that this decor is just a façade for where you really are. The plants have withered, the dogs are skinny, all eyes are dead. Everything is thirsty. The pure thirst for water is numbed and buried in dust. Alcohol and blood are all that is left to appease the cruel tongues slithering in the dried-up maws and mouths. The only soft caress you're likely to get is that of a rare breeze that seems out of place in the rough landscape and flees just as soon as it arrived. The only color comes from reddish brown stains in the sand, the only sound comes from your own laboured breathing.

You are in Hell.

The Devil has taken a seat in his favorite throne: the stone-cold hearts of the people who roam this desert. Senseless violence goes hand in hand with outrageous sexual proclivities. As the Devil is steering everyone in desperate circles of debaucheries and murders, it is easy to be entertained by the spectacle but difficult to empathise with the grim cast of characters who are slowly casting off their human shell. The only warm, sweet sensation that is left in these arid lands is that of a possibility of revenge, the prospect of somehow ending this miserable display.

Some of the people have embraced the Devil willingly. Some have tried to stay ahead of him but were caught up in his remorseless swoop. Some have tried to confront him with dry decomposing Bibles and pitiful prayers to grey skies only to find themselves choking in the sand. Their tales and their vividly detailed backgrounds are what you'll find in this book.

The most interesting story came from the one who managed to stay behind the Devil, staying out of view and cleaning up the mess. The one who decided to have a staring contest with the abyss as it gazed back into him, unblinking. His own brand of emptiness is pitted against the endless depths of evil as the pages turn and the reader is swept away in this mesmerising story of a handful of good intentions in a world of evil. It's not hope that gets you through this desert, but the thrill of witnessing the wicked and the chance of beating the Devil at his own game while secretly enjoying his company.

Don't miss this journey. ...more

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Jul 18, 2018 Brian rated it really liked it · review of another edition

“Alone at last with the ghosts of his childhood.”

“The Devil all the Time” is an ugly, uncompromising book. Donald Ray Pollock has created an atmosphere that is dark, unrelenting, and devoid of hope. I would say that he exaggerates the atmosphere of the parts of southeast Ohio and West Virginia that he writes about, but he has lived there all his life, so who I am to say? I do live in central Ohio and have all of my life, and my belief is that there is a segment of society in that area that proba “Alone at last with the ghosts of his childhood.”

“The Devil all the Time” is an ugly, uncompromising book. Donald Ray Pollock has created an atmosphere that is dark, unrelenting, and devoid of hope. I would say that he exaggerates the atmosphere of the parts of southeast Ohio and West Virginia that he writes about, but he has lived there all his life, so who I am to say? I do live in central Ohio and have all of my life, and my belief is that there is a segment of society in that area that probably inspires the truth in Mr. Pollock’s novel. However, don’t mistake that segment of the population for the whole.
While reading this book I kept thinking of the film “No Country for Old Men”. It just put me in that vein. This text is not for those who dislike the ugly, dirty elements of human squalor depicted. This is not a book to read while eating.
As for the story and the writing…Mr. Pollock has managed to create a gripping narrative in which he weaves numerous plot threads and neatly brings them together as the novel concludes. That element of the text is well done, as is the fact that it spans well over 18 years and yet it is concise and moves along. The author covers that span of years quickly, and yet you never feel like he left anything out.
The characterizations are taut and are real, disgustingly so at times. This next sentence is not going to make sense… I detested many of these characters, but was drawn into their lives rather than judging them. I can’t really explain that, because if I knew these people in real life I know my judgment would fly and I would have to work very hard to keep it in check. I especially enjoyed the character of Arvin Russell, who is probably as close to a protagonist as this ensemble lead story gets. He is the only character who ends the novel with any kind of hope, and even then not much.
“The Washington Post” review of this book says it so well…"You may be repelled, you may be shocked, you will almost certainly be horrified, but you will read every last word.” Seriously, that sums it up for me. Can’t say it any better.
I have now read two of Mr. Pollock’s novels. I don’t think they are for everyone, and they get in your head and not in a good way. Nevertheless, I am glad that he is writing them. It is a voice we should have in American fiction. ...more

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Jan 28, 2012 Lawyer rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Not for lovers of English Cozy Mysteries

Recommended to Lawyer by: Goodreads Group Pulp Fiction February 2012 selection

Shelves: 20th-century, gothic-fiction, murder, sex, southern-gothic, 2012, religion, crime, noir, contemporary-literature

The Devil All the Time, Donald Ray Pollock's tales from a ghost town

“Just as there are physical monsters, can there not be mental or psychic monsters born? The face and body may be perfect, but if a twisted gene or malformed egg can produce physical monsters, may not the same process produce a malformed soul?

Monsters are variations from the accepted normal to a greater or a less degree. As a child may be born without an arm, so one may be born without kindness or the potential of conscience. A

...more

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May 20, 2015 Kelly (and the Book Boar) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: black-as-mitchell-s-heart, read-in-2015, liburrrrrry-book

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

“As far back as he could remember, it seemed that his father had fought the Devil all the time.”

Interested in reading Mitchell’s #1 pick so far this year? Are you sure you’re ready for the darkness that is the black hole of his heart? Positive?????? Alrighty then, here goes . . .

When Ron 2.0 recommended The Devil All the Time to me I ~~told him to f*&^ off~~ did what I normally do – added it to my TBR where it would promptly be fo ...more

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Jun 24, 2013 Shelby *trains flying monkeys* rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Shelby *trains flying monkeys* by: Kristin

Shelves: read-2014, hick-grit-lit

Not a book with fairy tales and happy endings.

This book shows the darkness that can linger in people's souls.

Willard Russell believes if he and his son Arvin pray over his "prayer log" long enough it can save his doomed wife Charlotte from the cancer ravaging her body. It might now be enough to just pray alone though..so he adds some sacrificial blood.

So begins this tale. Setting in rural Ohio and West Virginia. Pollock shows the side of poor rural life that I hope to never see.

The characte ...more

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May 23, 2011 Lou rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: serial-killers, july-read, mystery-thriller, psychos

Read the Donald Ray Pollock Recommends Books page, put together from an interview i had with Donald Ray Pollock Here.

Beware some brutal characters contained within this story.
The name Pollock strikes up images in my head of the paintings of Jackson Pollock the painter, that splatter art. Well this Pollock is just as creative with his storytelling that leaves a deep branding in your mind and soul of a human stain of evil characters, that will stay with you well after you have finished this book. Read the Donald Ray Pollock Recommends Books page, put together from an interview i had with Donald Ray Pollock Here.

Beware some brutal characters contained within this story.
The name Pollock strikes up images in my head of the paintings of Jackson Pollock the painter, that splatter art. Well this Pollock is just as creative with his storytelling that leaves a deep branding in your mind and soul of a human stain of evil characters, that will stay with you well after you have finished this book. I am thinking of similarities here to Authors of likes of Jim Thompson who wrote ‘The Killer inside me’ and Daniel Woodrell.

In the town Knockemstiff Pollock has crammed a motley crew of all the grittiest and evil characters you could find. These characters are ones you don’t want to tell your kids that they exist on this planet. You will find in these pages slices of the worst of the worst. The show is on and the location is Knockemstiff, you will get more than you fair slice of the darkest of souls that you could muster up. The hero for me in this story is Arvin he dishes out some sweet justice that makes you really rejoice in accolades of well done i been waiting for that evil good for nothing to taste some justice. The author is hitting topics here head on, ones that the Vatican need to take heed of and act, too many darn wolves in Sheep’s clothing.

Some really swell writing from Pollock. Believe the hype that is out there right now about this writer and his works.

“Unless he had whiskey running through his veins, Willard came to the clearing every morning and evening to talk to God. Arvin didn’t know which was worse, the drinking or the praying. As far back as he could remember, it seemed that his father had fought the Devil all the time.”

“it sounded more like they were practicing some sort of voodoo instead of anything Christian.”

There is a video interview at the Ohio channel with this author of a show called Writers talk.
.

www.more2read.com/?review=the-devil-all ...more

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Apr 10, 2020 Susanne Strong rated it really liked it · review of another edition

4 Stars.

Depravity, Desperation, Evil Incarnate. “The Devil All the Time.”

“It’s hard to live a good life. It seems like the devil don’t ever let up.”

Raised by his mother and father in Knockemstiff, Ohio, Arvin grew up going to a prayer log everyday with his father, bringing “gifts” to the log as blood sacrifices, in hopes that they would be enough to heal his mother Charlotte of cancer. Poor Arvin.

There is a traveling pastor whose “faith” has cured him of his fear of spiders. Such that he prove ...more

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Jul 08, 2011 Trudi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: on-my-kobo, prose-that-sings, crime-mystery, a-sense-of-place, modern-lit, favorites, 2012, good-country-people, all-in-the-family, heart-of-darkness

Jesus wept, but this is the real goods people -- gritty, raw, uncompromising prose that snaps and bites at your soft spots. I find it curious that so many people have shelved Pollock's sophomore novel as horror, because while it is horrifying in places, and deals with some chilling characters, horror it is not. In his review of Pollock's debut Knockemstiff, Kemper uses the terms redneck noir and hick lit and that's much closer to capturing what this novel is offering to anyone who dares pick it Jesus wept, but this is the real goods people -- gritty, raw, uncompromising prose that snaps and bites at your soft spots. I find it curious that so many people have shelved Pollock's sophomore novel as horror, because while it is horrifying in places, and deals with some chilling characters, horror it is not. In his review of Pollock's debut Knockemstiff, Kemper uses the terms redneck noir and hick lit and that's much closer to capturing what this novel is offering to anyone who dares pick it up.

One of the things that impressed me so much here is how well Pollock is able to juggle multiple narrative threads, do each of them justice, and have them collide and intersect with one another in a convincing, satisfying way. He makes it look so easy. Of course it all comes together in the end, but I can't help but think how easily this could have been majorly flubbed, or how forced and deus ex machina it could have read in the hands of a lesser writer.

This is a dark novel, full of dark deeds, it almost suffocates you. This is not a novel of redemption or hope but an unflinching look into the dark heart of man (and woman), bringing all the monsters that lurk there out into the light, into the open to be seen and feared. I found parts of this novel very difficult to read, and not because Pollock is explicit in his descriptions, because he isn’t. He refrains from showing the reader everything, leaving room for what you can imagine -- and isn’t that always worse? I know it is for me. He gives you just enough rope to hang yourself with. But his prose is vivid nevertheless, and there are scenes from this novel that I will never forget.

Unlike Frank Bill's short story collection Crimes in Southern Indiana , Pollock injects an emotionality here and manages to humanize his characters even as he shows how monstrous they can be. While I absolutely loved Crimes, there is a humanity distinctly missing from Bill's characters -- the violence and hatred taking precedence over everything else. Pollock's writing here is closer to Woodrell's Winter's Bone, another outstanding piece of writing in this vein of small town, hardscrabble folk. All men represent the very best of their craft however, when it comes to capturing a sense of place and the people who live there.

Unless he had whiskey running through his veins, Willard came to the clearing every morning and evening to talk to God. Arvin didn't know which was worse, the drinking or the praying. As far back as he could remember, it seemed that his father had fought the Devil all the time. ~The Devil All The Time

...more

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Nov 03, 2014 Ɗẳɳ 2.☊ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Ɗẳɳ 2.☊ by: Kemper

Shelves: grit-lit, goldilocks-zone

Friends, when I look out into those teaming masses, that sea of nameless faces mindlessly distracted by some mobile device, do you know what it is that I see reflected back in those blank stares? I tell ya what I see is a whole mess of dull-witted, primped, and pampered sissies, as soft as a doughnut. I reckon it’s past time to put down that lousy screen, crack open this good book, and take a glimpse of how things once was in our not-so-distant past. Then you ought to thank your lucky stars you’ ...more

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Jul 17, 2015 Steven Godin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, america-canada

WOW!, reading this was like the equivalent of being sent to the electric chair and having your ashes blasted to the depths of hell!, everything is drenched in so much evil and suffering, the two serial killer lovers who hit the road looking for their next victim truly sent shivers down my spine, and there were many moments that really packed a nasty punch!. The thing that impressed me most was this could have turned into a standard horror/thriller but it's far more a human drama of hope and rede ...more

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Nov 29, 2011 Paquita Maria Sanchez rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literature

Gritty crime thrillers* are not generally my cup of tea, be they in fancy pants, shiny new hardcovers in the Literature section or shitty paperbacks in the mass-market rows of shame where all the bored housewives hang out. There seems to more often than not be this sort of straight to the point, unsalted cracker style to the writing which leaves me feeling dissatisfied. I mean, sure, I know some people in real life who parrot the same words and stories, use "like" and "ummm" as ways to pause in Gritty crime thrillers* are not generally my cup of tea, be they in fancy pants, shiny new hardcovers in the Literature section or shitty paperbacks in the mass-market rows of shame where all the bored housewives hang out. There seems to more often than not be this sort of straight to the point, unsalted cracker style to the writing which leaves me feeling dissatisfied. I mean, sure, I know some people in real life who parrot the same words and stories, use "like" and "ummm" as ways to pause in a sentence all the time, and tell a story using "and then he said, and then she said, and then he was like, and then I was all like," etc. Then again, I'm not generally expecting to find myself seduced by words in real life considering that I work in a bar; a bar where I hear, and let's see if you get it, Toby Keith's "I Love This Bar" being played on the jukebox by a bar patron at least one time during every single shift. (Because we're in a bar! That you love! So you sing along! Every night! Ahhhhh, f*ck!) Wait, where was I? Right, genre fiction.

As I was saying, there's this tendency in crime thrillers for purdy prose (and intricately constructed characters, for that matter) to be sacrificed in the service of increasing the plot's momentum, and if I'm being totally honest, I am a flowery, Wilde-loving bitch with her head (and wardrobe, and book/record collections) wedged firmly in the past. What can I say, I love me a good monologue. Despite all that, I'm trying to be better about reading things actually written during my lifetime, and this is one such attempt. So this is basically genre fiction, except it's actually really flippin' good. My gripe above does hold some weight here: there aren't any what you would call "flabbergasting" or "groundbreaking" revelations in this thing, and no immortal quotables to be stripped from the text. However, what there is is a whole lot of stacked, horrifying, and carefully placed imagery concerning savagery and the violent tendencies within all humans, rich to poor, spoiled to abandoned, male or female. The world holds many a charming tune for the snake within us all. Whether our motivations be sadistic, masochistic, righteous, vengeful, righteously vengeful, or just plain hormone-driven, we all carry this reptilian streak which, with the proper circumstantial nurturing, can lead to an explosion of unspeakable violence. All this is sorta old news, but Pollock handles it in a way that is engaging in more than just some torture porn way. He stirs up some feelings, and I mean more than just fear. Unlike all that horror movie stuff, this all feels...Real. Likely. Highly probable. Probably has happened pretty much this way somewhere at some time.

I particularly enjoyed the approach that Pollock took concerning religion, addressing its uses as both a salve and a weapon, or more specifically as a justification for and refutation of violence and exploitation. These parts hit my Flannery bone, which is always a welcome injury. The first section of the book, which includes a truly grotesque sacrificial prayer altar depicted in graphic detail (think maggots, bones clanking in the wind, layers of blood on rotting, patchily-haired flesh driven through with nails and other types of general ick) was my favorite of the many eerie little stories in this interlocking collection of horrific events. The imagery throughout the novel, though described somewhat dryly, still manages to resonate. If this paragraph hasn't scared you away, then by all means GO! READ! IS GOOD!

*Excluding movies, of course. Some of my all time favorite movies are gritty crime thrillers. Speaking of which, this would (will one day) make a great movie. My advice? Give it to Fincher. ...more

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Oct 04, 2014 Richard rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: small-town-secrets, cuuntry-grit-lit

*4.5 Stars*
Sometimes I find it difficult to put into words what I really liked about a particular book. This novel is one of those. It's a nihilistic portrait of rural life in Ohio and West Virginia for a disparate group of fucked up individuals as they struggle to not only survive within the parameters that life and fate has stuck them with, but also with their own inherent impulses and desires. It's an admirable, well-conceived debut novel that is brutal but manages to not feel gratuitous. The ...more

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Nov 01, 2020 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: library-book, dnf

Eff this animal killing book!!

Movin on. Don’t talk to me!!

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾 ...more

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Aug 31, 2020 Maxwell rated it it was ok · review of another edition

[2.5 stars]

You can read my review of the film adaptation here.

After seeing the trailer for the upcoming Netflix adaptation of this novel, I was intrigued. I still am after reading this as I think it will work well as a film. The criss-crossing storylines, gritty atmosphere and seedy characters will likely translate to screen better than this novel worked for me.

My biggest issue with this novel is the pacing. I usually don't complain about books being too short, but this one moved so quickly thro ...more

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Mar 14, 2019 Ayman Gomaa rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-mystery

English & Arabic Review:

This book in one sentence
" It's like a cursed mirror that reveals how you will die; you know you shouldn't look but u look anyway ".

I kept reading till the end of it and don't know what kind of a book am i reading !!! but i feel the Message the author wanted to send even with the good ending .

It was disturbed \ Dark \ Violent

it's mix of " True Detective \ Top of the lake \ insomnia \ Se7en \ Natural Born Killers \ Monster " yea it's that disturbing even more with one English & Arabic Review:

This book in one sentence
" It's like a cursed mirror that reveals how you will die; you know you shouldn't look but u look anyway ".

I kept reading till the end of it and don't know what kind of a book am i reading !!! but i feel the Message the author wanted to send even with the good ending .

It was disturbed \ Dark \ Violent

it's mix of " True Detective \ Top of the lake \ insomnia \ Se7en \ Natural Born Killers \ Monster " yea it's that disturbing even more with one message :

When u see that Netfilx filming it with a hell of a cast like this u get so curious , the film will be released in 16-9-2020

The book content of six parts :

Part 1 : Sacrifice * 5 stars *

the best one , contains the story of Willard Russell after coming back from world war II and his life after getting married of Charlotte and have a baby boy Arvin , show how the man can go of madness to save his loved once with his prayer log and blood sacrifice \ preacher with his crippled partner preaching while he thinks god abandon him and waiting for a sign .

Part 2 : On the hunt * 3 Stars *

Carl and Sandy Henderson a couple of married serial killers and their story and how they hunt hitchhikers and kill just for kill and take pictures with the body as a souvenir \ while lee sandy's brother Sheriff of Medina ,Ohio doing his job with prides and helping gangster get their work done .

Part 3 : orphans and ghosts * 4 Stars *

Arvin back to live with his grandmother , Earskell and Leanora , show the way he tries to be good but uses violence to defend himself and Leanora \ journey of Ray & Theodore around the country

Part 4 : Winter * 3 Stars *

Flashes of Carl & sandy past and the way they live together .

Part 5 : Preacher * 4 Stars *

One of the darkest parts , new preacher in town after the previous one got sick , preacher Teagardin using the lord words to trick young girls to his benefits while Arvin suspects him with massive tragic events .

Part 6 : serpents * 3 stars *

Carl & Sandy back on the hunt again while things go out of control .

Part 7 : Ohio * 4 Stars *

All characters aught in the middle of all this and things starts to blow away .

*****
The ending was good but the story was awkward and i guess the author wanted to show us how natural effects people .

Arabic Review :

كتاب من اكثر الكتب الذى كنت متشوق لها خاصة بعد ترشيحه من كثير انه من اقرب الكتب الى مسلسل True Detective
تم اصدار الفيلم 16-9-2020
و بعد شراء نتفيلكس لحقوق الكتاب و اختيار طاقم اكثر من ممتاز له " فى اعلى المراجعة " ازداد فصولى اكثر توقعت انى امام رواية مختلفة و ذات ابعاد فلسفية و ظلامية .

بالنسبة للسرد و اللغة كانت اكثر من رائعة و انتهيت من الرواية فى يومين خاصة ان الكاتب استطاع ان يجعلك متشوق لتعرف نهاية الشخصيات الرئيسية غير سرعة الاحداث و ايقاع الرواية ف لا ملل بها عل الاطلاق و لكن ..
على الجانب الاخر انا لم استطع فهم المغزى من القصة او دوافع بعد الشخصيات , نعم الكاتب اخرج اسوء ما فى صفات الانسان
الجشع \ الغضب

الكسل \ الطمع

السذاجة المبالغ بها \ الشهوة

معظم الخطايا المميتة

تقسمت فصول الرواية الى 6 اجزاء و احدثها من بعد الحرب العامية الثانية ال عام 1963
ثلاثة فصول عن

ويللورد و شارلوت : زوجين يعيشوا سويآ مع ابنهم ارفين حتى تصاب الام بالسرطان ف يبدا الزوج فى عمل المستحيل حتى التضحية بالدماء اعتقادآ منه ان هذا سوف يساعد زوجته عل الشفاء فى اكثر جزء استمتعت به عل الرغم من قتامته و نهايته المأسوية .

روى الكاهن و صديقه الكاهن العاجز ثيودور : كاهن يخطب و الاخر يلعب الموسيقى فى طريقة لجذب الناس احيانا بالموسيقى و احيانا بالحشرات حتى يظن ان الوحى و الرسالة من الله له لم تصل ف يبدا ب تصرفات مجنونة تؤدى الى نتائج ابشع .

ارفين و لينورا : ارفين راسل على الرغم من صغر سنة و طيبه قلبه و لكنه يلجا للعنف فى حل مشاكله و الدفاع عن اخته لينورا من المتنمرين

الكاهن بريستون : الكاهن الجديد فى المدينة و الذى يتخذ من قدرته عل اقناع الناس ب كلمات الرب ساتر لخداعه البنات الصغارى فى المدينة لتحقيق شهوته و مغزاه الحقيقى

: و الثلاث الفصول الاخرى عن

كارل و ساندى هندرسون : قتلة متسلسلين يترصدوا الناس من عل الطرقات ل يشبعوا غرائزهم و العبث ب اجسامهم و سرقتهم

لي بوديكر : شريف المقاطعة المرتشى الذى يساعد الخارجين عن القانون ل تحقيق اغراضهم و اغراضه ايضآ

الفصل الاخير :

عندما يجتمع طرق الشخصيات كلها اخيرا عل الطريق ل تكتب نهاية حكايات اكثر الشخصيات مضطربة نفسيا رايتها مؤخرأ .
...more

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Aug 19, 2018 Sonja Arlow rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: recommended, favourite-books, bookclub-read, 2018-read

4.5 stars

It feels like I have been stuck with quite a few tepid books recently, that is until I picked up this book.

Sheeze!!! Did Quinton Tarantino’s evil twin write this?

It hits you over the head and drags you to very dark places. The book was physically difficult to put down as my fingers cramped from gripping it so hard.

This is not for the sensitive reader, if you struggle with dark books, with hyper violence and disgusting characters in some god forsaken back-woods and then please don’t read ...more

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Nov 12, 2016 Faith rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, overdrive

Life is just so sad for the people in this rural noir novel of unrelenting bleakness. It's a good book, but it depressed the hell out of me. There is a husband/wife team of serial killers. A spider-handling preacher teamed with a disabled, guitar-playing pedophile. An orphan who learns vengeance from his father. A prayer log is sanctified by blood (and you may not want to know where the blood comes from). There are suicides and murders and just general despair. Lessons to learn - stay away from ...more

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About Donald Ray Pollock

Donald Ray Pollock

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Donald Ray Pollock was born in 1954 and grew up in southern Ohio, in a holler named Knockemstiff. He dropped out of high school at seventeen to work in a meatpacking plant, and then spent thirty-two years employed in a paper mill in Chillicothe, Ohio. He graduated from the MFA program at Ohio State University in 2009, and still lives in Chillicothe with his wife, Patsy. His first book, Knockemstif ...more