One urban and one rural but both Two recent story recent story collections represent a particular strain of American short story writing represented by master such as Flannery O’Connor and Raymond Carver and also the harsh viewpoint on American life found in Dashiell Hammett, James M Cain, and Nathaniel West. "Americans used to be titillated by tales of the Dark Continent; now they are titillated by closer-to-home tales of the Rural Wasteland. We lived on soup beans and fried bread, but drove around Knockemstiff like rich people. I tore at the skin with my teeth. Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player. )I loved The Devil All the Time, Pollock's follow up novel so I thought I'd go back to his first book, Knockemstiff (hereafter referred to as K). Say howdy to a bunch of wife-beating, lowlife, scumbag ne'er do wells. One urban and one rural but both decaying and filled with terrifying extremes of humanity, and in both the setting is a major character, the one that is in every story. Once he found a voice in his head, writing his gritty stories came easily, Pollock says.His prose pulls no punches, and several of his sad townsfolk appear in more than one story. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of 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. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Read 978 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. The author worked in a paper mill for decades, so you know he's the real deal. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Welcome back. To say author Donald Ray Pollock’s first book, Knockemstiffis “gritty” is like calling Antarctica chilly.

Knockemstiff is a collection of 18 short stories set in Knockemstiff, Ohio.Knockemstiff is a collection of 18 short stories set in Knockemstiff, Ohio.I don’t know if I should consider this redneck noir or hick lit, but I like it.I don’t know if I should consider this redneck noir or hick lit, but I like it.One reason to wait until you're 50 to begin your career as an author is that you plan to write stuff like this. I wanted more.

Bactine.

I tore at the skin with my teeth. Donald Ray seems to be working on a much higher, much riskier level than any other new writer out there. The 18 gritty short stories here come at you hard and fast like a claw hammer fight in a bar parking lot.

Knockemstiff (Book) : Pollock, Donald Ray : Spanning a period from the mid-sixties to the late nineties, the stories in KNOCKEMSTIFF feature a cast of recurring characters who are woebegone, baffled, and depraved--but irresistibly, undeniably real. Donald Ray seems to be working on a much higher, much riskier level than any other new writer out there.

Published His work has appeared in The New York Times, Third Coast, The Journal, Sou’wester, Chiron Review, River Styx, Boulevard, Folio, Granta, NYTBR, Washington Square, and The Berkeley Fiction Review. In Knockemstiff — named for the southern Ohio town where Pollock grew up — characters knockemstjff each other out of boredom, drink to oblivion, soil themselves and assault their neighbors.The raunchy collection of 18 stories spans more than 30 years of violence, failure, depravity and stagnation in a town where residents “live pretty trapped lives,” Pollock says. The dried flakes dissolved in my mouth, turning my spit to syrup.

Just that morning, I’d heard my mother get on the phone and rag to her sister, the one that lived in town. It was the third set of wheels in a year. I would always want more. He tells Scott Simon that the people he grew up with in Kncokemstiff, Ohio, weren’t nearly as colorful as the pitiful characters that come to life on his pages.It was his experience as a blue-collar worker, Pollock says, that inspired and shaped his narratives.

This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Come, ye gentrified reading public, and marvel at the escapades of the proud, wayward savages of the impoverished Midwest!

Knockemstiff book. His first book, KnockemstifDonald Ray Pollock was born in 1954 and grew up in southern Ohio, in a holler named Knockemstiff.

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K begat TDATT in that it is a series of short stories or vignettes set in Pollock's actual home town called (yeah) K. TDATT is a novel featuring one of the characters introduced in K. This debut short story collection by Donald Ray Pollock is comprised of hard little nuggets of country grit that follow a variety of individuals living in and around the small Ohio holler of Knockemstiff, a place based on Pollock's own hometown. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Spanning 30 years this small Midwestern town comes alive with the town taking on its own ambiance. 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.