Now abandoned according to Wikipedia, Knockemstiff is the name of the small Ohio town where Donald Ray Pollock grew up. As he did with his subsequent book, The Devil All the Time, Pollock uses the area as the setting for a string of stories depicting a special kind of depravity considered unique to Appalachian parts steeped in extreme poverty. But whereas religion was a common theme in The Devil All the Time, here, drugs fuel and, alternately, dull much of the pain. Another difference is that The Devil All the Time is a more traditional novel, while Knockmestiff is a collection of shorts with very loose connections but no collective arc. Pollock's favorite word is "rotten", and this repeated word choice attests to his laser focus on depravity. While this focus has to date permeated and made visceral his clear, true-to-life prose, I wonder now if he can tell a story outside a thoroughly rotted town. As a reader, Knockmestiff isn't necessarily the kind of place you want to come visit again and again. And again.
Note:
- In his dedication at the end of the Knockmestiff, Pollock apologizes for running down the town so thoroughly, and stresses that people there are generous and not monsters.
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