Donald Ray Pollock

In the backwoods of Ohio, Willard Russell’s wife is at death’s door, no matter how much he drinks, prays, or sacrifices animals at his “prayer log.” Meanwhile, his son Arvin is growing up, from a kid bullied at school into a man who knows when to take action. Around them swirl a nefarious cast of characters—a demented team of serial killers, a spider-eating preacher, and a corrupt local sheriff—all braided into a riveting narrative of the grittiest American grain.

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.

From Donald Ray Pollock, author of the highly acclaimed The Devil All the Time and Knockemstiff, comes a dark, gritty, electrifying – and disturbingly funny – new novel that will solidify his place among the best contemporary American authors.It is 1917, in that sliver of borderland that divides Georgia from Alabama. Dispossessed farmer Pearl Jewett is dead, and he leaves behind his three sons to eke out a hardscrabble life of their own: Cane (the eldest, handsome, intelligent), Cob (short, heavyset, a bit slow), and Chimney (the youngest, thin, ill-tempered). The brothers set out on horseback to pillage their way to wealth and infamy, inspired by a lurid dime-store novel that only one of them can read. But the heaven they’ve imagined may be worse than the hell they sought to escape.Several hundred miles away, in southern Ohio, a farmer by the name of Ellsworth Fiddler lives with his wife, Eula, and his son, Eddie. After Ellsworth is swindled out of his family’s entire fortune, his life is put on a surprising, unforgettable, and violent trajectory that will directly lead him to cross paths with the now-infamous Jewett boys.In the gothic tradition of Flannery O’Connor and Cormac McCarthy, and with a healthy dose of cinematic violence reminiscent of Sam Peckinpah, Quentin Tarantino, and the Coen Brothers, the Jewetts and the Fiddlers collide and cleave together in increasingly dark and horrific ways. Filled with impure laughs and family dysfunction, The Heavenly Table places Donald Ray Pollock firmly in the company of the American masters of rural mayhem and unlikely salvation.

In 'Dynamite Hole', Jake has been living wild in the hills of Knockemstiff since he took exception to the drafting process in World War II. When he witnesses an act of sexual transgression by the pond, things start swirling around inside him 'like a storm cloud', and Knockemstiff is soon to have a few more empty beds.In 'Real Life', a trip to the drive-in with his parents winds up in bathroom brawl and a hasty departure for seven year-old Bobby. Looking back on his childhood, Bobby finds in that evening an isolated piece of paternal pride. Part of the Storycuts series, these two stories were previously published in the collection Knockemstiff.

In 'Hair's Fate', when Daniel's father chops off his hair with a kitchen knife for meddling with his younger sister's doll, he decides to leave home. He hitches a ride with a trucker by the name of Cowboy Roy who plies him with liquor and pills, before suggesting a disquieting solution for Daniel's hair problem.In 'Knockemstiff', Hank has been sweet on Tina Elliot for some time. When he hears that she's planning on lighting out for Texas with her boyfriend, he allows himself to get a little pensive-even if it makes a long day's work at the store feel that little bit longer.Part of the Storycuts series, these two stories were previously published in the collection Knockemstiff.

In 'Blessed', a thief's career is cut short when he falls from a rooftop. Since the accident he has been subsisting on a disability cheque, a potent painkiller prescription and having his wife sell her blood.In 'The Fights', Bobby has been off the sauce for five long months. On the advice of his Alcoholics Anonymous mentor, he pays his family a visit in Knockemstiff-where even the wood smoke reminds him of whiskey. While his father and brother amuse themselves by watching pre-recorded boxing and his mother mopes in the kitchen, the inertia infusing his old home threatens to take hold.Part of the Storycuts series, these two short stories were previously published in the collection Knockemstiff.

In 'Fish Sticks', Del is washing his one good pair of black jeans on the eve of his cousin's funeral. He imagines he can hear the sea off the Florida coast in the rumblings of the machines, and casts his mind back to a trip the two made to Florida when they were teenagers.In 'Rainy Sunday', Sharon's husband hasn't been quite right since he crashed the car and wound up with a steel plate in his head. Wet weather tends to set him off on one of his spells. Reluctantly, Sharon leaves him alone and takes off on a late-night mission to help her aunt find some company.Part of the Storycuts series, these two short stories were previously published in the collection Knockemstiff.

In 'Bactine', a toothless layabout takes a break from nursing his crippled uncle and spends the evening abusing solvents with an acquaintance. The fumes only serve to exacerbate his dismay, though, and a trip to an all-night coffee shop causes some unpleasant recollections to surface.In 'Giganthomachy', Teddy and William are two nine year-old boys who like to argue over whether they'll play nuclear war or Vietnam games in the yard. William's more fantastic suggestions rile Teddy, who suffers enough deranged fantasy when he retreats inside every evening.In 'Pills', Bobby and Frankie take a notion to leave Knockemstiff for California and a new life amongst the film stars. But the four stolen bottles of pharmaceutical grade speed they'd intended to fund the trip with prove mighty alluring, and the road out of the township grows ever more elusive.Part of the Storycuts series, these three short stories were previously published in the collection Knockemstiff.

In 'Assailants', Del's wife hasn't left the house in six months. He likes to escape the tedium of home life with his unhinged wife and baby daughter by courting blackouts with alcohol and drugs. However a trip to the late-night convenience store reveals a latent marital affection.In 'Discipline', Luther Colburn has twenty-one inch arms and a fifty-four inch chest. He struggles to instil the discipline that has aided this extreme hypertrophy into his son and protégé, Sammy. When Sammy's ideas run counter to his father's, Luther gets a late vision of his son's unique merit.In 'Honolulu', Howard Bowman is struggling to remember things. Every morning his wife sets him a challenge or two to try and keep his mind oiled and active. While the names of associates past and present elude him, certain isolated events come back. He gets to thinking about one evening on furlough in Honolulu.Part of the Storycuts series, these three short stories were previously published in the collection Knockemstiff.

In 'Holler', when his wife throws him out, Tom shacks up with the family of a casual girlfriend. They leave it to him to bathe, shave and keep a jug of wine within a straw's reach of their disabled patriarch.In 'I Start Over', retirement has not been living up to Big Bernie's expectations-not the expectations the television advertisements are peddling anyway. He treats himself to a souped-up 1959 Chevrolet, and this indulgence might just be what he needs to start over.Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Knockemstiff.