They talk a lot about escape but they never so much as cross the county line. The youth of Knockemstiff grow up in the malignant shadow of their parents raised on abuse, alcohol, drugs and cigarettes, they are stunted in every possible way: emotionally, mentally, sometimes physically. Knockemstiff is a pitch-dark and often hilarious collection of stories set in the tiny Appalachian town of Knockemstiff, Ohio, a community so deprived and diminished it no longer appears on any map. The stories in Knockemstiff are simple and.

“…anything I do to extend my life is just going to be outweighed by the agony of living it.”ĭonald Ray says of his hometown, (paraphrased) this is a work of fiction and there are good people in the real town of Knockemstiff.Knockemstiff is a pitch-dark and often hilarious collection of stories set in the tiny Appalachian town of Knockemstiff, Ohio, a community so deprived and diminished it no longer appears on any map. “A damp, gray sky covered southern Ohio like the skin of a corpse.” I’d like to leave you with two lines from the book to give you a feel for the writing. It’s an excellent read for those strong enough to experience the gritty under belly of America. It’s a miserable place where born losers die hard and all who try and escape are entangled in the spider’s web. It’s real hardcore stuff, drug addiction, alcoholism, bullies and big mouths, dreamers and thieves, mentally disturbed and smart people, all succumb to the pit that is Knockemstiff.

I was hoping one of the characters would make it out of that hell hole of a failing town, but most of the stories ended grimly. It’s provocative, it’s real life scary, it’s dismal, it’s one of the best fiction story collections I’ve ever read.

What is Knockemstiff, you may ask? It’s a collection of stories concerning the citizens of a small insignificant town called Knockemstiff, OH, a spec on the map with a world full of pain and misery.

Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock