Summary
Unflinching collection of loosely related short stories set in the real town of Knockemstiff, Ohio, about the brutal and desperate and unpleasant lives of the people who live there.
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Critique
In a remarkable break from the humdrum of most contemporary short stories, Pollock presents himself as something of a rebel by populating his tales with some of the most abominable and irredeemable characters you’re ever likely to encounter in fiction. The recommended dosage is to read one story per sitting and see how you feel before reading on. Pollock’s details are so vivid, his words so direct, that there’s not a doctor alive who could pump the noxious residue from your stomach. Most readers will likely find these stories unspeakable, but for the rest of us they give voice - albeit a merciless one - to the atrocities that exist just beneath our noses.
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