Knockemstiff

I just finished Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollack. Painful is one way to describe this collection of short stories. Every piece is expertly crafted, but his characters lead hard, painful lives. Pill poppers, addicts, idiots, psycho hillbillies, doctor shoppers, racists, thieves, killers, rapists, incestuous siblings, gas huffers, speed freaks, abusers, cowards, bullies and just about every type of undesirable you can imagine people this world. Even in the face of all that, Pollack manages to tease out plenty of humor and a some actual tenderness.

Consider the following from the story Bactine:

And even though she was probably the best woman Del Murray had ever been with – gobs of bare-knuckle sex, the latest in psychotropic drugs, a government check, he was still embarrassed to be seen with her in public. Anyone who’s ever dated a retard will understand what he was up against.

Or this one, from the story Holler:

I closed my eyes and sank deeper and deeper into that lonely world known only to those who sleep in abandoned vehicles.

Those are gems. As are so many in this collection. Still, pain comes at you like a nasty bill collector. No matter how many shabby, musty, torn-down trailers you move to, he’s never too far from the door. When a father actually cuts his son’s long hair with a dull hunting knife – and basically scalps him in the process – the boy leaves home, only to end up in the arms of a fat, foul-smelling trucker who plies him with uppers and booze and offers to let him wear his dead mother’s blond wig before he has his way with him. Another father injects his kid with so many steroids his heart literally explodes in his chest.

But, even in all that nastiness, there are some moments of kindness and humanity. When the above mentioned Del hears a cashier insult his wife, he calls bullshit. As a profession of his devotion, he puts a brown paper sack over his and scares the clerk. I guess that’s devotion.  Sorta. Kinda. Maybe. 

Next up is Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell.