On the Southern Literary Trail discussion

Finished? What did you think? Spoilers allowed. If you wrote a review, please post a link to your review in this topic.

Mike

Never a more divided book in our household. The man has skills in writing, but he's not for the faint of heart. I scored it a 5, Laura a 1. She nearly had panic attacks and what took me less than 24 hours to read thanks to a late night jam session she couldn't handle past 4:00 PM without nightmarish dreams. Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

There are not many friends, family or church members I would recommend this book to, so glad I have some fellow sick-o's here on Goodreads. :)

Yeah Lexi. Anytime I need a little distance from someone I usually recommend "Child if God" and most normally it's mission accomplished.

Of. Not if

I know what you mean Josh. I think I have lost a few Goodreads friends due to my book selections. Oh well....

Lexy
Maybe you should share those titles just "in case" I need to "lose" a GR friend. (all smiles) No seriously, I need that list.

The two that for sure did the trick, even I wasn't thrilled with, are, The Sugar Frosted Nutsack by Mark Leyner & Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis, author of American Psycho, that I did like as well as the movie. :)

Just finished the other day and I really liked it, not quite as intense as I remember Knockemstiff being but still brutal in spots. Some unforgettable characters, Sandy and Carl and the despicable Pastor Teagardin top my list. You know when the most decent character ends up killing several people, this isn't going to be a book for everyone.

Ctgt wrote: "Just finished the other day and I really liked it ..."

It would really help me think about this book as I am reading it if people who "really liked it" would say more about why that is. I hear you say "unforgettable characters." Can you say more? Is this simply entertainment or is there a lesson to be learned? The "why" question really has its claws in me so I have to ask! I am looking for clues about what to pay attention to and to counter that incredulous reaction I am experiencing as I turn the pages.

Larry wrote: "Ctgt wrote: "Just finished the other day and I really liked it ..."

It would really help me think about this book as I am reading it if people who "really liked it" would say more about why that i..."

I'll jump in:

Lessons learned- 1) Don't hitch a ride with anyone. 2)If I were to hear distant prayer and moaning- I will stay put and not investigate the source.

No, seriously, I think this one for me falls under the "entertainment" catagory although not in the same way I am entertained when watching my daughter at dance recital. Much the same way that some violent/vile movies are entertaining to some and disgusting to others ("Silence of the Lambs", "Resivor Dogs", "No Country for Old Men", or more recently "The Counselor" to name a few).

I think as it relates to character, the trick in this one is that Pollock is able to present characters who in real life we would all probably avoid at all costs in a manner that you either like, appreciate, or identify with at least slightly. The main character is a murderer, and yet, he's the one we tend to like. Sandy is.....well, fill in the blank......someone we would likely avoid in real life and yet, despite the fact that she gets what most would say "she deserved", she also is someone you can at least understand was the product of pretty screwed up circumstance. Would most, even subjected to these influences end up this way? Heck no; but yet we still find parts of our inner being that "get it".

For myself, while there are many reads I gain more understanding and insight from, I often feel like they are struggles to get through and I don't enjoy the experience as much. Case and point, I'm currently reading Seeing by José Saramago- way more to be discovered than I'll pick up in the first pass........less entertaining than it's prequel Blindness and likely a lower rating although it's theme will stick with me even longer than the book being discussed in this chain.

Just my 2 cents, although other readers close to me will finished it (or not) and never touch another sentence authored by Donald Ray Pollock. In the same way some people enjoy death metal (not me) while others don't and prefer groups like The Avett Brothers (my favorite), haters gonna hate.

Larry wrote: "Is this simply entertainment or is there a lesson to be learned? The "why" question really has its claws in me so I have to ask!"

Thanks for asking Larry. I can't really think of a lesson learned from this book. To me, this is a "slice of life" story told about an area and culture that I am don't interact with on a regular basis. Maybe I can gain a little insight into why some folks make the decisions they do but even that is a bit of a stretch since everyone reacts differently to their circumstances. As far as the characters go, I don't have much time right now......just taking a few minutes while on break from work :) but I'll check back in tonight with some more specifics.

Slice of life sounds about right.

It seems to me to portray characters who are marginalized, without examining how they got that way.

As I finish TDatT up, I find myself thinking of Peter Carey's The History of the Kelly Gang, which delves deeper into how those who get pushed to the margins end up on the fringes. Makes for a more interesting and more informative read, although Pollock's book is interesting enough because of his ability to draw characters.

by Peter Carey

Larry wrote: "It would really help me think about this book as I am reading it if people who "really liked it" would say more about why that is. I hear you say "unforgettable characters." Can you say more? Is this simply entertainment or is there a lesson to be learned? The "why" question really has its claws in me so I have to ask! I am looking for clues about what to pay attention to and to counter that incredulous reaction I am experiencing as I turn the pages. "

It's interesting to ask why a reader likes any book. It becomes more interesting when the question concerns a tough read like The Devil All the Time. Perhaps the question is powered by the goodreads star rating system. Perhaps that is a starting point.

However, you can like a book for its writing although you are repulsed by the subject matter. I remember having a very similar experience to The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell which followed the experiences of an SS officer during WWII. I despised the subject matter. However, it caused me to think about what creates a human being without a conscience, capable of engaging in the most horrendous acts against others.

And such literature makes me think how do we respond to, for lack of a better word, evil. How do you stop violence? How are we to treat those who are caught in justice's net? What is the price to be extracted from a monster for his acts? Why do bad things happen to the innocent, the good? What can be done to protect them, and all too often, how do we give some form of closure to a murder victim's family?

At the risk of a chorus of "Here we go agains," I found myself being a career prosecutor for close to twenty-eight years. It is hard for me to say that I did not see every possible kind of inhumanity committed during the course of my career. I did not ask why. I searched for motive. There is a difference.

It is something about the nature of the work that keeps someone from being jaded. I have known prosecutors who fell victim to that. They were callous and uncaring. It was a defense mechanism.

It takes a lot of hard bark to be able to function and maintain the ability to remain empathetic to those who have been traumatized by the Pastor Teagartins, and the families of those murdered by the likes of Carl and Sandy Henderson. I have known those characters in real life.

Then you ponder on a character like Willard Russell, whose wife is dying of cancer. Russell falls back on his faith. He must have been an Old Testament believer. At times he must have wondered where God was, or if God just started the clock ticking and left us on our own, or if he ever existed at all.

I have wobbled on and off the path of faith for so many years. Doubt has overcome faith on many occasions. Pollock provides the most succinct conclusion through the words of young Arvin, describing the scene of his father's sacrifices to the Sheriff: "It's a prayer log, but it don't work." For me, I teeter on the fence of unknowing.

Pollock also deals with a tough situation when an older Arvin ends up where there is no law to protect him. Arvin has grown up to understand violence, not without reason. However I did not consider his use of violence unjust. I do not think anyone would fault him for violence used to preserve his own life.

The old cliche truth is stranger than fiction is sometimes true. Often, it is not. In the hands of a writer like Donald Ray Pollock, fiction mirrors a world that exists. This is not a novel to titillate those drawn to slasher films. Pollock portrays a world that hopefully none of us will ever face. But we need to know it's out there. Pollock showed me a world I knew, populated with people I wished I never came to know, and the innocents I came to love, though there remain cases I still live with, dream of, and will ever be haunted by them.

At times the question why has no adequate answer. We can only respond to those situations in the best way of which we are capable.

Mike

Here is my review of The Devil All the Time: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Mike

Josh wrote: "Never a more divided book in our household. The man has skills in writing, but he's not for the faint of heart. I scored it a 5, Laura a 1. She nearly had panic attacks and what took me less than 2..."

Josh, a fine review. I've also commented on your review page. I urge our other readers to check out Josh's review.

Mike

Mike wrote: "Pollock portrays a world that hopefully none of us will ever face. But we need to know it's out there. Pollock showed me a world I knew, populated with people I wished I never came to know, and the innocents I came to love, though there remain cases I still live with, dream of, and will ever be haunted by them."

Well said, Mike.

As for some of the characters Larry was asking about earlier. I have a few thoughts and questions. Maybe you all can help shed some light.

Willard, returns from war, meets Charlotte, love at first sight, marries, has a son....seems like a good life until cancer steals into the family and he seems to go around the bend with the prayer log. As Mike said earlier he falls back on religion although he didn't seem overly religious up to that point. I find it interesting to think about what we use to help prop us up in times of trouble.

Roy and Theodore. How do you convince yourself that you have the ability to ressurect? I try to imagine how far gone I would have to be to get to that point. The scene with Helen was like watching a car wreck, I knew what was coming but I just couldn't look away. Of course Theodore(with his ulterior motive) basically encouraging Roy the whole time didn't help the situation.

You throw in Teagardin and Pollock paints a pretty dim picture of some practitioners and followers of religion.

And I'm still trying to figure out just what Sandy was getting out of her partnership with Carl.

Maybe using words such as "like" or "enjoy" aren't right for a book of this type but I certainly found it engaging and thought provoking.

Here is my two star review of this book. For much of the book, I expected to give it one star but intellectualization gave it an extra star overcoming disgust.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

How could I give Pollock two stars when I gave Faulkner one star? What a good question!

Larry wrote: "Here is my two star review of this book. For much of the book, I expected to give it one star but intellectualization gave it an extra star overcoming disgust.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/sho..."

Larry you posed a very interesting question. It is a good question. *laughing* Congratulations on sticking it out on a tough read.

Mike

To Mike's point about total evil folks existing in the world, and for those who might think this kinda crap (unsavory characters capable of unbelievable and gruesome acts like those Pollock describes both here and in Knockemstiff). Just 30 miles from our home this week this happened: http://www.wsmv.com/story/25729486/ho...

Josh wrote: "To Mike's point about total evil folks existing in the world, and for those who might think this kinda crap (unsavory characters capable of unbelievable and gruesome acts like those Pollock describ..."

I checked your site. Yes, these things happen everyday. For a number of years I presented cases to Grand Jury. The group of 18 were reeling in their chairs after the first day's testimony, unanimously murmuring that they had no idea that so much happened in their home county.

Mike

I finished this last night and gave it 4 stars. Yeah there was a lot of really horrible stuff in this novel but I enjoyed Pollock's ability to tell a story that kept me reading and wanting to know what happened next (and hoping certain characters would get their well-deserved comeuppance!), it was very well-written rather than just a gore-fest. My heart broke for Emma and Earskell though - they had been given these two orphans (Arvin and Leonora) to bring up and lost them both one way or another within a short space of time and they might never know the full story as to why.

I loved this book. No matter how God forsaken a character they were not without some measure of grace or deserving of some pity. Pollock is unapologetically ugly. And yet, he loves his characters but he spares them and us nothing.

Excellent point, Deborah. I think grace is exactly the right word.

Not long before I began reading Devil All the Time, Karen posted this quote from Faulkner: “I decline to accept the end of man ... I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail, not because he alone among the creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.”
Thanks, Karen. I kept returning to these words as I read Pollock's. I can't explain what was at work there, not just contrast, but re-enforcement. Somehow, Pollock's evil strengthened Faulkner's good. And for some reason, I suspect that was his intent.

Skipper wrote: "I kept returning to these words as I read Pollock's. I can't explain what was at work there, not just contrast, but re-enforcement. Somehow, Pollock's evil strengthened Faulkner's good. And for some reason, I suspect that was his intent."

Wow, Skipper, I hope you can say more about how Pollock reminds humans "of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past." Maybe you have just named why Pollock gets a lot of positive attention, but I hope you can help me see it too.