Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock

Published by Doubleday on March 18, 2008

This marvelous story collection is Winesburg, Ohio for those who live at the fringes of civilized society. It showcases the residents of Knockemstiff, Ohio, some of whom appear in more than one story. If you like stories about gritty people whose actions are motivated by raw emotion rather than rational thought, people with few redeeming qualities, poor self-esteem, bad manners, and little hope, this is the collection for you.

Two things make these stories work. First, the writing is of the highest quality: sharp, poignant, and honest. Second, the stories are character-driven and plot-driven at the same time, a rare blend in literary fiction. The stories are actually about something beyond the characters. Things happen, interesting and sometimes shocking things, as the stories progress from a clear beginning to a clear ending. For instance: **Semi-Spoiler Alert** A young draft evader who lives in the hills comes across a brother and sister having sex, kills the brother and rapes the sister before returning to hiding. A bodybuilder takes steroids at the insistence of his father who wants to recapture his glory days by living vicariously through his son (the son, of course, comes to no good end). Two kids steal a dealer's supply of pills with fantastic plans about selling them and starting a new life, but end up using all the pills. These are a few examples of the tragic and depressing but realistic life stories depicted in Knockemstiff. **End of Spoiler**

Make no mistake: the characters in Knockemstiff represent the underbelly of America. They are seedy, violent, uncouth, racist, uneducated, vulgar, and more than a little creepy. If you don't like a story unless you like the characters, you won't like this book. If stories don't appeal to you unless they are morally uplifting, you won't like this book. But make no mistake also: the characters in Knockemstiff are as real as dirt. Pollock perfectly captures the rage and hopelessness and bewilderment that infuses people who society has left behind. If you appreciate good writing for its own sake, if you think damaged people can be just as interesting as virtuous people in the hands of a fine writer, if you value the insight that comes from intense examination of the darker aspects of the human soul, Knockemstiff is a book you will appreciate and think about and remember.

RECOMMENDED

Death Throes by Clive Egleton

First published in 1994

True to the form established in the first two Peter Ashton novels (Hostile Intent and A Killing in Moscow), Death Throes begins with a death. A Russian using the name Valentin has contacted SIS and asked to meet with Ashton in Bulgaria. Ashton goes to Sofia to meet Valentin's contact, only to find him dead in his apartment. Ashton is soon taken prisoner by the KGB and interrogated about Valentin. Escaping and returning to London, Ashton finds himself caught between Valentin, who wants to sell secrets in exchange for money, and some members of the SIS who want to use him as a pawn to uncover Valentin's identity. The plot takes Ashton to Estonia for another meeting with Valentin (but is it the same Valentin?) and to Berlin, where a related story unfolds concerning a former KGB hit man who assassinates a neo-Nazi leader.

Intricate plotting is Egleton's strength. The story in Death Throes sometimes seems a bit convoluted -- I often found myself reviewing earlier chapters to refresh my memory concerning the many characters who come and go as the plot develops -- but it all comes together by the novel's end. The downside to this novel is Egleton's writing style, which is sometimes less than graceful. In addition, Egleton has a tendency to bombard the reader with information that isn't particularly useful, like the price SIS paid for a safehouse before the market fell. And while I understand the need to provide background information from past novels so that this one can stand alone (which it does), Egleton sometimes overdoes it. Do we really need to learn (again) that Harriet (Ashton's love interest) obtained "a good upper second in Geography at Birmingham University" before taking the various positions that led to her current employment with SIS?

Perhaps as a result of the digressions about educational backgrounds and job histories and real estate markets, Death Throes does not move with the same pace as the earlier novels (despite a few well written action scenes), and it suffers from the same occasional clunky prose that troubled me in Hostile Intent. There is also less development of Ashton's character in Death Throes than there was in A Killing in Moscow, although more attention is paid to Harriet and to Ashton's relationship with her. All told, I liked Death Throes, but not as much as Hostile Intent and certainly not as much as A Killing in Moscow.

RECOMMENDED

The Prince of Bagram Prison by Alex Carr

Published by Random House Trade Paperbacks on March 11, 2008

Jamal, a 15 year old detainee at Bagram, agrees to inform for the CIA and is relocated to Spain, where his handler, Harry Comfort, is close to retirement. Harry's successor pushes Jamal for information and Jamal responds by inventing a story about seeing a man from Bagram in Madrid. This sets off a flurry of killings. Jamal's Army interrogator, Kat, is sent to Casablanca with an ex-CIA chief to find Jamal after he disappears. The CIA wants to kill Jamal and Kat doesn't want that to happen. There's a whole lot more going on, involving a dead detainee and a coverup of nefarious American shenanigans, but describing it here would risk spoiling the surprises.

Although this is an intelligent, crisply written thriller that creates a strong sense of place, the motivations for the various actions taken by the characters aren't always clear and the plot at times gets a bit muddled. Kat is a reasonably full character but most of the others (particularly the males) are stock military/spook types. A romantic entanglement felt out of place, as if it had been added to move the plot along--it didn't feel real. The facts that are being covered up seemed a little far-fetched and the ending seemed contrived. In short, I liked the writing style more than the story or the characters. I'm encouraged to try her other novels (the author, Jenny Siler, wrote this one under a pen name). The Prince of Bagram Prison is a worthy effort that comes close to succeeding as a solid novel, but doesn't quite get there.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

The Homecoming by Barry B. Longyear

Published by Byron Preiss in 1989.

The Homecoming is one of the Millennium series of books published by Byron Preiss. Each book dealt with a different science fiction theme. The subject of Project Pendulum is dinosaurs (a subject that isn't exclusively in the realm of sf, like time travel or first contact, but dinosaurs do make occasional appearances in sf novels).

Dinosaurs left the Earth in appropriately large spaceships, hung out in suspended animation for quite a long time, and are now ready to reoccupy the planet. Their plan is complicated by the discovery that strange creatures called humans now occupy the Earth. The dinosaurs disagree as to their next step: some favor wiping out the humans with The Power while others want to negotiate. They settle for fact-finding, inviting humans to a meeting on one of their ships. Baxter, a former astronaut now in the business of public relations, is quickly tapped for the job of working things out with the dinosaurs.

Barry Longyear obviously didn't mean for this short novel (more of a longish short story) to be taken seriously. As comedy, it has its moments, particularly as Baxter tries to explain humor to the dinosaurs (Robert Klein playing the blues, tapping his leg, and singing "I can't stop my leg. I can't stop my leg" really is funny, but try explaining that to a dinosaur). Given the way the book ends, it might be intended to convey a serious message, but a rather obvious one.

Byron Preiss (1953-2005) was known for his efforts to marry the printed text with visual art. The Millennium series furthered that ambition by pairing stories with illustrations. The Homecoming features several black and white drawings by Alan Clark. He does a nice job on the dinosaurs. I'm no art critic, but the people in the drawings look like puppets carved from wood. Maybe that's what he intended. The book is printed on bright white, heavy, probably acid-free paper, so if you can find a copy, it should last a long time.

The Homecoming is amusing, but not much more than that.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

My Friend Matt and Hena the Whore by Adam Zameenzad

First published in 1988

Adam Zameenzad's novel follows a 9-year-old boy, Kimo, and his friends Golam, Matt, and Hena, on their various journeys and adventures in war-torn African villages over the course of three years. Told from Kimo's point of view, the story is alternately hilarious and tragic -- similar, in that sense and in its poignancy, to What Is the What, although the story is quite different. Adam Zameenzad does a marvelous job of capturing a child's naive wisdom as he lets us see the world through Kimo's innocent eyes.

Kimo and his friends encounter missionaries, reporters, soldiers, beggars, relief workers, and revolutionaries as they travel from their small village to the big city and back. They are exposed to, but never quite understand: the religions of Christianity and Islam that seek to displace the village's native belief in spirits; the politics and corruption that underlie civil war; the magic of television and plumbing. As they cope with famine and violence and people who want to exploit them, they respond with resilience and humor and generosity of spirit.

Zameeenzad's short, powerful novel tells a magical, life-affirming story about kids surrounded by love and death. It deserves a wider audience.

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