Knockemstiff
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About this listen
In this unforgettable work of fiction, Donald Ray Pollock peers into the soul of a tough Midwestern American town to reveal the sad, stunted but resilient lives of its residents.
Spanning a period from the mid-'60s to the late '90s, the linked stories that comprise Knockemstiff feature a cast of recurring characters who are woebegone, baffled, and depraved - but irresistibly, undeniably real. Rendered in the American vernacular with vivid imagery and a wry, dark sense of humor, these thwarted and sometimes violent lives jump off the page at the listener with inexorable force.
A father pumps his son full of steroids, so he can vicariously relive his days as a perpetual runner-up body builder. A psychotic rural recluse comes upon two siblings committing incest and feels compelled to take action. Donald Ray Pollock presents his characters and the sordid goings-on with a stern intelligence, a bracing absence of value judgments, and a refreshingly dark sense of bottom-dog humor.
With an artistic instinct honed on the works of Flannery O’Connor and Harry Crews, Pollock offers a powerful work of fiction in the classic American vein. Knockemstiff is a genuine entry into the literature of place.
Audiobook Cast of Narrators:
"Real Life" read by Kirby Heyborne
"Dynamite Hole" read by Mark Bramhall
"Knockemstiff" read by Macleod Andrews
"Hair’s Fate" read by Andrew Eiden
"Pills" read by Kirby Heyborne
"Gianthomachy" read by David Garelick
"Schott’s Bridge" read by Matt Godfrey
"Lard" read by Macleod Andrews
"Fish Sticks" read by Dan Woren
"Bactine" read by Rob Shapiro
"Discipline" read by R.C. Bray
"Assailants" read by Dan Woren
"Rainy Sunday" read by Amy Landon
"Holler" read by Andrew Eiden
"I Start Over" read by Joe Ochman
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Critic reviews
“More engaging than any new fiction in years.... Knockemstiff gives us the impossible - fast, funny stories about the saddest people you’ll ever meet in fiction.” (Chuck Palahniuk)
“Pollock’s voice is fresh and full-throated.... His steely, serrated prose...calls to mind Harry Crews.” (The New York Times Book Review)
“Knockemstiff is a powerful, remarkable, exceptional book.... Pollock knows these people, what they want and think and feel, and he takes us there without flinching.” (Los Angeles Times)
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Miriam Black knows when you will die. Still in her early twenties, she’s foreseen hundreds of car crashes, heart attacks, strokes, suicides, and slow deaths by cancer. But when Miriam hitches a ride with truck driver Louis Darling and shakes his hand, she sees that in thirty days he will be gruesomely murdered while he calls her name. Miriam has given up trying to save people; that only makes their deaths happen. No matter what she does, she can’t save Louis. But if she wants to stay alive, she’ll have to try.
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Not for the faint of heart or kids but exciting
- By Steph on 04-07-14
By: Chuck Wendig
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Brighton
- A Novel
- By: Michael Harvey
- Narrated by: Stephen Mendel
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Kevin Pearce - baseball star, honor student, the pride of Brighton - was 15 when he left town in the back of his uncle's cab. He and his buddy, Bobby Scales, had just committed heinous violence for what they thought were the best of reasons. Kevin didn't want a pass, but he was getting it anyway. Bobby would stay and face the music; Kevin's future would remain as bright as ever. At least that was the way things were supposed to work, except in Brighton things never work the way they're supposed to.
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Mystery gets no better.
- By William H. Harrington on 10-27-18
By: Michael Harvey
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KooKooLand
- A Memoir
- By: Gloria Norris
- Narrated by: Gloria Norris
- Length: 14 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Gloria Norris grew up in the projects of Manchester, New Hampshire, with her parents; her sister, Virginia; and her cat, Sylvester. A snapshot might show a happy young family, but only a dummkopf would buy that. Nine-year-old Gloria is gutsy and wisecracking. Her father, Jimmy, all dazzle and danger, is often on the far side of the law and makes his own rules - which everyone else better follow. Gloria's mom, Shirley, tries not to rock the boat, Virginia unwisely defies Jimmy, and Gloria fashions herself into his sidekick - the son he never had.
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this was so awful I could only listen to a little
- By Wyowoman on 09-14-18
By: Gloria Norris
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Mecca
- By: Susan Straight
- Narrated by: Patricia R. Floyd, Frankie Corzo, Shaun Taylor-Corbett
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Johnny Frías has California in his blood. A descendant of the state’s indigenous people and Mexican settlers, he has Southern California’s forgotten towns and canyons in his soul. He spends his days as a highway patrolman pulling over speeders, ignoring their racist insults, and pushing past the trauma of his rookie year, when he killed a man assaulting a young woman named Bunny, who ran from the scene, leaving Johnny without a witness.
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An eye opening read
- By Anonymous User on 10-10-22
By: Susan Straight
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Marrow
- By: Tarryn Fisher
- Narrated by: Audra Pagano
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Margo is not like other girls. She lives in a derelict neighborhood called the Bone, in a cursed house, with her cursed mother, who hasn't spoken to her in over two years. She lives her days feeling invisible. It's not until she develops a friendship with her wheelchair-bound neighbor, Judah Grant, that things begin to change. When a neighborhood girl, seven-year-old Neveah Anthony, goes missing, Judah sets out to help Margo uncover what happened to her. What Margo finds changes her, and with a new perspective on life she's determined to find evil and punish it.
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HUH?? I'm so confused LOL
- By ❤️Cyndi Marie❤️🎧Audiobook Addicts🎧 on 09-15-16
By: Tarryn Fisher
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Make Something Up
- Stories You Can't Unread
- By: Chuck Palahniuk
- Narrated by: Chuck Palahniuk, Scott Sowers, Rich Orlow, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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For years Chuck Palahniuk has reserved his best storytelling for his readings, often choosing to read a new short story instead of whatever novel he is supposed to be promoting. Make Something Up compiles these previously unpublished tales for the very first time, plus the Byliner social media insta-classic "Phoenix" and Palahniuk's most notable pieces from Playboy.
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Plenty of shock, just not enough Palahniuk awe
- By Darwin8u on 06-10-15
By: Chuck Palahniuk
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The Lesser Dead
- By: Christopher Buehlman
- Narrated by: Christopher Buehlman
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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New York City in 1978 is a dirty, dangerous place to live - and die. Joey Peacock knows this as well as anybody - he has spent the last forty years as an adolescent vampire, perfecting the routine he now enjoys: womanizing in punk clubs and discotheques, feeding by night, and sleeping by day with others of his kind in the macabre labyrinth under the city's sidewalks.
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NICE GUYS NEARLY ALWAYS FINISH LAST
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 05-27-17
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Battleborn
- By: Claire Vaye Watkins
- Narrated by: Ali Ahn, Morgan Hallett, Laura Knight Keating, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Like the work of Cormac McCarthy, Denis Johnson, Richard Ford, and Annie Proulx, Battleborn represents a near-perfect confluence of sensibility and setting, and the introduction of an exceptionally powerful and original literary voice. In each of these ten unforgettable stories, Claire Vaye Watkins writes her way fearlessly into the mythology of the American West, utterly reimagining it.
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Wonderful magnificent stories beautifully told
- By Pedro Ramirez on 12-03-15
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The Drop
- By: Dennis Lehane
- Narrated by: Jim Frangione
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Three days after Christmas, a lonely bartender looking for a reason to live rescues an abused puppy from a trash can and meets a damaged woman looking for something to believe in. As their relationship grows, they cross paths with the Chechen mafia; a man grown dangerous with age and thwarted hopes; two hapless stick-up artists; a very curious cop; and the original owner of the puppy, who wants his dog bac.k…
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THAT IS LIFE,
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 12-06-14
By: Dennis Lehane
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The Necromancer's House
- By: Christopher Buehlman
- Narrated by: Todd Haberkorn
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Andrew Ranulf Blankenship is a handsome, stylish nonconformist with wry wit, a classic Mustang, and a massive library. He is also a recovering alcoholic and a practicing warlock, able to speak with the dead through film. His house is a maze of sorcerous booby traps and escape tunnels, as yours might be if you were sitting on a treasury of Russian magic stolen from the Soviet Union thirty years ago.
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Finally - Magic / Fantasy Novel for adults.
- By David on 04-23-14
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The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club
- True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life
- By: Laurie Notaro
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Introducing Laurie Notaro, the leader of the Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club. Every day she fearlessly rises from bed to defeat the evil machinations of dolts, dimwits, and creepy boyfriends - and that's before she even puts on a bra. For the past 10 years, Notaro has been entertaining Phoenix newspaper readers with her wildly amusing autobiographical exploits and unique life experiences.
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Sweet and funny
- By Julia Valentin on 12-19-20
By: Laurie Notaro
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Stick
- By: Andrew Smith
- Narrated by: Josh Hurley
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Fourteen-year-old Stark McClellan (nicknamed Stick because he’s tall and thin) is bullied for being "deformed" - he was born with only one ear. His older brother, Bosten, is always there to defend Stick. But the boys can’t defend each other from their abusive parents. When Stick realizes Bosten is gay, he knows that to survive his father's anger, Bosten must leave home. Stick has to find his brother, or he will never feel whole again. In his search, he will encounter good people, bad people, and people who are simply indifferent to kids from the wrong side of the tracks. But he never loses hope of finding love - and his brother.
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Amazing book!
- By Christopher Gaines on 02-19-18
By: Andrew Smith
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Lit
- A Memoir
- By: Mary Karr
- Narrated by: Mary Karr
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Lit follows Mary Karr's descent into the inferno of alcoholism and madness - and her astonishing resurrection. Karr's longing for a solid family seems secure when her marriage to a handsome, Shakespeare-quoting poet produces a son they adore. But she can't outrun her apocalyptic past. She drinks herself into the same numbness that nearly devoured her charismatic but troubled mother, reaching the brink of suicide. A hair-raising stint in "The Mental Marriott" awakens her to the possibility of joy, and leads her to an unlikely faith.
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Finally! One for the "Win" column
- By Kim on 03-22-10
By: Mary Karr
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What listeners say about Knockemstiff
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Nathan R.
- 09-08-20
Delightful Misery
A magical rainbow of tales that include every color of sorrow, sadness, and fucking bleakness that is southern Ohio. I love Pollock's books. This time around finished off the trio of sweet devastatingly awesome novels. I can't wait for the next 1.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Stacie Duarte
- 03-08-22
Worth a listen
Saw a movie about this authors second book. Took a chance on this. Well written, vibrant characters, and story it's a variety of emotions.
multiple readers made the stories more dynamic.
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- C. Yuen
- 06-18-24
Whew, that was a lot.
If there’s one place I never want to be after reading this, it’s Knockemstiff, OH
I want to start by saying that Pollock is clearly a gifted writer with poignant prose. Unfortunately, that resulted in more harrowing misery as he carries readers through the Dregs that populated these stories. It seemed that every story had grotesque references to sex; be it Sexual Assault or other form of Abuse. The characters, while well written, objectified one another like chattel. There are lessons to be learned from these stories, but not much light. Don’t choose to surround yourself and live within Hell and certainly don’t raise a family in it. I think my psyche is pretty robust and I’m not very sensitive, but it hurt to read this. I can’t see myself recommending this to anyone and I don’t see myself picking it up again.
Knockemstiff is the textbook definition of Git Lit.
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- Elizabeth
- 03-04-20
!!!!!
Great collection of shorts! This is my first experience with this author but definitely just the start- I'm now compelled to immediately find & read everything I can find by the guy! These stories were lean & mean, & I'm totally hooked! Ranging from bone-deep apathy to almost maniacal desperation, the stories are stark, sometimes brutal, in their portrayals of the people populating them, while making matter of fact certain subjects, behaviors, & situations that most people either are completely ignorant of or else avoid altogether. Understandably, as oftentimes they are uncomfortable reminders of the baser sides of human nature & glaringly showcase our species' unfortunately casual potential for overwhelming ugliness, while most of us would rather view these things as individualistic aberrations as opposed to the almost inevitable outcome of ignorance, neglect, abuse, poverty, isolation, etc that runs rampant thruou our history.
Personally, however, I have no qualms accepting that humans, for all their enormous potential for all things good, are just as capable of wallowing in the muck of everything opposite.
So while its easy to see how unflinchingly honest portrayals of human behavior prompt uncomfortable feelings for a lot of people, I would only suggest that they try to put that aside, & continue reading with the knowledge that these things are an actual reality for somebody today, & maybe take a moment to appreciate the differences in your own life.
Regardless, I for one, am glad to have come across this writer, & look forward to reading whatever else he's written. Thank you.
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7 people found this helpful
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- droid61
- 03-20-19
Interesting twist of fate
The summary indicated a series of stories loosely connected to each other; that's a interesting twist. Most of the stories are tragic and dark, but real enough. Narrators where very good. An enjoyable listen, though at time dark and depressing.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 01-10-19
WOW!!!!
Before I read this book I read The Devil All The Time,and I absolutely loved it.My favorite kinds of books are ones that you can’t stop thinking about after you finish it.That was true with Devil it was maybe the grittiest book I’ve ever read.I decided to give Knockemstiff a shot and it is INTENSE!!!Donald Ray Pollock may be my new favorite author.The narration in this book is top notch too
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3 people found this helpful
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- JohnMc
- 12-26-22
Gratuitous and over the top
I love the genre of life in impoverished rural America but this story includes a lot of focused and consistent degenerate sex acts and innuendo…essentially overtaking the primary theme of the book. Once one realizes this, the story betrays the genre and is no longer interesting.
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- OathKeeper11B
- 03-04-19
Fiction?
Being from SE Ohio, this book borders on truth! This is exactly how life is here. The cold hard life of the people left behind by society in the foothills of the Appalachians.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Wekims
- 12-21-21
Takes You Into Another World
This was actually a good book. But, it was so depressing to listen to. Although I found myself interested enough to continue and finish it. Like all good books it takes you to another place and world. You shake your head thinking this is how people actually live. I enjoyed the different narrators. Still thinking about some of the stories.
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- Rick
- 07-09-19
American Quagmire
In the dead-end southern Ohio hollow called Knockemstiff, most characters would assume that their gray and gloomy lives could never improve. And they’d be right.
Drunk abusive fathers, abandoned mothers, delinquent teens on speed. Nobody in this collection of strangely seductive stories likes anybody else. They inhabit a world of white bread with baloney gravy, RC cola, and lard sandwiches, living in a perpetual fog of booze and drugs.
“The damp gray sky covered southern Ohio like the skin of a corpse. The landscape was a seemingly endless row of squat metal buildings full of cheap junk for sale—carpet remnants, used furniture, country crafts… but still, the cold air blowing through the windows was refreshing after a month spent penned up in the trailer.”
The fictional Knockemstiff in this collection of short stories figures prominently in Pollack’s first novel, “The Devil All the Time,” that takes some of the people and places and the same miserable circumstances into a spellbinding book.
Witness the lives of these unfortunates and feel better about your own, maybe because they are so vividly realistic. Although fiction, it is sad that these accounts are so grounded in the bleak reality of Appalachia.
An all-star cast of narrators gives “Knockemstiff” even more impact.
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