Hillbilly Gothic Monday, December 24, 2007. Merry Christmas to my friends. Please do not forget me. I was going to do a long catch you all up post today as a Christmas gift to you all. But that is the last thing on my mind right now. We are all dealing with family tragedy right now. Pollock's fiction has been referred to as 'Hillbilly Gothic' and 'Southern Ohio Gothic,' and has received positive reviews from critics. Knockemstiff was awarded the PEN/Robert Bingham Prize, and has been published in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, and England.
- The following is an excerpt from Hillbilly Gothic: A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood by Adrienne Martini, published by Free Press. My family has a grand tradition. After a woman gives birth, she goes mad. I thought that I would be the one to escape. Given my spectacular failure, my hope is now that my daughter will be the one. On the day that I admit defeat, I have been.
- The latest tweets from @gothprincess661.
Donald Ray Pollock in FOLIO - Óbidos International Literary Festival, 2019 | |
| Born | December 23, 1954 (age 66) Ross County, Ohio, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Ohio University - Chillicothe |
| Genre | Gothic, crime |
| Children | Amber Pollock (Daughter) |
Hillbilly Gothic
Donald Ray Pollock (born December 23, 1954)[1][2] is an American writer. He first published his collection of short stories, Knockemstiff, in 2008, based on his experiences growing up in Knockemstiff, Ohio. His debut novel, The Devil All the Time, was published in 2011 to critical acclaim. Pollock served as the narrator of the film adaptation in 2020.
Redneck Gothic Magnets
Biography[edit]
Born in 1954 and raised in Knockemstiff, Ohio, Pollock has lived his entire adult life in Chillicothe, Ohio, where he worked at the Mead Paper Mill as a laborer and truck driver until age 50. He is a graduate of Ohio University - Chillicothe.[3] While there, Pollock published his debut short story collection, Knockemstiff,[4] and the New York Times regularly posted his election dispatches from southern Ohio throughout the 2008 campaign. The Devil All the Time, his first novel, was published in 2011. His work has appeared in various literary journals, including Epoch, Sou'wester, Granta, Third Coast, River Styx, The Journal, Boulevard, Tin House, and PEN America. His latest book, a novel called The Heavenly Table, was published by Doubleday on July 12, 2016. It was awarded first place in the International category of the Deutscher Krimi Preis in January, 2017.
Reception[edit]
Pollock's fiction has been referred to as 'Hillbilly Gothic' and 'Southern Ohio Gothic,' and has received positive reviews from critics. Knockemstiff was awarded the PEN/Robert Bingham Prize, and has been published in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, and England. Discussing The Devil All The Time, Vick Mickunas wrote in The Washington Independent Review of Books that '... there’s an otherness to Pollock’s characters that this reviewer finds strangely compelling. We might not be able to relate to the violence, but we comprehend the humanity — the flaws, the deceits, the crushed dreams, the hope that rises like a delicate flower from ashes.'[5] On the other hand,Josh Ritter, an Americana folk singer who reviewed the novel for the New York Times Book Review, was somewhat put off by the violence, but did speak highly of the prose. As of 2015, the book has been translated into twenty-one languages.[6]
Awards and honors[edit]
Adrienne Martini Hillbilly Gothic
- 2009 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, Knockemstiff, winner
- 2009 Devil's Kitchen Award in Prose (English Department of Southern Illinois University Carbondale), Knockemstiff
- 2012 Publishers Weekly Top Ten Books of the Year, The Devil All The Time
- 2012 Guggenheim Fellowship
- 2012 Thomas and Lillie D. Chaffin Award for Appalachian Writing (for The Devil All the Time)
- 2012 Grand Prix de Littérature Policière (French award for The Devil All the Time)
- 2013 Third Place International Category Deutscher Krimi Preis (German award for The Devil All the Time')
- 2013 First Place Prix Mystère de la critique (for The Devil All the Time) (France)
- 2017 First Place International Category Deutscher Krimi Preis for The Heavenly Table (Germany)
Bibliography[edit]
Hillbilly Gothic Genre
- Knockemstiff (2008)
- The Devil All the Time (2011)
- The Heavenly Table (2016)
References[edit]
- ^United States Public Records, 1970-2009,' (May 23, 2014), Donald Pollock, Residence, Chillicothe, Ohio, United States.
- ^'Donald Ray Pollock'. Notable Names Database. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
- ^Peck, Claude. (July 22, 2011). 'Donald Ray Pollock: Grim stories, beautifully told', Star Tribune. Retrieved October 13, 2013.
- ^Sicha, Choire (6 April 2008). 'Donald Ray Pollock's underdog story'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-05-20.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- ^Mickunas, Vick. 'The Devil All the Time review'. Book review. The Washington Independent Review of Books. Retrieved Aug 3, 2011.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- ^Ritter, Josh. (August 12, 2011). 'A Good Man Is Impossible to Find', The New York Times'. Retrieved October 13, 2013.
External links[edit]
- Official Website at donaldraypollock.net
| by Adrienne Martini
▼Members
▼Tags ▼LibraryThing Recommendations Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Showing 4 of 4 The story in this book is genuinely good. I enjoyed it. However, the writing was so awful that I really wonder how the author gets paid to do this for a living. She switches between tenses so frequently (within the same sentence, at times) that I found myself wondering if I was reading something that was happening, had happened, or would happen in the future. I also really dislike when authors pull giant sections from their journals or diaries. There were a lot of said chunks in this book, making me wonder if she was just desperate to meet a word count. There was also an entire section that was back and forth dialogue between her cousin and cousin's husband. So the book didn't flow particularly well, which really detracted from the worthwhile story that the author has to tell. ( ) lemontwist | Oct 16, 2014 | I really admire this author for opening up on a topic that is so hard for women. Post-partum depression can be a very serious medical condition but one that a lot of women go through without the support or sympathy they need to get back on track. I was lucky of my four children; I never went through this but my heart goes out to the women, and their families who have. Adrienne Martini was honest with her life and her battles reaching out to those that feel overwhelmed in such a...these are the facts, but I'm casting a light of humor over it so that you feel comfortable...way. Good Book for those going through this. She shows the grit of it but also shows the light at the end of the tunnel. The best part was mostly throughout the book I was largely entertained. I have always felt that one of the better pills to take when down in that depression hole is laughter not a cure mind you but indeed should always be a part of any therapy. Problem is when your down it's hard to find that joy. There were a few dry spots in the book holding me from a higher star . Mostly, where she goes into the history of different states and cities within. I could have done without all that but all in all ...Thumbs up on this one. ( ) justablondemoment | Feb 11, 2010 | An eye-opening look at postpartum depression. An honest look at parenting. ( ) 1carmen29 | May 1, 2007 | Martini's book is not at all a simple, linear story of postpartum depression. Instead, the story moves in and out of the present, tracing her family history of madness, depression, and suicide-- all frequently following motherhood. Her stories range from West Virginia to Texas to Upstate New York. Never self-pitying, never describing her struggle in beatific terms, Martini's book is at once gritty and sympathetic to the generations of women who variously went mad, disappeared, were exiled, and died from an unrecoginized disase that was catagorized as a failure rather than a legitimate disorder. 2cherokeelib | Dec 7, 2006 | Showing 4 of 4 ▼Published reviews ▼Common Knowledge
References to this work on external resources. Wikipedia in EnglishNone 'My family has a grand tradition. After a woman gives birth, she goes mad. I thought that I would be the one to escape.' So begins Adrienne Martini's candid, compelling, and darkly humorous history of her family's and her own experiences with depression and postpartum syndrome. Illuminating depression from the inside, Martini delves unflinchingly into her own breakdown and institutionalization and traces the multigenerational course of this devastating problem. Moving back and forth between characters and situations, she vividly portrays the isolation -- geographical and metaphorical -- of the Appalachia of her forebears and the Western Pennsylvania region where she grew up. She also weaves in the stories of other women, both contemporary and historic, who have dealt with postpartum depression in all its guises, from fleeting 'baby blues' to full-blown psychosis. Serious as her subject is, Martini's narrative is unfailingly engaging and filled with witty, wry observations on the complications of new motherhood: 'It's like getting the best Christmas gift ever, but Santa decided to kick the crap out of you before you unwrapped it.' New mothers and those who have struggled with parenthood -- whether or not they dealt with depression -- will find affirmation in this story of triumph, of escape from a difficult legacy, of hope for others, and of the courage to have another baby. No library descriptions found. ▼LibraryThing members' description
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