(Drivebycuriosity) - Donald Ray Pollock belongs to the stars of contemporary American literature. I enjoyed the movie adaption of his novel "The Devil All The Time". This drew my attention to Pollock`s book "The Heavenly Table" (amazon ).
The plot is set in and around US state Ohio in the year 1916, when the US entered the war against Germany. Pollock has a simple message: Being dirt poor and very dump begets criminality which begets disaster. The plot follows mainly three brothers who in the begin live on the edge of existence. Poverty & stupidity dictates their behavior and their ways cross soon the paths of similar characters with dramatic consequences (this is a spoiler free blog).
Pollock created a freak show. Most of the characters are extremely poor, borderline dump and often exceptionally sadist & violent. Their interaction is beyond bad taste. Pollock`s language is exceptionally crude and often hyper gross. Apparently all the misfortune & cruelty is meant to be entertaining - and as the rave reviews show this strategy works with a certain kind of people.
It seems that Pollock made fun of everything, being poor, being stupid, being violent, being sadist, being obnoxious, being queer. This might be entertaining for a while but its wearing out soon, getting tedious. If Heavenly Table belongs to the best of American literature I will seek further reading abroad.
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