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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
Like [b:The Devil All the Time|10108463|The Devil All the Time|Donald Ray Pollock|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320561517s/10108463.jpg|15005760], The Heavenly Table is populated by the dregs of society -- the poor, the downtrodden, the deformed, the perverse, the criminal. Pollock writes Southern Gothic of the grittiest subjects in lyrical prose.
At the heart of the novel are the Jewett brothers -- Cane, Cob, and Chimney -- raised by a widowed father who believed that the more he suffered in this life, the more awaited him at "the heavenly table" when he passed onto the next. But when he dies, his sons decide instead to follow the example Bloody Bill Bucket, the depraved protagonist of the dime store novel Cane has read to his illiterate brothers a hundred times. They start by robbing one bank and set off a chain of violence as they try to make their way to freedom in Canada. Two of the three are pretty decent human beings and the other is a still a teenager, so I couldn't help hoping things would turn out okay. But this is a Donald Ray Pollock novel.
In the first 80 pages, the Jewetts share equal screen time with Ellsworth and Eula Fiddler, a decent enough farming couple who were swindled out of their life savings. Their shiftless teenage son, Eddie, has disappeared, possibly to enlist at the army training camp that has suddenly sprung up nearby (this being 1917). But then the cast becomes increasingly diverse, populated with a pimp and his whores who set up near the army camp, an officer whose final wish is to die heroically in battle...if he can just get to Europe, citizens of Meade with their various perversions, a black gigolo trying to get back to his family, and many others. Some pass through quickly and never make a reappearance, others are woven into the narrative. It all becomes a bit much to track, and that was my one complaint. But it's a heck of a ride and so well written.
Again, I will stress this book is not for everyone. Some really fucked up things happen. Really. fucked. up. There were a few times that I asked myself why I was reading this. But then I kept on reading, because this is a Donald Ray Pollock novel.
At the heart of the novel are the Jewett brothers -- Cane, Cob, and Chimney -- raised by a widowed father who believed that the more he suffered in this life, the more awaited him at "the heavenly table" when he passed onto the next. But when he dies, his sons decide instead to follow the example Bloody Bill Bucket, the depraved protagonist of the dime store novel Cane has read to his illiterate brothers a hundred times. They start by robbing one bank and set off a chain of violence as they try to make their way to freedom in Canada. Two of the three are pretty decent human beings and the other is a still a teenager, so I couldn't help hoping things would turn out okay. But this is a Donald Ray Pollock novel.
In the first 80 pages, the Jewetts share equal screen time with Ellsworth and Eula Fiddler, a decent enough farming couple who were swindled out of their life savings. Their shiftless teenage son, Eddie, has disappeared, possibly to enlist at the army training camp that has suddenly sprung up nearby (this being 1917). But then the cast becomes increasingly diverse, populated with a pimp and his whores who set up near the army camp, an officer whose final wish is to die heroically in battle...if he can just get to Europe, citizens of Meade with their various perversions, a black gigolo trying to get back to his family, and many others. Some pass through quickly and never make a reappearance, others are woven into the narrative. It all becomes a bit much to track, and that was my one complaint. But it's a heck of a ride and so well written.
Again, I will stress this book is not for everyone. Some really fucked up things happen. Really. fucked. up. There were a few times that I asked myself why I was reading this. But then I kept on reading, because this is a Donald Ray Pollock novel.
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There’s just no way to emerge unsullied and unscathed from Donald Ray Pollock’s Southern Gothic outlaw tale “The Heavenly Table." Readers venturing into this grim territory, out beyond Cormac McCarthy and Patrick DeWitt, in the bizarre vicinity of Harry Crews’ manic intensity and the depraved noir of Jim Thompson, are apt to be startled and disturbed by what they witness, and not least of all by the sound of their own laughter.
It is 1917, and while the civilized world enjoys such modern conveniences as flush toilets, machine guns and mustard gas, poor laborers in the rural South might as well be living in the Dark Ages. When their god-fearing father Pearl suddenly departs to dine with his maker at the titular table, the Jewett brothers — smart Cain, loutish Cob and fiery Chimney — sift through their meager patrimony, which includes a Bible and a picaresque dime novel titled “The Life and Times of Bloody Bill Bucket.”
Fatefully, they reject the former, taking the latter as their career guide. Stumbling into a desultory crime spree, the trio head north by horseback to Canada, pursued by swelling ranks of bounty hunters lured on by the brothers’ growing reputation for infamy, mostly spurious.
In their path lies Southern Ohio and the farm of Ellsworth and Eula Fiddler, and their wastrel son Eddie. Ellsworth and Eula think Eddie has run away to join the U.S. Army, but he can more reliably be found haunting the outskirts of “The Celestial Harem of Earthly Delights,” more commonly known as the “Whore Barn,” swiftly erected to service the nearby army-training camp.
Other local luminaries include the freakishly over-endowed Jasper Cone, an official outhouse inspector who knows all the dirt; Army Lieutenant Vincent Bovard, a closeted homosexual intent on achieving a glorious death with his men in the trenches; and Frank Pollard, a barkeeper with a sideline in sadistic murder that would give Sweeney Todd a run for his money.
The first murder doesn’t happen until almost a quarter of the way into the book, but after that Pollock makes up for lost time, splattering blood and brains with Grand Guignol invention and a studied casualness that is both distancing and disconcerting.
By the time an African-American dandy named Sugar strolls onto the scene halfway through the book, the reader almost wants to wave him off. Don’t join this narrative; it isn’t safe here!
While this unpredictable menace drives the story, it is in the vividness of Pollock’s descriptions of sordidness and depravity that his dark genius shines. No stone is left unturned, and under each and every stone something nasty squirms or scurries away from the light.
Pollock varies haunting details such as the ghosts of massacred mulattoes singing in the trees with grotesque flourishes, such as Pearl Jewett’s pillow stuffed with the dried tapeworm that dispatched his wife.
All of this is leavened by brilliant turns of phrase, profane jokes and folksy aphorisms, resulting in a kind of irresistible vision of a foolish, fallen world. While some readers will feel that Pollock goes too far, others will find him very much in step with the times.
It is 1917, and while the civilized world enjoys such modern conveniences as flush toilets, machine guns and mustard gas, poor laborers in the rural South might as well be living in the Dark Ages. When their god-fearing father Pearl suddenly departs to dine with his maker at the titular table, the Jewett brothers — smart Cain, loutish Cob and fiery Chimney — sift through their meager patrimony, which includes a Bible and a picaresque dime novel titled “The Life and Times of Bloody Bill Bucket.”
Fatefully, they reject the former, taking the latter as their career guide. Stumbling into a desultory crime spree, the trio head north by horseback to Canada, pursued by swelling ranks of bounty hunters lured on by the brothers’ growing reputation for infamy, mostly spurious.
In their path lies Southern Ohio and the farm of Ellsworth and Eula Fiddler, and their wastrel son Eddie. Ellsworth and Eula think Eddie has run away to join the U.S. Army, but he can more reliably be found haunting the outskirts of “The Celestial Harem of Earthly Delights,” more commonly known as the “Whore Barn,” swiftly erected to service the nearby army-training camp.
Other local luminaries include the freakishly over-endowed Jasper Cone, an official outhouse inspector who knows all the dirt; Army Lieutenant Vincent Bovard, a closeted homosexual intent on achieving a glorious death with his men in the trenches; and Frank Pollard, a barkeeper with a sideline in sadistic murder that would give Sweeney Todd a run for his money.
The first murder doesn’t happen until almost a quarter of the way into the book, but after that Pollock makes up for lost time, splattering blood and brains with Grand Guignol invention and a studied casualness that is both distancing and disconcerting.
By the time an African-American dandy named Sugar strolls onto the scene halfway through the book, the reader almost wants to wave him off. Don’t join this narrative; it isn’t safe here!
While this unpredictable menace drives the story, it is in the vividness of Pollock’s descriptions of sordidness and depravity that his dark genius shines. No stone is left unturned, and under each and every stone something nasty squirms or scurries away from the light.
Pollock varies haunting details such as the ghosts of massacred mulattoes singing in the trees with grotesque flourishes, such as Pearl Jewett’s pillow stuffed with the dried tapeworm that dispatched his wife.
All of this is leavened by brilliant turns of phrase, profane jokes and folksy aphorisms, resulting in a kind of irresistible vision of a foolish, fallen world. While some readers will feel that Pollock goes too far, others will find him very much in step with the times.
Dieses Buch ist nicht schön. Es ist hässlich, dreckig und stinkt. Beim Lesen hab ich mich mehr als einmal erwischt, wie ich angewidert die Nase rümpfte. Und damit hat Pollock alles richtig gemacht. Die Verhältnisse 1917 und das Milleu, in dem das Buch spielen, waren keine nach Blumen duftenden Oasen.
Cot DAMN that man can write. I enjoyed every line of this family saga, and loved the clarity with which each of its abundant characters are drawn. The thing about Pollock is the ease with which he tosses a bombshell into an otherwise mild and unassuming sentence, and the way he brings each character to life, each a perfect snowflake with blessings and drawbacks, and each somehow oblivious to the utter peculiarity of their surroundings and neighbors. Mr. Pollock, if you're reading this, please keep writing books. I need more like these.
I read this straight through on one, long flight. Great stuff. Grim and dark, with multiple narratives that slowly come together in interesting and unexpected ways.
Donald Ray Pollock has a gift for Southern regionalism and historic detail with all its quirks and casual barbarism. An element I enjoyed, though some might find a weakness of the book, is how Pollock cannot introduce a character, no matter how incidental to the already multiple story lines, without delving into at least a partial history, usually tragic.
I look forward to more.
I look forward to more.
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It’s really specific 1917 historical fiction. A exploration of what happens when three poor, uneducated brothers who can’t make sense of the Bible lose their father and decide to escape the squalid lives by living life as described in the pulp fiction novel The Life and Times of Bloody Bill Bucket. And boy does it get bloody!