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A review by donnaeve
The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock
5.0
Aaaand, all the way up to The End, it was all I could do to set the book aside. TMI, maybe, but my reading takes place in the bathtub and in bed. It's a wonder I don't have pruned fingers and toes, as well as muscle atrophy, and dark circles under my eyes because every time I picked this story up, I didn't want to put it down.
Every single character is impeccably drawn, but I have to give the biggest shout out to Pollock for how he depicted Carl. He made him so real, so vile - just as a serial killer should be. One by one these characters, from young to adult Arvin, his parent's, Willard and Charlotte, (their story read like a sad song) to Emma, Lenora, Roy, Theodore, Lee, Sandy, Preston and any/all in between, stepped into the writer's spotlight, did their thing, and bowed out, gracefully, until needed again. Normally, I'd have to check a few times - who was this? what did they do? - with this many characters, but not necessary in this story - yet again another sign of Pollock's brilliance.
I loved the format, and how he told each character's story, and as you get into it, Pollock exposes the thin thread of a connection that eventually loops back around, and boom, there's a stitch sewn, the link to this one, then that one, until you have a mosaic of a narrative from a master seamster if I ever saw one.
The kind of book that has me perusing the TBR pile, wondering, what do I follow that up with???
Whew!
Every single character is impeccably drawn, but I have to give the biggest shout out to Pollock for how he depicted Carl. He made him so real, so vile - just as a serial killer should be. One by one these characters, from young to adult Arvin, his parent's, Willard and Charlotte, (their story read like a sad song) to Emma, Lenora, Roy, Theodore, Lee, Sandy, Preston and any/all in between, stepped into the writer's spotlight, did their thing, and bowed out, gracefully, until needed again. Normally, I'd have to check a few times - who was this? what did they do? - with this many characters, but not necessary in this story - yet again another sign of Pollock's brilliance.
I loved the format, and how he told each character's story, and as you get into it, Pollock exposes the thin thread of a connection that eventually loops back around, and boom, there's a stitch sewn, the link to this one, then that one, until you have a mosaic of a narrative from a master seamster if I ever saw one.
The kind of book that has me perusing the TBR pile, wondering, what do I follow that up with???
Whew!