Really icky :/

4.5 stars. this was a gripping and stomach turning read. this book follows an ensemble of characters most of which we hate and few of them we root for. the writing was really nice and added a nice touch to the whole atmosphere of the book. the story itself was really good and some scenes had me thoroughly disturbed. i honestly can't wait for the adaptation because the casting choices were really nice and i can't wait to see this story and the characters live. TW : Animal killing, racism and slight homophobia, suicide, pedophilia and grooming, religious extremism and some bloody scenes. also, i'd like to add that there was no scene in the book where the preacher said this like in the trailer ;-;

Just not a fan. If you want to be sad the whole entire book. Then this is the book for you

I like it, just no insightful revelation because I watched the movie first and it's pretty much the same. Hate that all female characters are weak with no development. Everyone seems to be there as a plot device for the men to do something "wrongfull, sinful, and evil). At least I love the sense of justice it has brought around the end. We all live in this shithole full of evilish forces, don't we?

Flannery O’Connor meets Six Degrees of Separation. SO good, the writing was beautifully gruesome and the plot was incredibly complex and vile. Love it love it love it. Definitely made me squirm. Could easily be a 5 star, I just didn’t feel that personal connection with it that I feel for 5 star books. 10/10 would recommend. My favorite stories/characters were the Preachers and Arvin. Definitely recommend if you are a fan of O’Connor or D.H. Lawrence. Excited to read more from Pollock.

Actual rating: 3.5 stars This book is made up of a cast including multiple truly terrible individuals. So awful they were difficult to read. But that was the point. I kept wondering how all of these divergent but loosely linked plot lines were going to come together, or even if they would. But though I actually considered putting the book down on more than one occasion, I’m glad I stuck with it. Some of the content was horrible, but there was some bloody redemption in the end that I found very satisfying. The plots do indeed come together. While I’ve never read Cormac McCarthy, I can see this appealing to fans of his work strictly based off of what I’ve heard. The writing is phenomenal, but a lot of the story was hard to stomach. I have a lot of respect for it, but it wasn't really enjoyable. I honestly only decided to read this because I want to watch the film adaptation, so here’s hoping the movie is good!

First off, let me say that I am almost afraid of myself when I think about how satisfying books like this are to me. I am so incredibly drawn to the darkness and I find that I relate to the most wretched characters. For instance, this book features a killer-couple, Carl and Sandy, who spend months saving up enough money to go on their next road trip. Sandy works tirelessly at a local diner and prostitutes on the side. Once they have enough money, they head out onto the road and begin seducing hitchhiking boys, convincing them to have sex with Sandy while Carl takes photos. Then Carl kills the kids and takes even more pictures, which he keeps in a box under his bed. Sadly, I found that I was most drawn to Carl. That being said, this book is deeply satisfying for my dark side and I think that the way Donald Ray Pollock is able to make serial-killers, rape, molestation, murder, and suicide look so beautiful just in the way that he whips his words is truly genius. I feel like Pollock could find the beauty in anything, but also the darkness as well and I think that the way that he is able to so strikingly portray that to his audience is absolutely masterful. Well done.

wow imagine making a movie in 2020 out of a book written in 2011 that doesn’t pass the Bechdel test.... embarrassing. women only exist in this story to die, be murdered and/or raped, and have sex. TRY HARDER! DO BETTER!

I don’t know what I just witnessed...that’s all.

Some people were born just so they could be buried. Great. Just another phenomenal book that I won't be able to recommend to anyone. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Everything about this book is dark and I LOVED IT. It has violence and death and some of the most disturbing scenes I've ever read, but it's also very deep and reflective, and I JUST UGH. I CANNOT. I'm dying to discuss this with someone. Donald Ray Pollock's writing is exceptional. He wrote the setting and the characters and their interactions SO well, that I couldn't put this book down despite it not being plot-driven. Hell, I didn't even care about the plot. I just wanted to know people's backstories, even the most terrible ones. I had to take a breather, every time there's a tiny revelation of people's humanness. I can't count how many times I cursed while reading this. I will read anything this author writes. Anything. This book is like a book that Emily St. John Mandel wrote, except it's filled with the dark things that are often not present in literary fiction (which is why I love reading horror). I can't wait to watch the Netflix adaptation!

This was a wild ride I have nothing else to say

Note to self: read more Southern Gothic.

Ok, so let me start by saying that I decided to pick up this book mostly because 1. Kat from paperbackdreams recommended it in one of her videos and 2. Robert Pattinson is in the Netflix adaptation of the movie. I didn't really know much about it going in, other than this book has a lot of trigger warnings and that we were following a teenage boy called Arvin. This book has so many things that are messed up that it is not everybody's cup of tea, that being said, it is a really well written and thought provoking book. We follow a group of characters that all are connected in small ways, whether being related to somebody or having known somebody at some point. I will say that I wish we could've spent more time with Arvin himself rather than with some of the characters we followed along for the ride. I got tired of seeing Sandy and Carl doing the same thing over and over and felt like their part of the story could have been reduced a smidge. I honestly had no idea the direction this book was going to go, so I thought that the ending was done well and wrapped up all the stories nicely.

Ne znam šta je pesnik hteo da kaže, a likova ima 500.

Compellingly grim from beginning to end, honestly struggled to put it down!

4.5

This was probably the single most fucked up book that I have ever read and that is saying something considering I love the horror genre the best. Something about these despicable characters felt 'closer' somehow--not like fiction. They were written in such a way that their thought processes felt sticky, unavoidable, nauseating. And they were truly sad loathsome people. I considered not finishing it but I had to see some sort of comeuppance after enduring the mental vile gymnastics of these deplorable characters. I was not disappointed in that. Would I recommend this book to anyone? No. Not a soul. But will I continue to think about this beautifully written awful book for a long time to come? Yes, I guess I will. That will be unavoidable.

2.5*

Bizarre, but fascinating. I couldn't stop reading, although I did have to pause a few times to gather my wits, for I don't think anyone can remain indifferent to all the violence and gore described in this book. True to its southern gothic genre, the book deals with many themes common in such works: religion, corruption, murder — exploring the possibilities of what a human (deranged or not) is capable of doing - definitely not a light read for those who are faint-hearted. I was impressed by the seemingly simple style of writing, which was rough and had a certain edge to it, and by the various points of view for each character and each event, which give the book a certain depth and provide us readers with an insight into the wicked minds of its characters. It reminded me a lot of the first season of 'True Detective' and for that I loved it even more, and I can't wait to see the new movie.

So dark and fun, one of the recommendations from a list of True Detective fans.