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Sadie Hartmann's Reviews > The Devil All the Time
The Devil All the Time
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THE DEVIL ALL THE TIME by Donald Ray Pollock
Other Books I Enjoyed by This Author: This is my first and upon finishing, I bought two more.
Affiliate Link:
Release Date: July 10th, 2012
General Genre: Literary, Thrillers, Suspense, Family Saga, Crime
Sub-Genre/Themes: Southern Gothic Horror, Serial Killers, Human Monsters, Religious Trauma, Coming-Of-Age. Triggers: Suicide, Rape, Kidnapping, Child Abuse, Graphic Violence, Sexual Predators
Writing Style: third person omniscient, gritty, relentless, poetic, bleak, provocative
What You Need to Know: The title is, The Devil All the Time. And it lives up to it. I'll quote from The Lord of the Rings, "Do not trust to hope. It has forsaken these lands." Meaning, this is dark and bleak and the sun does not nor will it shine. So why should you read it? Because it's powerful storytelling and it will live in your reader's heart forever.
My Reading Experience: I buddy read this book with a friend who is a writer so the discussions we had surrounding this book made it an even more pleasurable experience. This is a book for readers who love dynamic, engaging, Southern Gothic storytelling with a powerful narrator who can peer inside the minds of all the characters revealing the darkness that resides there.
There is so much to unpack, it's difficult to know where to start and what to say. I'll try. There are multiple main characters, everyone has a few chapters and the timeline goes back and forth into the past and the present. It's not difficult to know which is which. I enjoyed the style.
We follow one family in rural Ohio very closely. A man named Willard, the woman he marries. The family they start. The child they raise, Arvin, and the tragedies that befall them, make Arvin the young man he becomes.
We also follow Sandy and Carl. Their chapters follow the couple on a killing spree. Carl enjoys photographing his wife having sex with young male hitchhikers and then they kill them. It is extremely disturbing.
Also disturbing is the pervasive theme of religious trauma in all its forms woven throughout the entire story. Your heart will naturally grab onto a central character, I won't say which, and you will trust to hope. It's ok, you can allow it. It feels good to do so and it is this hope that will see you through to the end of this novel. I will never forget my time here. I thought about the title a lot. And how the author applied it. I can't really discuss it in detail without spoilers but I will say, after watching the movie on Netflix starring Tom Holland and Bill Skarsgård, I know the message of this book and it unlocked a new favorite sub-genre for me. And also I have begun collecting authors and their books in this very specific tone/subject matter/style. So, check out my comps. I will read everything by this author. A new favorite.
Final Recommendation: For readers who enjoy bleak, dark, depraved crime sagas about humans doing horrible things to each other in sad, small towns and the deep, psychological impact it has on people for the rest of their lives.
Comps: Tiffany McDaniel (Betty, On the Savage Side) Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison, Cormac McCarthy, Natural Born Killers (1994), Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell, David Joy
Other Books I Enjoyed by This Author: This is my first and upon finishing, I bought two more.
Affiliate Link:
Release Date: July 10th, 2012
General Genre: Literary, Thrillers, Suspense, Family Saga, Crime
Sub-Genre/Themes: Southern Gothic Horror, Serial Killers, Human Monsters, Religious Trauma, Coming-Of-Age. Triggers: Suicide, Rape, Kidnapping, Child Abuse, Graphic Violence, Sexual Predators
Writing Style: third person omniscient, gritty, relentless, poetic, bleak, provocative
What You Need to Know: The title is, The Devil All the Time. And it lives up to it. I'll quote from The Lord of the Rings, "Do not trust to hope. It has forsaken these lands." Meaning, this is dark and bleak and the sun does not nor will it shine. So why should you read it? Because it's powerful storytelling and it will live in your reader's heart forever.
My Reading Experience: I buddy read this book with a friend who is a writer so the discussions we had surrounding this book made it an even more pleasurable experience. This is a book for readers who love dynamic, engaging, Southern Gothic storytelling with a powerful narrator who can peer inside the minds of all the characters revealing the darkness that resides there.
There is so much to unpack, it's difficult to know where to start and what to say. I'll try. There are multiple main characters, everyone has a few chapters and the timeline goes back and forth into the past and the present. It's not difficult to know which is which. I enjoyed the style.
We follow one family in rural Ohio very closely. A man named Willard, the woman he marries. The family they start. The child they raise, Arvin, and the tragedies that befall them, make Arvin the young man he becomes.
We also follow Sandy and Carl. Their chapters follow the couple on a killing spree. Carl enjoys photographing his wife having sex with young male hitchhikers and then they kill them. It is extremely disturbing.
Also disturbing is the pervasive theme of religious trauma in all its forms woven throughout the entire story. Your heart will naturally grab onto a central character, I won't say which, and you will trust to hope. It's ok, you can allow it. It feels good to do so and it is this hope that will see you through to the end of this novel. I will never forget my time here. I thought about the title a lot. And how the author applied it. I can't really discuss it in detail without spoilers but I will say, after watching the movie on Netflix starring Tom Holland and Bill Skarsgård, I know the message of this book and it unlocked a new favorite sub-genre for me. And also I have begun collecting authors and their books in this very specific tone/subject matter/style. So, check out my comps. I will read everything by this author. A new favorite.
Final Recommendation: For readers who enjoy bleak, dark, depraved crime sagas about humans doing horrible things to each other in sad, small towns and the deep, psychological impact it has on people for the rest of their lives.
Comps: Tiffany McDaniel (Betty, On the Savage Side) Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison, Cormac McCarthy, Natural Born Killers (1994), Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell, David Joy
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Reading Progress
July 6, 2016
– Shelved as:
to-read
July 6, 2016
– Shelved
June 21, 2023
–
Started Reading
June 21, 2023
–
2.17%
"The way she saw it, too much religion could be as bad as too little, maybe even worse; but moderation was just not in her husband’s nature"
page
7
June 21, 2023
–
9.94%
"On into chapter 3. So far I can tell this writer will be a new favorite"
page
32
June 23, 2023
–
15.53%
"±õ³Ù’s just in the way he he chooses to write a simple fact. Instead of Arvin’s mom died.
±õ³Ù’s
“Someone was always dying somewhere, and in the summer of 1958, the year that Arvin Eugene Russell counted himself ten years old, it was his mother's turn.�"
page
50
±õ³Ù’s
“Someone was always dying somewhere, and in the summer of 1958, the year that Arvin Eugene Russell counted himself ten years old, it was his mother's turn.�"
July 1, 2023
–
44.1%
"“Handguns ain’t made for hunting. They’re made for killing people.�"
page
142
July 2, 2023
–
50.93%
"“Old voices crawled through his head like worms, some bitter with curses, others still pleading for mercy.�"
page
164
July 2, 2023
–
80.75%
"“±õ³Ù’s hard to live a good life,â€� he said. “It seems like the Devil don’t ever let up.â€�"
page
260
July 2, 2023
–
Finished Reading
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by
Rachel
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rated it 5 stars
Jul 09, 2023 10:12AM
Check out Benjamin Whitmer, Ron Rash, Larry Brown, & Chris Offutt.
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Rachel wrote: "Check out Benjamin Whitmer, Ron Rash, Larry Brown, & Chris Offutt."Thanks!
He is such a great author. The Heavenly Table is also excellent. I can’t wait for his next book!
