June 3 - "Dynamite Hole"

“Dynamite Hole”
by Donald Ray Pollock
Knockemstiff (2008)

* * * (Good) Realistic

A man living wild in the country comes across the two Mackey siblings doing things siblings should not do, and cannot resist the urge to interrupt the young children. As he later recalls the events of the day, he also remembers the days after he left home in an attempt to dodge the WWII draft.

I’m interested in how all the stories in this collection are going to tie together in the end. Here we are given a glimpse at a possible mystery – the disappearance of the Mackey siblings – that may rear its head again in a later story. I’m not sure if this is the case, but I hope it will be.

The wild man living in the country never became more than a boiler plate character for me in this story. He was slow, brutal, and damaged, which – to be honest – is nothing original for this stock story character. I did enjoy the prose, though. Very colorful language, unique expressions and descriptions.