I don't understand the draw to this book.

It opens like Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, then adds a lot of filth.
How could these characters not be contaminated?

Then enters another senseless pig slaughter, derivative of other novel tropes.

Boredom and depression ensue, with zero redemption. ( )

The writing was good, the story semi-interesting but it was way TOO long. I finally just skimmed the last 150 pages.

The family though a bit odd and backwards did not have that much compelling about it to be 400 pages long. They were poor and uneducated, and one of the brothers was probably autistic but undiagnosed since they never went to doctors. That about sums it up.

Clinch could have easily made this book half the size and moved this narrative along (starting with cutting out most of the nephew's, Tom, story). ( )

Kings of the Earth is the story of three brothers, Vernon, Audie, and Creed Proctor, who live on their family farm in upstate New York. The men grew up poor, with the farm’s small dairy operation barely making ends meet, but they continued running the farm after their parents passed away. They are barely literate and, except for Creed’s Korean War service, have never traveled beyond nearby towns. Their living conditions are squalid and personal hygiene is sorely lacking. Their struggles only get worse when Vernon, who had been in poor health, passes away. The medical examiner and local police step in to determine cause of death and the two remaining brothers fall under suspicion.

The novel moves across several points in time during the brothers’ lives with different voices telling pieces of their story, sometimes in chapters of just a couple paragraphs. These vignettes are like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle, gradually building a more complete picture of the family, the community, and the circumstances surrounding Vernon’s death. A parallel story unfolds involving the brothers’ nephew Tom, who tries to break free from the Proctor family to achieve a better life. Tom’s narrative weaves around that of the brothers, until the two become inextricably linked, with dramatic results.

I was caught up in this book from page one. The characters were authentic, and their struggles real. There were no pat solutions to their problems, and the dramatic ending left the future of the family uncertain. Jon Clinch is a master storyteller. ( )

Every bit the tour de force I'd been told it was. I still liked The Lonely Polygamist a tiny bit better, but really a wonderful book. ( )

A terrific novel, and even with the dirt and poverty and dysfunction, so much warmth there. The portrayal of upstate New York was so spot-on—one way you know it isn't Faulkner country is that the COLD is such a character alongside the human beings. Upstate has its own particularly bleak comportment, different from Appalachia or the midwest... Joyce Carol Oates always did a good job with that. Maybe you have to grow up there and leave to write it really well, although I suspect that's a bit of a failure of imagination on my part.

Anyway, really well-written, and peopled with some fantastically memorable—and oddly sympathetic—folks. Very worth reading. ( )