Conflicting gospels

In Donald Ray Pollock's novel The Heavenly Table, Cane, Chimney and Cob Jewett don't have much after their father dies suddenly, but their meager possessions do include two books. One is their father's Bible, from which Pearl Jewett had assumed came his theology that by working hard and suffering one will one day sit at the heavenly table with all the other hard-working, suffering saints. Thus Pearl and his boys had worked hard for little reward. The reward, Pearl insisted, would come later.

When Pearl dies, Cane and Chimney decide they favor the gospel found in the second book, The Life and Times of Bloody Bill Bucket, an old dime novel about a former Confederate soldier who turns bank robber. Cane, the smartest of the brothers (which isn't saying much), argues that if they can rob a bank, then flee to Canada (they live in Georgia), they will have enough money to live comfortable and respectable lives.

They don't plan on hurting anyone, but things happen in robberies, and soon the Jewett Gang is wanted, dead or alive, for multiple robberies and murders. The year is 1917, but like desperadoes in the Old West, they head for the border on horseback.

Meanwhile Pollock introduces us to a variety of characters in Ohio, more characters than you might think he could possibly need. Yet skillfully he gives each of these people a purpose when the brothers finally reach Ohio.

The Heavenly Table, although a terrific novel, is the kind of book that once might have been sold under the counter. It is as full of sex, violence and vulgar language as any you might find anywhere. So be forewarned. Much of it is also hilarious.

Still the novel has a heart, and that heart belongs to Cob, the simplest and most innocent of the brothers. The question of whether he will ever sit at the heavenly table remains unanswered, but Pollock shows how, for him at least, a place at an earthly table might seem like heaven.