Hidden in the mountains of East Tennessee, an eleven-year old goes about the business of being a boy during the summer of 1970. Within a balance of terror and innocence, he bears silent witness to ghosts of the dead and the cruelties of a teenage killer while local justice plays out in a community carved from legacies of coal mining and religion.
‘Ramonst’ by A.F. Knott is a book that will stay with you long after you have finished it. The plot is haunting and the protagonist – 11-year-old Rodney – Is so empathetic, I really felt for him throughout the novel. In 1970, Rodney is trying to enjoy his summer, but he is haunted by the ghosts of the tragedies and terrors she has witnessed in his young life. Not only that, but he finds himself in embroiled in the horrors of a teenage killer, something that is just too much for his young soul to bear.
This isn’t a long read, but it is one that will keep you gripped from the first to the last page. The themes in the novel are not for the faint-hearted, but the writing is elegant and there a touches of humour. I loved this book, the story and thoughts of a boy who has to grow up too young.
I absolutely loved Ramonst. This is a childhood memory story as told by the main character, Rodney, a young man coming of age and describing his visit to Tennessee to visit his family. The family is full of stories, history, sayings, and beliefs that shape the world and understanding of young Rodney who describes his surroundings with an earnest ease that often adds to the somewhat creepy feel many of these stories invoked for me.
This often felt like a true story plucked right from the author’s own past. There certainly must be elements drawn from real life. The author was so skilled at moving the story along and allowing the reader an understanding of the many interesting characters through the eyes of an 11-year-old narrator.
Through Rodney we hear tales from his family’s past generations back, which are often heart-wrenching and often comical and perhaps relatable for many people. I loved the Nana character and some of her stories and expressions. I was also amused by the relationship between Nana and Rodney’s mother, as well. I also enjoyed some nice creepy moments with the “man in the closet” and the “incarnation of Evil”. As a fan of the dark, macabre and unexplained these elements were highly entertaining for me.
Having Ramonst written from the point of an 11 year old gave a fresh take to a novel steeped in difficult social issues. Having said that I think it carries off the premise extremely well, and adds an element of innocence that might not have been as packed with emotion if written in third person. There were some surprises along the way I hadn’t foreseen, and I was engaged right until the very end, which can be quite rare with many books these days.
A F Knott is an accomplished writer, no doubt, and I’ll be looking out for future releases with relish.
Knott certainly has a talent for writing a dark and unorthodox piece of art. The biggest thing that stood out to me was the characters. Each one, though not entirely unique, had their own orchestrated and tortured story that really made the plot and writing come alive. With that being said, the story’s plot was entirely dependent on the characters. It felt a lot like the characters made the story, rather than the characters being conditioned by circumstance. This isn’t a bad thing, just a very unique way to approach a story in a world where we see characters thrust into extraordinary circumstances to test them, rather than characters driving the circumstances. This works well with this book because it makes the vile bits that much more sensational.
I did really enjoy how sinister and macabre the story was, and how Rodney’s family and life seemed to be filled with nothing but nightmarish circumstance and happenings.
The style and layout of this book made it very appealing, with each chapter tying into a larger tapestry. The writing has a sound style, but there were a few bits that didn’t quite grab my attention the way others did (here’s to you, chapter two). With that being said, the pace was appropriate for a book this size. This is a read you can get through in a couple of nights.
An unusual, but interesting interpretation of the book! I can start with the fact that I liked a lot in this book: the author’s idea, style and content.
The story of 11-year-old boy Rodney, who is visiting Nana in a disturbing, redneck mountain in Tennessee for the summer. Rodney has a good memory, and when he started writing his story, detailed scenes from his life were written down there. He decided to talk about all the problems that worry him. A book is a way to look at life through the eyes of a boy, what he felt and what events took place in his life.
I really liked the idea and the plot. Well described characters. I’ve never read something like that. Highly recommended!
“Ramonst” is very odd, and I like it! I often think about things that I experienced, things that people said to me when I was younger, and you know, sometimes it doesn’t all make sense. This story, told from a child’s perspective, fits the nature of my own recollections perfectly, though I never experienced anything like this did.
It’s definitely worth reading if you’re the nostalgic type or like to read about how kids perceive certain events. The first-person perspective will put you into the character’s frame of mind to see and conclude what a real 11-year-old might.
And don’t let the randomness of the stories bother you. Simply take them in, ponder them, and enjoy them one by one. This isn’t a novel to rush through. It’s an experience to savor
Ramonst is full of events when a family gets together and visits Nana in East Tennessee. A. F. Knott is a creative author as he writes as a young boy of eleven remember a summer full of interesting events. Rodney’s summer was full of trouble, some he initiated other was brought on by his cousin, Clyde. Clyde was mentally unstable, anything could cause him to come unhinged. Rodney knows that he is coming of age and finds the girl he likes has a crush on him.
I found Ramonst humorous, interesting, and disturbing all at once. A. F. Knott tells his story through a boy remembering a summer at his Nana’s house. I was remembering times I spent at my grandma’s house with cousins, but we never had the turmoil this family did. Though his novel is about an eleven-year-old boy, I would not recommend a young person to read this since there are many adult issues that most kids should not read about.
Ramonst is the story of an eleven-year-old boy who has an above average memory and very keen perception. He and his mother go to visit his grandmother for the summer in a small mountain town of Tennessee. Here strange tales are told, and dark events take place. Author A. F. Knott has done an incredible job of capturing the tone of memory. Both with the voice of Rodney and also with the way he writes down the stories of others. It feels so real to me, retelling the strange and funny stories that families repeat so often that they become part of family history. These somewhat disjointed feeling stories not only come together in the narrative but to me gave life to the family. The book really captures the everyday of family and the little things that bring people to life. This book is a strange and dark narrative that looks at memory, perception, and mystery. This dark tale pulls you into the story and refuses to let you go. This is a fantastically well written and unique book that I would highly recommend to those that love dark fiction.
American author A.F. Knott lives in England and now focuses his elaborately colorful life on writing and collage art. After college his jobs are as varied as a kaleidoscope – he worked in Louisiana’s offshore oil industry, a parking lot attendant, lunch deliverer, thoroughbred handicapper, paper broker, cyclotron engineer, PET operator, and family physician! Enough experiences there to supply an entire library of books!
But that is one of the many reasons Knott’s skill in writing is so intoxicating – his rich imagination tinged with sensitivity to social issues, mind alterations, dreams, nightmares, and the raw flavors of Southern Gothic humor and terror. Another attribute is Knott’s unique, flavorful writing technique – he writes in short chapters punctuated with conversations alternating with the main characters thoughts, cleverly placed on the page in italics.
The plot may at first seem like vignettes or disconnected moments, but keep the eye on the page and it all flows together to allow us entry into a susceptible eleven year old lad’s perception of his world – real and imagined.
The author supplies a nod to a synopsis – ‘Hidden in the mountains of East Tennessee, an eleven-year old goes about the business of being a boy during the summer of 1970. Within a balance of terror and innocence, he bears silent witness to ghosts of the dead and the cruelties of a teenage killer while local justice plays out in a community carved from legacies of coal mining and religion.’
A taste: ‘I pulled the shade down and listened to my mother. She was speaking about Uncle Andy. When he was my age, he had a dog that foamed at the mouth. ‘Everywhere that dog went, Andy would follow him.” “Why did he follow him?” “I don’t know why. Every single day after school he followed him, repeating his name. I heard him saying it: Ramonst, Ramonst, Ramonst, Ramonst, Ramonst. For months this went on.” Ramonst did not sound like a dog’s name to me, so I asked if she was sure about that. “Yes, Ramonst. That’s the name he gave him. Repeated it over and over and over and over and over. One day Andy came home from school and started in on the dog, but Ramonst didn’t move. He sat in the hallway staring at Andy then started foaming at the mouth. Mother had Ramonst shot, and they sent his brain over to the University of Tennessee. After running all the tests they still didn’t know what caused Ramonst’s foaming.” I couldn’t stop thinking about Ramonst after my mother told me that. Even though she said they never found out what caused the foaming, I asked: “What do you think caused Ramonst’s foaming at the mouth?” My mother spoke quickly. “I think Ramonst couldn’t take all that is what I think. Dear Lord, every day I’d hear him saying it: Ramonst, Ramonst, Ramonst, Ramonst, Ramonst. I would foam too.”
This novel is pure diversion, in the most complimentary sense of that term. AK Knott makes us want to read more
Ramonst by A F Knott
Starts out with a boy and his mother taking a plane ride discussing the dog that foamed at the mouth and had died and they did not know why after testing at UTN.
Memories of Clyne holding a cat down on the slide and slicing it open…
Talk of incest and raping….summer with the counsins in East TN. Uncle is there with war stories…
Lots of memories of the lazy summer days in 60’s that comes along with news reports that I also recall growing up.
Love hearing of the games played with the relatives-we never got to play flashlight tag because there were 5 of us and we didn’t have 5 flashlights. Cousins also in the neighborhood also had large families.
Didn’t understand the lingo but got it after a while and at times found it revolting as we were not rasied the same way.
At times the book is a very deep dark story and there are many secrets that come to the light.
Not really my genre but glad I read this book til the end. Very detailed and descriptive, sometimes very graphical in nature.