i love books about rural places full of freaks. here are some of them! Some of the towns are smaller, or bigger. Some of the people are less, or more weird. would love recommendations that fit this theme :))))
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You forgot Hillbilly Elegy! In all seriousness, Goyen's House of Breath and Gass's Omensetter's Luck are definitely small townish, though not very freaky. I didn't care for the latter, but it's certainly very popular. Small town full of freaks is more or less the crux of Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock. Pedro Páramo obviously has freaks, though not quite in the manner you describe.
Ah yes I love Knockemstiff, it should definitely be on the list. I haven't read House of Breath or Omensetter but will grab them from the library this week, thank you, I appreciate the recommendation :D.
Winesburg, Ohio please! Surprised it's not on here. I think you'd LOVE it if you haven't already read it. Also, Carson McCullers as well, who is very similar to Flannery O'Connor. She sets her novels in nondescript southern towns that have a super dreamy and dead feeling. It's funny, I've read a lot of books about the deep south, and they all make it out to be such an awful disgusting place, but I want to visit very badly.
I have not read that yet, I will check the library for it, that's very exciting. I've only read The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by McCullers, what others would you recommend? I feel the same way about wanting to visit, I think that even though these authors are usually describing the settings as so bleak, there's such a love/reverence for the places that is present underneath that.
Short stories by Breece D'J Pancake comes to mind. They lack much of a narrative— they're more static images of depressing and lonely lives in the Deep South. I'm not selling him very well but they're different and you do get a detailed impression despite the short length. Narrow Rooms by James Purdy also. Fair warning, if you're grossed out by explicit gay sex then Mr Purdy is not for you. They're not very sexy. The whole book is a bit grim but if you can look past that then it's very good. Like a violent four way homosexual love affair in a rotten small town. There's Eudora Welty you might like as well. I read The Optimist's Daughter, which I wasn't a fan of, but it fits the list I suppose.
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"Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead" by Barbara Comyns is the definition of "small town [actually village] full of freaks". Nice to see The End of Vandalism on here.