Winter's Bone: A Novel
by Daniel Woodrell
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Book Summary Information
Author: Daniel WoodrellEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-08-07
ISBN: 031605755X
Number of pages: 208
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Product features:
- Signed
- First Edition
- Hardcover
- Dust jacket in acetate protector
Book Reviews of Winter's Bone: A Novel
Book Review: Lyrical Novel Tells of Plucky Teen's Odyssey in the Ozarks
Summary: 5 Stars
Kay Gibbons writes, "Whenever I'm on the verge of losing faith in our
collective ability to produce startlingly direct yet still lyrical and
gorgeous novels, one arrives from Daniel Woodrell and I'm immediately
optimistic again. Winter's Bone staggered me."
And Dennis Lehane says, "Daniel Woodrell is the least-known major writer
in the country right now. I don't even know what this novel's about, but I'm
going to buy it the day it's published."
Winter's Bone, Woodrell's eight novel, tells the story of Ree Dolly, 16,
and her poverty-stricken family living in the Missouri Ozarks. Ree has the
"sand," the spunk and gumption (think 14-year-old Mattie Ross in Charles
Portis's True Grit) to struggle against tremendous odds. In describing Ree
Dolly, Woodrell speaks of "the awesome resilience that can be found in a
young girl's heart.
Ree's father, Jessup Dolly, is nowhere to be found; he has mortgaged the
Dolly's house and furnishings to a bail bondsman. IfJessup fails to appear
in court, the Dolly's possessions will be repossessed. Ree must find her
father in order to save the family home.
Ree's mother, nee Connie Bromont, is mentally ill and spends her time
sitting in a rocking chair before the family stove, humming and singing
songs out of tune.
Ree's brothers--Sonny, 10, and Harold, 8--complain that there's nothing
in the house to eat except oatmeal and grits. They long for their share of
meat--venison from the deer hanging on hooks in their neighbor's yard, just
across the creek. Meanwhile, they hunt squirrels to keep the wolf of
starvation from the door.
Written in beautiful poetic prose, Winter's Bone describes an insular way
of life where the "hillfolk" have a natural distrust and suspicion of
"townfolk," that is, of all foreigners and strangers. And clandestinely
"cooking 'moon'" or "cooking crank," they are only half-trusting of their
closely inbred relatives.
To these furtive and suspicious denizens of the Ozarks, "snitchin'"
violates a basic code of the hills. One keeps his big mouth shut, especially
when the law is nosing around, asking questions. Tattletales don't live long
in the Ozarks.
"Consciousness-enhancing vices," writes Woodrell, "have always been a
part of our social fabric. Moonshine was significantly produced here during
Prohibition (there are yet some skilled makers of good corn whiskey, keeping
the art alive more for the pleasant sensations convivial outlawry provides
than in the pursuit of filthy lucre) and god's good green herb is cultivated
in reasonable quantity.
"But in recent years it has been the sad explosion of homemade
methamphetamine (not from god's good anything, or any natural element) that
has become a scourge in these hills and hollers. The average income in this
neighborhood is under $14,000 a year, and two days of cooking meth can reap
$10,000 and up, depending on ambition and recklessness."
Winter's Bone is well named. In this novel, Woodrell vividly describes
the bone-chilling cold of winter, the daunting task Ree faces in trying to
find her father in such life-threatening temperatures, and her encounters
with the mores, customs, and traditions of this curious corner of the
Ozarks.
The outlook doesn't look good for Ree, for her father's burnt-out truck
has been found, and, with courageous determination, dares to rush in where
angels fears to tread. "In prose both taut and lyrical," writes Edna
O'Brien, "Winter's Bone vividly evokes the spirit of one little woman
warrior."
Daniel Woodrell was born in Springfield, Missouri, and spent his early
years in the Ozark town of West Plains. He left school and enlisted in the
Marines the week he turned 17, but was discharged for drug-taking before he
could make it to Vietnam.
Back in the United States, he drifted before going back to college, where
he started to write. His previous novels are: Under the Bright Lights
(1986), Woe to Live On (1987; a historical look at the Civil War era loosely
based on the activities of Quantrill's Raiders and filmed by Ang Lee as Ride
with the Devil), Muscle for the Wing (1988), The Ones You Do (1992), Give Us
a Kiss (1998), Tomato Red (2000), and The Death of Sweet Mister (2001).
Woodrell lives in West Plains, Missouri, in the Ozarks near the Arkansas
line (and near the Mark Twain National Forest) with his wife, Katie Estill.
Summary of Winter's Bone: A Novel
The sheriff's deputy at the front door brings hard news to Ree Dolly. Her father has skipped bail on charges that he ran a crystal meth lab, and the Dollys will lose their house if he doesn't show up for his next court date. Ree's father has disappeared before. The Dolly clan has worked the shadowy side of the law for generations, and arrests (and attempts to avoid them) are part of life in Rathlin Valley. With two young brothers depending on her and a mother who's entered a kind of second childhood, sixteen-year-old Ree knows she has to bring her father back, dead or alive. She has grown up in the harsh poverty of the Ozarks and learns quickly that asking questions of the rough Dolly clan can be a fatal mistake. But along the way to a shocking revelation, Ree discovers unforeseen depths in herself and in a family network that protects its own at any cost. "A piercing, intense tale told from way inside, WINTER'S BONE is stark evidence that Daniel Woodrell is a writer of exceptional originality and importance." -Thomas McGuane "In prose both taut and lyrical, WINTER'S BONE vividly evokes the spirit of one little woman warrior." -Edna O'BrienUnited States Books
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