Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Winter's Bone ***1/2

By Daniel Woodrell.
Published by Bay Back Books - Little, Brown and Company.
Copyright 2006, 2007.
193 pages.

Lets start off  by saying that I am a big fan of Woodrell.  I was introduced to him by the movie of the same name as this book.  I loved the movie.  It had all the elements that I like - It is gritty, violent, profound and beautiful.  (Don't worry, I'll get back to that - I won't take the lazy way out by simply listing a bunch of superlatives).  I went out and looked for his books and read a bunch of them that can be found on this very blog and I can say that all his work, to a greater or lesser degree, has the above mentioned characteristics.  I stayed away from this one even though I had just seen the movie because I was too familiar with the story and I wanted some time to pass and because it was simply unavailable at the library.  The movie had made this book a popular requested selection.

All of Woodrell's books take place in the Ozarks where the people are poor and desperate.  It's not the sweet, apple pie American country we are talking about.  It is the dark underbelly of a depraved and desperate society.  A theme that is gritty and appeals to me immensely.

A young girl of 16, Ree Dolly, is forced to take care of her two younger brothers and her mentally  handicapped mother because the father is out running about and simply not around.  She's on her own and struggling to put food on the table.  The law visits her one day and informs her that her father, a crack cocaine cooker by occupation, has not shown up for court and that the house she lives in and as well as many generations of Dolly's before her, will be confiscated since he signed the house over for his bail and has not shown up for court.  Ree has to find her father. It's a dangerous task since the father was most certainly caught up with drugs and violence and she will need to enter that world to find him.  And the rest of the book is about her search for him.

The most important part of that search thematically is the idea of the community and family that is so important to the people of the Ozarks.  That closed-knit community that always claims to take care of their own and keep the law out is also a very dangerous community to be in the midst of.  In other words, the family that watches out for her also watches her to be sure that she doesn't meddle in their affairs.

One interesting passage that was not in the movie was that there is a discussion of an ancient religion.  This ancient religion is based on the bloodlines of the families of the Ozarks. I don't really know if it exists or if it was something that the ancestors of these people brought with them from Europe or if it was simply made up for the sake of advancing the following the author's ideas. but there seems to be some some spiritual belief or customs that link this community.  For example, all of the boys seem to have a regular name but also an ancient family name that Ree thinks is the reason the boys are doomed to their fate. Woodrell tries to put forth the thesis that the people are doomed to behave in the depraved and savage ways because it is their inheritance culturally as well as spiritually.  The book is already profound in its portrayal of poverty and depravity, but I believe this excerpt adds even more levity to the themes of the book.

This book has almost no flagging portions and is a very fast and easy read.  I think that the reason I hesitate to give it the full 4 stars is because of some previous biases I have.  I so fell in love with the movie that the book didn't really surpass the film for me. Usually the book is always better then the film. In this case both are brilliant, but I am not sure that the book is that much better than the movie.  That does say something for the film makers and their adaptation.  It is a very faithful and well done adaptation of masterpiece book.





It looks like I never reviewed the film so I won't be duplicating this trailer. And Dickon Hinchcliffe of Tindersticks fame does the sound track - Amazing!