Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell

This is the second book recommended by our friend Charlie Stella. While Eddie Coyle was another tale of New York crime, this is far removed to the backwoods of the Ozark Mountains.

Winter is creeping up on the Ozarks. Ree Dolly is a 16yo girl thrust too early in to the role of provider and caretaker of her family. Her father, Jessup, is a backwoodsman known for his ability to cook up crystal meth. Problem is he put up his house as collateral that he would show for his next court date and things are not looking good that he will show. The local law tells Ree if her father doesn’t show that she, her two younger brothers, and her mom (who has mentally retreated inside herself and is incapable of caring for anyone) will be tossed out.

What transpires is Ree’s attempt to find her father. This far back in the hills has its own culture, laws, and morality where family matters above all and each family have its own clan based on what side of which creek between what hills someone lives. Ree endures countless rebuffs, insults, and assaults as she tries to find her father culminating in a viscous beating at the hands and feet of 3 women of a rival clan. The question is not just where is Jessup, but is he even alive and if he isn’t alive, what was behind his death and where are his remains. What begins as a tale of struggle of various clans buried far beneath the world we live morphs into a morality tale about sacrifice in the face on unyielding odds.

Mr. Stella’s books and recommendations are based on dialogue and characters. This one is a drastic change from the city dialogue drawn out by Stella, Higgins, Price, Pelecanos, et al. The mountain language is a barely distinguishable dialect and takes some time to get used to the flow that eventually becomes a character almost unto itself. Ree is one tough young woman who has grown up too early, and not by her own choosing. This is quite different from what we usually post here, but Woodrell’s depiction of a foreign life even on our own shores is a venture worth taking.

East Coast Don