Winter's Bone

A Novel

By: Daniel Woodrell

Narrated by: Emma Galvin

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, 16-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.

©2006 Daniel Woodrell (P)2010 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Like his characters, and especially his teen characters, Woodrell's prose mixes tough and tender so thoroughly yet so delicately that we never taste even a hint of false bravado, on the one hand, or sentimentality, on the other. And Ree is one of those heroines whose courage and vulnerability are both irresistible and completely believable - think of not just Mattie Ross in True Grit but also Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird or even Eliza Naumann in Bee Season. One runs out of superlatives to describe Woodrell's fiction. ( Booklist)

“At its best, the novel captures the near-religious criminal mania pervasive in rural communities steeped in drug culture. Woodrell's prose, lyrical as often as dialogic, creates an unwieldy but alluring narrative that allows him to draw moments of unexpected tenderness from predictable scripts.” ( Publisher’s Weekly)

“In spare but evocative prose, Woodrell depicts a harsh world in which the responsibilities for survival ultimately give Rees meaning and direction. He depicts the landscape, people, and dialects with stunning realism. A compelling testament to how people survive in the worst of circumstances.” ( School Library Journal)

Stunning combination of story and narration...

A masterful melding of language that paints vivid, photograph-quality pictures of hardscrabble life in the Ozarks, with narration that conveys the authenticity in every word of tragedy and survival. Although far too short, this is by far among the very best of the many Audible selections I've enjoyed. I look forward to more from this author and narrator!

Still worth reading even if you've seen the movie

Any additional comments?

Completely immerses you in Ozark poverty for the tale of a girl looking for her meth-cooking father, who put up their house for his bail bond. If he doesn't show, the house will be taken away — and the girl, her two little brothers and mentally disabled mother will be tossed out. If you've seen the movie, the book is pretty much exactly like it, sort of like how the movie "Silence of the Lambs" was a great re-creation of the book. But it's still worth reading for Woodrell's beautiful language. Bechdel test: Passed.

The narration is excellent. Galvin becomes the main character.

Good to senses

Kind of just OK. Not enough plot development for me. Wanted more twists. Plus, a little more historical background would have helped. Why is this are so backward? Why are they so clan-ish? Seemed to be more about atmospherics. About a third of the words seem to be adjectives and adverbs. Plus, he uses some weird devices that are cool at first but get annoying after awhile. He does things like drop articles: Instead of "snow felt to the ground" it's "snow felt to ground". OK, we get it. It's snowing and it falls on the ground.

But I will say the narrator is really excellent and brings the dialect alive. Really nice job. So it's worth it from that standpoint. I mean "the words fell strong upon ears and I left, head busing." Get ready for loads of that sort of stuff.

Winter's Bone is a story that stays with you.

If you could sum up Winter's Bone in three words, what would they be?

Fast, gritty and engaging.

Who was your favorite character and why?

My favorite character is Ree. She is a teen consumed by survival and family loyalty without self pity and melodrama present in much of today's fiction.

What does Emma Galvin bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Emma Gavin gave life through tone and pronunciation to the Appalachian characters.

Who was the most memorable character of Winter's Bone and why?

Uncle Teardrop was definitely memorable because of the place he started in the story and his progression.

Amazing

Wonderful listen! Movie was great. Listened to the book after watching the movie. Now I can see the great movie was based upon a great book. Hope Woodrell continues to write. Hope next is longer,

good story - prequel?

I am not remembering if this a a prequel or not. Good story. Much of narration has an overly melodramatic tone which diminishes the power of the story. But is tolerable for a short book. Will be looking to see if it was written as a prequel to an existing book. If so will likely stick to the written word if audiobook sample sounds the same. [Hopefully such reviews will help the narrator grow-- the parts where her voice was lost in the story were quite well done.]

keeps you interested but...

This story is interesting. It is overly descriptive:too much "poetry like" over the top details about how things look or smell. It is a depressing story about sad and terrible people and situations. It never gets any better and then it ends.

excellent

Winter's Bone was an excellent, well written book with an equally good performance. Highly recommend.

Wow!

How poetic and vivid! I highly recommend it. I loved the movie but the book is incredible. Listen now.

good story but the narrative is annoying

if you can get past her voice- which took me 2 tries- its a good story