Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell (4 stars)

Woodrell is a talented writer. He paints for us the bleak world of the rural poor in the Missouri Ozarks. The main character, Ree Dolly, at 16 is left in an incredibly tough situation by the disappearance of her meth-cook father, who vanishes, leaving her with a mentally ill mother and two younger siblings to look after. Ree attempts to navigate a sinister and violent world to find out what happened to her father.

The Dolly clan is characterised by violence, drugs, and hate of outsiders and the police. In many exchanges the violence simmering underneath the words is palpable:

I said shut up once already, with my mouth

Woodrell captures a heartbreaking acceptance of this existence in, at times, brilliant lyrical prose that reminded me of Cormac McCarthy:

Love and hate hold hands always so it made natural sense that they'd get confused by upset married folk in the wee hours once in a while and a nosebleed or bruised breast might result. But it just seemed proof that a great foulness was afoot in the world when a no-strings roll in the hay with a stranger led to chipped teeth or cigarette burns on the wrist.

If there is a weakness in this book, it is the plot. I kept waiting for the impending disaster to happen, and the climax when it finally came, was just not climactic. It seems Woodrell was more interested in writing the rough sketches of a story to hang some brilliant characters on, than producing a gripping plot line. His characters certainly were impressive: the steely determination of Ree (reminiscent of Mattie), and the contradictions in violence and love from Uncle Teardrop were well presented.

I'd read more Woodrell, and now I need to see the movie.

4 stars.