Winters Bone
by Daniel Woodrell
"Winter's Bone" is the story of a dysfunctional family in one of the rural towns of the Ozarks. The central character of this story is a sixteen year old girl named Ree. Ree has been left by her father to take care of her two younger brothers and her mentally ill mother. Ree has an eight year old brother Harold, and Sonny who is eighteen months younger than Harold. Ree is doing her best to provide for and teach her younger brothers how to take care of themselves knowing that no one else seems to want the responsibility. Ree has several other families of somewhat close relation to her that all are either drug addicts, destitute, or involved somehow in the disappearance of her father. Rees' father Jessup is a known methamphetamine cook that has been in and out of prison throughout his life. Jessups circumstances of his disappearance seems to be known to his brother Teardrop, and the many families involved with the distribution of the narcotics in their town. Ree has been informed by the sheriff of their town that Jessup has missed his court date, and had put his and his families house up as bond. Ree searches for her father through the cold winter of the Ozarks on foot to try to save her families home so they are not all homeless in the dead of winter. Woodrell goes into vivid descriptions of all of the characters in this story giving the reader a real sense of hopelessness Ree is experiencing. It seems that the story drags at times in the detailed descriptions of the settings in the story, but it does give the reader a real sense of the mood and struggles each character is feeling or experiencing. The descriptions of Ree in her attitudes, dialogue, and experiences with the men in her life seem to hint towards homosexual tendencies. The descriptions of how Ree describing her uncle Teardrops wife Victoria as being attractive and how she smelled real good, and would hold her shirt sleeves to her nose after she left to smell her perfume seemed to hint towards her being lesbian. It also seemed like Ree had feelings for her friend Gail only given as small hints to her attraction to females, and her overall disgust with the men in her life. Ree had also described how she had been raped after she had been given drugs, which could definitely give reason towards her outlook or attraction to women. Woman are both physically and mentally abused in their town, and they all seem to think of themselves as inferior to men in accordance to their actions and things they say in being scared of them. Ree is a very tough and outspoken girl in this story, and has dreams of joining the Army and escaping the life she was born into. Her obligations to her brothers and mother seem to make Ree feel like she will never be able to live how she would like to. The overall themes of this story seem to be a girl struggling with the consequences and hardships of drug abuse, as well as the obligations she has to her younger brothers and her mother. Woodrell gives the reader a realistic feeling of what challenges and feelings someone would be experiencing in that situation. Some of the story was slow for me at times, and it is also somewhat difficult for myself as a man to put myself in the shoes of a female. But, I am enjoying reading this book, look forward to reading how the story turns out, and will recommend this book to several people I know.
Information on methamphetamine addiction.
Works cited
Woodrell, Daniel. Winter's Bone. New York: Back Bay Books, 2006. Print.
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