kerry

What a wonderfully dark, but beautiful book...

It's hard to describe a book like this and get it right, it's so deeply lyrical with solitary beauty. Nature, red tooth and nail comes to mind, but also the inhuman nature of man. Ree is such a strong well drawn character with the world upon her shoulder. We start out knowing Ree is the caretaker for both of her younger brothers and her mentally adrift mother, Ree is only sixteen herself. Her father, who has been known to be off for days/weeks a time, is now missing and has skipped bail. If he doesn't show up for his next shortly upcoming court date the house will be repossessed, leaving Ree, her two brothers, and her mother to "live in the field like dogs". She then begins her labyrinth through the winter wilderness of her long-stretching, cult-like, meth addicted family called the Dollys to search for her father.

There is good bit of action in this book, but I found myself looking towards the quiet scenes with breathtaking admiration. Daniel Woodrell can write.