Daniel Woodrell

Amid the harsh landscape of the Ozark Hills, sixteen-year-old Ree is taking care of her mother and two brothers. Her father has put their house up as bail and if he doesn't show up at court it'll be sold from under them. To save her family she needs to track him down but in a community riven with long-running feuds getting answers isn't easy.

Winter's Bone

Ree Dolly's 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. With two young brothers depending on her, 16-year-old Ree knows she has to bring her father back, dead or alive. Living in the harsh poverty of the Ozarks, Ree learns quickly that asking questions of the rough Dolly clan can be a fatal mistake. But, as an unsettling revelation lurks, Ree discovers unforeseen depths in herself and in a family network that protects its own at any cost.

A Novel

Briar's Reviews

In case anyone was wondering, I'm the type of person who likes to read the book before they watch the movie. Yeah, I'm super annoying like that. I wanted to watch this film years ago, but I really really really really really (is that enough reallys?) wanted to read the book yet. It slipped me mind for years (literally), until I found it at a local charity bookshop. So, I picked it up and let it sit on my shelf for a very long time. Pretty normal for me, if I'm being honest. 

Time came around where I wanted to branch out and read something a little different, so I finally picked the book up. Yay me! 

Dude, I'm impressed but also wildly confused. So, let's begin:

This book started off super intriguing for me and I was instantly hooked. That changed though, because about half way through it got slower and more boring for me. By the ending, I wasn't as interested. But mighty me wants to watch the movie, so I trapezed on. 

Ree is a sixteen year old living with her Mom and her younger brothers. Her Father is into the drugs and has since ran away from the cops. He's being searched for because there's a warrant out for his arrest. Normally, a young sassy girl like Ree wouldn't care, but her jerk face of a Father put their house up as his bail. And, ya know, he isn't gonna show up.

So, Ree decides to go on a journey to find him. Along the way there's triumph and trouble, like anyone expects on an adventurous journey. Oh, and rape and drugs and stuff like that. You know, light hearted stuff (cough cough... sarcasm.... cough cough).

My thoughts?

The setting is stunning. I really love Daniel Woodrell's descriptive way of writing. I was whisked away into another world trying to imagine the stunning scenery he listed. Seriously, that alone deserves a big star. His writing is beautiful.

The isolated location makes it more interesting though, because there's meth heads, drug addicts, and this little slice of life book shows how hard it can be in the wilderness and different areas of the world. It gives U.S.A. vibes, maybe in Alaska, but there's no hard concrete to suggest that. It easily could be up in the Canadian North as well. The language showcases different accents and ways of speaking, which sometimes made it harder to read, but still spoke well of the story. It sent you away to another world for a while, which was really cool.

I liked that a strong female character was in the lead. She does what she needs to do to keep her family safe and doesn't have a squeaky clean life. Bad things have happened to her and she has mistakes littered around. It made me want to weep for her at some parts, because people are cruel. Yet, she stands tall and goes on her journey. She's tough and the kind of female character we need. No shiny, blonde perfection. There is lots of courage though. How else can you survive in the situation she's in?

Overall, this book is really interesting. It's going to be hit and miss for some people due to the language and storyline, but it's still worth the read. I can understand why it got turned into a movie, because it's just so darn good.

Three out of five stars.

Gabriela jaje 

Jeff Brown 

This place ls about books, but my favorite Jennifer Lawrence movie is "Winter's Bone", her first lead role, i believe. I kind of cherry-picked, but three "best of" lists of her movies had this movie at #1 or #2.

On to the audiobook -- incredibly descriptive in characters and in surroundings. The location is a huge character in the book. There is a lot of sadness and despair, but perseverance takes on a big role. A strong female role, gloomy surroundings and characters, but a must read if you haven't after all these years. And the narrator was very compelling.

Off to the TV to watch the movie again. :)

Melody Izard

This book is filled with smudged edges of good and evil drawn with swollen closed eyes, tired backs and heavy hearts while staring blankly into the future, eyes dilated by crank. Every sentence is filled with the poetic chanting of a hopeless life, spit out and stomped on by the astonishingly developed characters in this short novel. The movie was good - but oh my loving god, this book is even better.

Shawna Gavas

This NEVER happens but I can't even finish this book. I'm 3/4 through and its the most boring story ever. The writing is difficult to read which makes the story drag on even more. I did not enjoy this book, nor do I recommend it to anyone. I give it a big fat 0!!! :(

Reaching her sixteenth year in the harsh Ozarks while caring for her poverty-stricken family, Ree Dolly learns that they will lose their house unless her bail-skipping father can be found and made to appear at an upcoming court date. 25,000 first printing.

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This is the second book I've read from this author (the other title as Tomato Red). I liked Tomato Red a little more but this one was good also. The author impresses me with how much he is able to cram into such slim volumes. While some things in this book remain unexplained, the characters are drawn very convincingly and the reader definitely gets a taste of the desperate conditions for the poverty-stricken residents of the Ozarks.

This story features a 16 year old girl, Ree Dolly, and her quest to find her missing father. Like most of the men in her family, Ree's father Jessup is a "crank cooker". While he has disppeared and reappeared before, this time the stakes are high. As part of his bail bond, Jessup put up their house. When he doesn't show up for his trial, the Dolly family is faced with homelessness and without the means to change that. Ree bears the responsibility of caring for her two younger brothers and her mentally disabled mother and can't survive the loss of the house without splitting up her family. Ree suspects foul play is involved with her father's disappearance, but without proof, they will lose the house. Ree navigates the dangerous and violent world of other crank cookers, most of them related to her in some way, as she seeks answers to her father's disappearance so that she can save her famiy's home.

Mahasin S Ameen

So I didn't remember that I read this book and thought that the similarities I was experiencing were just from me having seen the movie. Thanks goodreads for letting me know that I'd read it before. That said, I actually bumped up the star rating of my review of this book from 3 stars to 4 because I feel like I gave it more of a chance. I do think Ree was a bit flat still, but I think that I was able to see past that into the actual fear that Ree had and the pressure she was under that made her have to be so hard.

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The book was good, I think I would have enjoyed it more if I'd read it before I'd seen the movie. The book made Ree come across as being far more flat than I would have liked.