Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Unavailable
Winter's Bone: A Novel
Unavailable
Winter's Bone: A Novel
Unavailable
Winter's Bone: A Novel
Audiobook4 hours

Winter's Bone: A Novel

Written by Daniel Woodrell

Narrated by Emma Galvin

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

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.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJul 20, 2010
ISBN9781609411657
Unavailable
Winter's Bone: A Novel

Related to Winter's Bone

Related audiobooks

Coming of Age Fiction For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for Winter's Bone

Rating: 4.038390364477336 out of 5 stars
4/5

1,081 ratings100 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Revisiting Country NoirReview of the Audible Audio edition narrated by Emma Galvin"Winter's Bone" (2006) is probably now most known for its faithful 2010 movie adaptation that provided breakout roles for Jennifer Lawrence as lead character Ree Dolly and John Hawkes as the terrifying meth-head uncle Teardrop Dolly. The success of the movie provided the impetus for a 2010 audiobook recording as a tie-in edition narrated by actress Emma Galwin with a cover featuring the movie promo art. Audible offered the audiobook as an Audible Daily Deal on November 5, 2018 and for $1.95 it was an inexpensive way to revisit one of Daniel Woodrell's Ozark mountain country noir.Galvin provides a very authentic sounding variety of character voices and Woodrell's rustic woodicisms roll off her tongue as if she was born to the Ozark region (which I assume she is not). The average "Winter's Bone" rating over time has been in 4 star territory, but I'm going to bump this up to a 5 for the narration performance alone.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A great read, tho depressing, that lent itself into a great film adaption.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Wish the book was a little longer and had a little more adventure and mystery. But it was a good quick read .Only complaint I have is at times the girl reed accent was to thick with southern slang.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Too much swearing for my taste, but other than that, extremely well-written. The characters were very believable. Gives a fascinating peek into a life few will ever know. 4/5 definitely going to watch the movie.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Intense and beautifully written story of the hard life of a young woman growing up in the Ozark Mountains. Lyrical and poetic, I need to go find the book somewhere and read that as well. Many parts are quite graphic and raw, and will indeed make you squirm - badly - as you listen. I love this narrator who I think is the perfect voice for this type of audiobook. She narrated a similar type of book (Marlene) which I listened to awhile back and was equally impressed by her performance of that book as well.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really like the characters in this book. The situations that they face and how they adapt to them is so affected by their environment. The narrator was so good!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The story honestly was average but the style of writing and the poetic quality to it even though the tone was dark is what kept me captivated the whole way. Narrator was excellent as well.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I thought the story was good. I wish that they would of given some more background story about some of the characters instead of so many strange details of physical backgrounds. And using so much twangy dialect. I would of liked to have known what happened to her mother and why she was so medicated. And less about all of the family’s weird names and places that most of us will ever know of.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Lyrical and atmospheric, the authentic sounding dialog jumps of the page.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Beautifully written. I could see everything and I appreciated knowing more about her people and her history.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I'm not feeling like a full review today so I'll limit this to only a few comments.

    *The Ozarks in which this book takes place seem to have nothing in common with the OZARK Netflix show.

    *I have no doubt in my mind that life in some areas of the Ozarks is as brutal as it's depicted in this book. Poverty, drug use, tight family units, and long-held multi-generational grudges are just part of the miserable lives examined here.

    *I couldn't help but feel for 16 year old Ree who just wanted to join the army and get the hell out of there. Due to her mother's mental illness and her two young siblings, her hands were tied. It's hard to escape family.

    *I thought this book was savage with sharp, vivid prose-sometimes so sharp it stabbed me right in the heart.

    *I enjoyed WINTER'S BONE, as much as one can enjoy a story this violent and merciless. I look forward to sampling more of Daniel Woodrell's work in the future.

    *Recommended for those with the wherewithal to stomach the brutalities of this rural, mountain life. You have been warned!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Movie was better. Kinda cool to have been to two places mentioned in the book. Mammoth Spring & Ash Flat.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    4.5 stars. Brutal and beautiful.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Sixteen-year-old Ree Dolly is used to seeing little of her father. A career criminal and crank-cooker, his business often takes him far away doing things he knows better than to tell her about. With a mentally ill mother and two younger brothers to care for, Ree keeps the stove hot and food on the table as best she can. But this time when the law comes to her door, she learns that her father has skipped his bond and as a result, the family home and land will likely be taken away. It's up to Ree to track down her father and either bring him in or bring proof that he's dead or else her family will be living in the fields in the dead of the Missouri winter.But navigating the complicated web of family ties, internal feuds, and unspoken rules will be no easy task. Ree's had a hard life which has prepared her for this endeavor, and she now has nothing to lose.A gorgeously written novel about survival, duty, and the bonds of blood.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Daniel Woodrell’s prose in Winter’s Bone reflects his characters’ thought and speech: it’s pared down to the essentials – so laconic and economical that it almost becomes oblique. This is one of the main charms of this novel – the whittled-down telling of the raw emotion and ever-present tendency to violence of the characters; the stark natural world in winter fury and snow-bound calm; the harsh truth about backwoods mountain folk who are almost all related, and who as often as not, operate on the wrong side of the law.The meanness and betrayal swirl around a sixteen year-old girl, Ree Dolly, whose father has run from the law again. Not only has he gone on the lam, but has signed over his home – Ree’s home, which she shares with her addled Mom and two younger brothers – as collateral for his bail. Ree must try to find and deliver him into court, but begins to suspect something much more … final has happened to him.Because of her Dad, Ree’s family and kin are persona non grata around the Ozark woods and hollows where they live. While she herself is blameless, she is still stopped from seeking help in finding her missing miscreant Dad. The way Mr. Woodrell portrays the boundless courage she shows in the face of mortal danger, warrants your reading this book by itself. Ree is a stunning invention – pre-eminent in her neighborhood at sixteen, withstanding threats, teaching her brothers how to shoot as her quest becomes tougher, defying friend and enemy alike to achieve her goal – she’s a stunner, and I honor the author for conceiving her and executing her portrait so cleanly and convincingly.I also honor Mr. Woodrell for adopting the language of his characters as his own for his narration. It places him and us squarely in the action. And there is action aplenty. This is not a story for the faint-hearted, what with the beating and (behind the scenes) murder and rampant meth production and the drinking and the getting high. This book deals with life-and-death issues in a way that honors the courageous and loyal, and does it in a way that fits its subject matter perfectly.This novel really sneaked up on me. It’s grand. Check it out.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wow. There's a reason I never saw the movie. I always thought I would read the book. Glad I did. This was as raw, as poetic, as brutal as anything I've read. A genuine, jaw-dropping, masterpiece. Gritty and untamed, I could feel the cold and the hunger in every sentence. Outstanding.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Sixteen year-old Ree's life has always been one of poverty in the Ozarks, but things have gotten worse now that her father is missing when he's expected to show up for his court date. As he'd signed the family shack and all their land against his bail bond, Ree, her barely functioning mother and her two young brothers will be homeless unless she can find her father and get him to court, or failing that, and given the type of people he hung around with, prove that he's dead.It's the first I've read from Woodrell and captures the modern issue of drug abuse in rural, desperately poor areas.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The movie has stuck with me for years. The book has a sort of dark poetry to it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    You can read this review and more like it at Pretty Deadly Reviews.

    This is going to be a hard review to write because this was a hard book to read. Winter's Bone was both engrossing and alienating, plunging me deep into a world that I hope never to experience. This book was rather short, but incredibly moving, and I became quite attached to the characters, flawed as they were.

    Ree Dolly is a wonderful heroine. And she truly deserves that title. She's a Dolly, 'bread and buttered', and in the cold, frost-covered Missouri Ozarks, that means something. In the wake of her father's drug abuse and ultimate disappearance, and her mother's soul-crushing mental illness, sixteen year old Ree has taken the responsibility of raising up her younger siblings. She hunts for their food, teaches them to cook and care for their mother, and shows them an older sister who they can be proud of. She is strong willed; her life and the harshness of her family's poverty made her that way. She is fiercely loyal, just like any of her Dolly kin, and she is a faithful and true friend.

    The characters of Winter's Bone were complexly beautiful. I wondered at how they got the way they were, but they fit into their world so perfectly. Nearly everyone was related in some way, which made it interesting to see the gang mentality manifest itself, especially when lines were drawn and finally crossed. They lived by a code imbedded in their DNA. No one ever complained about the life they were given, and no one ever betrayed the Dolly clan.

    Ree's best friend Gail was intriguing to me. She was once a strong-willed wild child who "didn't take no shit." But she found herself pregnant, and was forced to marry. The interactions between her and her husband were painful to watch. He wasn't as abusive as he was neglectful. He loved another woman, and was known for sleeping around. But at the same time he felt he had a claim on Gail and all her decisions. When Gail finally broke away and moved into the small, cold house with Ree, I cheered for her. Of course, she and her baby ended up back with her husband, but I celebrate the victories, even the small ones.

    Uncle Teardrop was my favorite character, and I imagine he'll be the likely favorite among many, many readers. He was scary as hell, and always backed up his threats. His face and neck are covered in scars, and he has a teardrop tattoo on his cheekbone, earned in jail, and the source of his nickname. (Interesting aside: nearly everyone in this book has a nickname - Teardrop, Thump, Blond, etc.) At the same time though, he cared for Ree like she was his own daughter; he was there for her when she took a beating losing her two teeth and her dignity. He was there, helping search for her lost father, Jessup. He gave her money for food, and moral support when the world was crashing down around her.

    One of my favorite scenes from the whole book (and if I'm honest, the movie, too) was a stare down between Teardrop and the police officer who was responsible for Jessup's ruin. With their guns pointed at each other, they both knew it could end with death. It was one of the most powerful and poignant scenes I've ever read or watched. I'll likely never forget it; it will be a scene I'm sure to flip back to later in life.

    The ending of Winter's Bone had me in tears right alongside Ree. It was cruel and unfair, the world Woodrell created, that would allow these things to happen. Teardrop would ultimately sacrifice himself, no doubt causing a war and a great rift in the Dolly clan. But that was the code they lived by. I wanted to scream in frustration, and hide under my covers forever, after reading that final scene with Teardrop.

    The writing in this book was hard to decipher at first. The people of the Ozarks have a peculiar way of speaking, and it took a long time for me to get used to it. When I finally did, I was fully engaged, and the words just flew by. It wouldn't make sense to have this narrated any other way, what with uneducated characters, most not even making it all the way through high school. At the same time though, it was beautiful.

    "The corner by the wall became very warm and Ree sat there... oddly comforted, knowing that so many relatives with names she never knew had hunched here in this very spot to renew themselves after a sad spinning time had dropped over their lives and whirled them raw."

    "Clouds looked to be splitting on distant peaks, dark rolling bolts torn around the mountaintops to patch the blue sky with grim. Frosty wet began to fall, not as flakes nor rain but as tiny white wads that burst as drops landing and froze a sudden glaze atop the snow. The bringing wind rattled the forest, shook limb against limb, and a wild tapping noise carried all about. Now and then a shaking limb gave up and split from the trunk to land below with a sound like a final grunt."


    Woodrell really capitalized on the cold and stark atmosphere of his setting. I found myself curled under the blankets, almost shivering from cold that existed only in the book. Once in a while I looked up from my reading to be startled back into reality. His writing was that good.

    This is likely a book that I'll carry in me forever. I can't adequately explain how it touched me. But I've never read a book that rocked me the way this has. It isn't for everybody; it is graphic and brutal and dirty. But the characters captured my heart, and I doubt they'll be letting go any time soon.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The actress employed to read this novel is wonderful. She effects the twang of the Ozarks area like a true native, and even sounds almost exactly like Jennifer Lawrence at times, which is no mean feat. The storyline follows the novel quite well, except in the novel it's deep in wintertime with lots of snow. There is no cave scene, which they probably cut for time's sake, and possibly for propriety. And other little things, here and there. Nothing big. Nothing to stop you from enjoying yourself in this wonderfully done, evocative time and place. Go immerse yourself. You will enjoy it, I promise.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is an engrossing, highly atmospheric tale of a 16-year old Ozarks girl searching for her father--or perhaps his corpse--so she can prevent losing the house she, her two brothers, and crazy mother live in, which her father has put up for his bail bond on charges of cooking meth. It is a dark story, with one shocking scene of female-on-female violence, that is a bit murky when it delves into the family's past and some sort of feud that has separated its branches. But Ree Dolly, the protagonist, who as the story begins is dreaming of escaping by joining the Army when she is old enough, shows strength and courage beyond her years. Some of the other characters are enigmas, particularly Ree's Uncle Teardrop, but they are all memorable. Winter runs throughout the book, and you might feel you should be sitting outside in a snowbound forest, with snow dropping off branches onto your wool hunter's cap, while you read it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A beautifully written book. The story is uncomplicated, but the true joy is in the characters and a writing style that reads lyrical and simple at the same time. It is stark and beautiful, I imagine like much of the Ozarks themselves in the winter.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book snuck up on me. I started off thinking, oh man, what have I gotten myself into? But then I just let go and I found myself carried away on the beautiful prose, unique characters, and vibrant scenery. Which is quite remarkable considering that most of it is describing dark, ugly, sad, and violent lives.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    “Fading light buttered the ridges until shadows licked them clean and they were lost to nightfall.” “You got to be ready to die every day - then you got a chance.”Ree Dolly, a bright and scrappy sixteen year old, living in rural poverty in the Ozarks, with a missing father, an ailing mother and two younger brothers to look after, has just taken on a heap more responsibility- saving the family home. I first saw the film version of this novel, back in 2010, the same year the book was published. It was my introduction to a terrific young actress named Jennifer Lawrence. I have read several other books by Woodrell but always wanted to read the source material and I finally did. It is excellent. I knew he was a good writer but his prose here, absolutely sings. It is tough and lyrical and he captures the hard-scrabble Ozark life with a sharp eye and ear for detail. If you have only seen the film, please give this one your full attention.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I fell head over heels in love with this book. I myself grew up in Missouri and remember fondly the rural and sometimes backwood ways. This book put me right back into that frame of mind. I loved Ree Dolly and reminds me a lot of girls I know that had to grow up quick and fast. [return]As for the book, it is lean, and cold, and yes, violent but I heartily recommend this one.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I don't really know what to say about this book other than I loved it. Having seen the movie, I went in with expectations that were not only met but surpassed by miles. It's haunting, and I don't think I have to tell anyone who's read Woodrell that his writing is beautiful and lyrical. It's a little southern gothic, but I like the term country noir best to describe this book. None of the characters are spotless innocents, or even particularly nice people. The only rule in this seedy town is keep your mouth shut. You should trust only family, and even then only as far as you can throw them. Ree Dolly is both tough as nails and heart-breakingly young. It's not a nice story, but it's a good story about poverty, family, and above all survival.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Gritty and exciting.

    2 people found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Ree lives in a world that is far removed from my reality. There is an undercurrent of violence and danger that is always present. Ree is a tough cookie, as her Uncle Teardrop tells her "Folks have noticed the sand you got, girl". There are unwritten codes that the inter-connected families abide by, evidenced with lines such as "where a man's at ain't necessarily for you to know neither". There are some mean, unsavoury characters in this story which adds to the tension. The environment is harsh and unforgiving as well, the winter weather another element to contend with. Wonderful writing. Lines like "Little Arthur was a little-man mix of swagger and tongue, with a trailing history of deeds that vouched for his posture". I finished this story relieved that I could walk away from a place where women have few choices and men are ruthless. Where a woman needs to knows her place, can be just as violent as the men, and lives in fear. Ree is tenacious, protective of her mother and two brothers, and willing to risk her life to get to the truth. A gruelling story that is horrific at times; the characters and world building are so well written that it is a great read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Ooh, this was good. A really strong sense of place in the setting of the Missouri Ozarks; a powerful, driven, main character; and a completely believable rawness and bleakness in the poverty- and violence-plagued lives of the characters. Loved it.

    3 people found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Great back woods story about survival without many resources. I highly recommend.

    1 person found this helpful