Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell - heartbreaking. This story will go straight to your heart.

Original Title: Winter's Bone
Norwegian Title: -
Written by: Daniel Woodrell
Genre: novel, drama
Pages: 193
Published: 2006. My copy (2007)
Publisher: Sceptre Books
I read it: March 17th - March 27th (2011)

My Rate: ☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠ (10/10 Skulls)

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Life's a bitch. Or at least everyone think so ... sometimes. There are a lot of times we forget there’s people who struggle even more than ourselves – but it’s so easy to forget and it’s so easy to feel sorry for ourselves. This book is an example of that we should remember that there are people out there who is struggling even more. Just read about Ree.

Ree is only 16 years old and very mature for her age but she doesn’t have any choice. She has a family to take care of since her dad is never home. She lives with her mom who’s a little bit “crazy”. She hasn’t always been like that but the past few years she has been very distant to the real life and stays mostly quiet in her own world. So Ree doesn’t get any help from her. So she also has to take care of her two little brothers. Make sure to get them on the school bus in time and take care of their very old house that once was built in 1914.

One day the sheriff arrives unexpected. Giving her a message about her father better show up in court the next week or Ree, her mother and two younger siblings will lose their house. Ree must find her dad to make sure that he will show up there the next week ‘cause they got no place to go if they lose their home. She has to find her dad but she soon finds out it’s not easy. The people she asks where she can find is, hardly answers and the only one she might get help from, is her Uncle Teardrop. Is she gonna find her dad in time or will she lose everything?

I hadn’t even heard about the book before it was turned to a movie and Oscar-nominated. I prefer reading the book before I see the film. I hadn’t even heard about the writer Daniel Woodrell, even though he has published eight novels so far. But hey … better late than never right?

I didn’t really knew much what the book was before I read it. I didn’t really knew what I was expecting. All I knew was I really wanted to read the book before I see the movie. All I knew was this would be some brutal stuff – and it really was. Ree is a main character and I fell in love with her personality. She is a not a type of a girl who gives up and she is a fighter. No doubt about that. She goes through a lot of shit with the hope to find her dad. And I admire her for that. She’s strong and isn’t scared of anything.

At first I thought this would be a light and easy read since the book is very thin and has only 193 pages but I discovered that it wasn’t so easy to get through. Not that light. I wanted to spend time with the book to take in what I was read it since it was brutal and kind of sad. I didn’t want to rush through it. I wanted to spend time with the book and while I read, I was hoping for the best and that Ree would have a happy ending.

Winter’s Bone is was my first Daniel Woodrell novel but definitely not the last. I love the way he writes. He builds sentences with few words and brutal. And he made me feel pretty tense through the whole book. The way he writes remindend me a bit of Cormac McCarthy. I got the same tense feeling while I wass reading The Road last year. Even though Winter’s Bone seems pretty thin and small it’s a great read even though it has a depressing tone and you feel bad while reading it, it’s all worth it. This is a book that’s gonna stay with me a long time. Probably forever. And I really want to see the movie. Has anyone of you seen it and what did you think?

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