Winter's Bone in The Dusty Bookshelf

Nov 16, 2014 Beth rated it liked it

If a novel makes its reader forget that it is fiction, maybe even want to go there right now to knock some sense into these people, it's a good one. That's what WINTER'S BONE does.

Yet, unlike so many other reader-reviewers who give this book four and five stars, I give it three. Its full meaning may escape you unless you are familiar with all of the terminology used by these people in the backwoods of the Ozark mountains. They have a culture and language of their own. This book could have used ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Dec 03, 2017 Karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya-read-and-to-read

Dude, this was a tough book to get through. It wasn't long, but I ended up drawing it out because it was too intense for me to read a few pages at a time.

Ree Dolly was born into a close-knit, Ozark family who make their living helping each other make meth. This family is vindictive, secretive, and fiercely, frighteningly loyal, in the sense not that they love each other but even though their hate for each other is barely simmering below the surface, you never sell out a family member and if you Dude, this was a tough book to get through. It wasn't long, but I ended up drawing it out because it was too intense for me to read a few pages at a time.

Ree Dolly was born into a close-knit, Ozark family who make their living helping each other make meth. This family is vindictive, secretive, and fiercely, frighteningly loyal, in the sense not that they love each other but even though their hate for each other is barely simmering below the surface, you never sell out a family member and if you do the consequences are dire. Ree and her immediate family, however, are living on the bubble. They are one step away from crushing poverty. When her dad gets in trouble and puts their house up for collateral, Ree is the one who has to find him and get him to appear in court or else they'll be kicked out of their house. She can't support her mother (who has gently lost her mind) and her two young brothers without having a house. She has to go digging into what happened recently with her family to figure out where her dad is to save them all.

It's an incredibly moving, extreme story. This is the harsh reality of entirely too many people in the United States, and it really illustrates the mindset of so many of these people, as well. For example, there's this mentality that family will take care of you, no matter what, because it is their duty to make sure you aren't hungry in the gutter. And that the law is not on your side and is to be distrusted and even actively fought against. This is the kind of family who would probably rather cut off their own foot before they went to the government for help of any kind. But this attitude has bred extreme poverty, ignorance, virulent hate, and a vicious cycle of trapping their young people back into the family. It's moving and also slightly horrifying. And here I thought my family was intense.

All in all, though, this book was excellent. Ree is a great heroine and the book brings to light the struggle of people who often get dismissed as being "white trash" and unworthy of attention. To be fair, most of the people in this book are not really worthy of attention, but Ree is the diamond in the rough, so to speak. My heart aches for her. Definitely worth a read. ...more

Like · see review

Oct 22, 2015 Nicholas Beck rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Ree Dolly is a 16 year old girl in the Ozarks. Essentially that means she lives in a society that is patriarchal with a moral code that veers toward the psychopathic. Don't mess with the underlying economic reality of this community and it's meth lab culture. When deadbeat Dad disappears and the family home is threatened if he doesn't return for his court appearance then Ree steps into the bitingly cold emotional and physical environment she is presently trapped in. She's on thin ice however and ...more

Like · see review