• Winter's Bone

  • A Novel
  • By: Daniel Woodrell
  • Narrated by: Emma Galvin
  • Length: 4 hrs and 53 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (3,106 ratings)

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Winter's Bone  By  cover art

Winter's Bone

By: Daniel Woodrell
Narrated by: Emma Galvin
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Publisher's summary

The sheriff's deputy at the front door brings hard news to Ree Dolly. Her 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.

Ree's father has disappeared before. The Dolly clan has worked the shadowy side of the law for generations, and arrests (and attempts to avoid them) are part of life in Rathlin Valley. With two young brothers depending on her and a mother who's entered a kind of second childhood, 16-year-old Ree knows she has to bring her father back, dead or alive. She has grown up in the harsh poverty of the Ozarks and learns quickly that asking questions of the rough Dolly clan can be a fatal mistake. But along the way to a shocking revelation, Ree discovers unforeseen depths in herself and in a family network that protects its own at any cost.

©2006 Daniel Woodrell (P)2010 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Like his characters, and especially his teen characters, Woodrell's prose mixes tough and tender so thoroughly yet so delicately that we never taste even a hint of false bravado, on the one hand, or sentimentality, on the other. And Ree is one of those heroines whose courage and vulnerability are both irresistible and completely believable - think of not just Mattie Ross in True Grit but also Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird or even Eliza Naumann in Bee Season. One runs out of superlatives to describe Woodrell's fiction. ( Booklist)
“At its best, the novel captures the near-religious criminal mania pervasive in rural communities steeped in drug culture. Woodrell's prose, lyrical as often as dialogic, creates an unwieldy but alluring narrative that allows him to draw moments of unexpected tenderness from predictable scripts.” ( Publisher’s Weekly)
“In spare but evocative prose, Woodrell depicts a harsh world in which the responsibilities for survival ultimately give Rees meaning and direction. He depicts the landscape, people, and dialects with stunning realism. A compelling testament to how people survive in the worst of circumstances.” ( School Library Journal)

What listeners say about Winter's Bone

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Meh, just so so

Struggled to finish this. The narrator was good, but the story just took to long to tell. There are so many descriptions that it was distracting to the story. I quit listening after a few hours.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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2.5 stars for me

Can't say that I liked this one. It's long on descriptions and short on depth of story. I generally like to read about other lifestyles to gain a more worldly perspective, but this family's (and community's) existence was rather depressing. The descriptions were very well written, but a bit tiresome- I just wanted to get to the plot already. The voice actor was adept at accents and characters, however. Just not my fave overall.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Beautiful Poetry about Hard People

This is a beautifully written book where you sometimes just get lost in the imagery and poetry of the writing. However, the novel's "meat" is people — viscerally drawn, deeply human characters. Daniel Woodrell does a masterful job of making even the hardest, least likable characters sympathetic, or at least understandable. There are no two-dimensional characters in this story. This is not a big story. It follows no typical pattern. It feels true. Daniel Woodrell tells a small, hard tale inside a hard life, but he renders it so beautifully that it leaves you with the sense that life might be worth it, no matter how hard it might be.

I was torn when rating the narrator. Her voice was an excellent choice for this story, and she was clear and often compelling, but her narrative rhythm was monotonous and lacked the poetry that the words invite. She was particularly good with character dialog and I certainly wouldn't pass up a story because she was the reader. I suspect she is young and will be very good with a bit more experience.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Bleak and beautiful

Woodrell's language is just something else. You feel like you're there. Cold, windblown, desolate. The attention to detail is so convincing. Galvin's performance for the female characters and children is spectacular.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Dark and sad but entertaining

I enjoyed this story a lot more than I thought I would. The main character, Ree, is a clever, resourceful, no-nonsense character that I couldn't help but immediately fall in love with, and cheer her on from the sidelines as she scours all of kingdom come looking for her father, who used their house as collateral when he posted his jail bond.

This story gives a dark look into rural poverty as Ree is basically the head of the household, even though she's sixteen. She cares for her two younger brothers and her mentally-ill mother. She's fiercely loving of them all and would do anything to protect them and continue to provide for them. Hence why she goes on a wild goose chase to track down her father.

Ree comes across many unsavory characters in her hunt, but she is determined. She is extremely strong willed and will stop at virtually nothing until she gets the answers she's looking for, even if that means putting herself in danger.

This book was dark and haunting, showcasing the lowest of lows, almost to the point of being unrealistic. My heart breaks at the thought that families like Ree's exist in America today.

The main character is strong and plucky, making her an enjoyable character to read about. The prose of the book was very poetic at times, and though for the most part it was beautiful, there were some spots where it was a little too flowery or over-the-top.

This book was a quick listen, made incredibly enjoyable by the narrator. She got right into the characters with the outstanding drawling dialect. I really loved her narration style and would probably listen to this book again some time in the future.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not bad not great

It took me a few chapters to get interested in this book. Because the main character is intentionally a hick. But I’m glad I gave it a chance. It is a good story and has a great ending.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent !

Loved it and watched the movie as well. The narrator was so good at putting you right in the cold ozarks. This was a good winter listen.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

gutsy girl trying to save her family

good book that was made into a movie. strong female lead doing all she can to keep her family home.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Horrible

Not worth the $3.00 I paid for it on sale. Narrator was distracting, story was even worse. Just terrible

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I was unsure at first

then the language and story unfolded and bent, then unfolded again. must be 15 words

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