The way The Ozarks in Missouri are depicted in Daniel Woodrell’s fiction, it seems like somewhere you’d want to escape from than move back to. Nevertheless, it must have some attractions as he, and his wife Katie Estill, chose to move back to the West Plains from San Francisco.
The region in Central United States is both the setting and practically an extra character in his novels. But you wouldn’t exactly say he sees the Osarkers through rose-tinted spectacles. They are, for the most part, presented as belonging to a closed, insular community who “don’t overwhelm strangers with ready backslaps and quick invitations”.
It was Debra Granik’s faithful and flawless adaptation of the novel Winter’s Bone that led me Woodrell’s writing. The book is as good as, if not better than the movie, which, if you’ve seen the film, you will know is high praise indeed.
I was keen to read something else by him and discovered that the rest of his fiction is not so easy to find. Fortunately, publishers are recognizing that the reissuing of his earlier novels is necessary.
Winter’s Bone was published in 2006; Tomato Red pre-dates it by eight years. The story is neatly summarised by The Independent’s John Williams as “a tragic tale of blighted white-trash dreams”. It is not as forceful or controlled as Winter’s Bone but it shows a writer finding his voice and having plenty to say.
The narrator is Sammy Bachlach (pronounced ‘back-lack’) who is all too aware , as all the characters are, of the gulf between the well to do and the down at heel. Sammy’s encounters with the world of the rich make him feel “embarrassed for the poorly decorated life I was born to”. Continue reading
I never had any plans to travel to the Missouri Ozark region and certainly won’t be rushing to go after seeing Winter’s Bone. I’m sure it has beautiful lakes, historical sites and fine wines , but the movie shows that it also has godforsaken areas where grinding poverty is the norm.
