This book came to my attention when the movie adaptation was nominated for several Academy Awards. I am now more interested to see the film than I was before.
This book is told from the voice of Ree Dolly, a 16 year old living in the Ozarks with her mother who has "gone crazy" in an almost catatonic way and her two younger brothers. Her father, Jessup, comes and goes in between time periods spent cooking crank, using or doing time in jail for said activites. This time, Jessup is due in court but can't be found. Ree must find him alive -or dead - or lose the house and land on which they live.
Ree wants nothing more than to escape in a year into the army but first she must fight the close-mouthed system of a large extended family whose history trails back to the first settlers of the area. Asking hard questions can get a person killed but Ree is forced to ask them and suffer the consequences. Meanwhile, she must also try to prepare her younger brothers for life without her. She is working to teach them to cook, fight, shoot and hunt as well as take care of their mother. She is reluctant to tell them of her plans to leave but feels the urgency of making sure they will survive without her.
Like I said, I am looking forward to seeing this movie in part because I really want to see how much of this hard life is portrayed and in what manner.
On a side note, I have not slowed down on my reading even though it seems that I have. I just decided to re-read a bunch of "junk food" books while I was on vacation. I figure it's about the same as reading People magazine. I tried to read my last book club book, The Idiot by Dostoyevksy but it just wasn't happening for me. I have been trying to plow through my latest book club book, The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. It is strange and difficult and I can't decide if it has anything to do with the fact that I'm reading it (trying) on a Kindle. I have been in a honeymoon period with my Kindle but that is waning and I am going to try to just read old-school books for awhile after I finish "Hedgehog". I am also about 3 1/2 months behind on The Sun so it's about time to play catch-up on that again. So much to read, so little time.....
1 comment:
I loved The Elegance of The Hedgehog. I thought it was very thoughtful and moving. I hope that you enjoy it too!
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