by Daniel Woodrell, 196 pgs
Thirteen year-old Shuggie Akins is a lonely boy living with his debilitated family in West Table, MO. When his father isn't out carousing with strange women, he's using Shuggie to help him steal drugs from local sick folks. His mother, Glenda, is perpetually drunk and makes completely inappropriate, confusing sexual advances towards her son. Shuggie pretty much accepts this as his standard of living but when a new man comes into the picture with a shiny Thunderbird and a penchant for Glenda, Shuggie's life - and the cast of characters that surround it - is about to be completely rocked.
The subtle beauty of Woodrell's writing is that the actual story exists between the lines. Amidst vivid, bleak descriptions of poverty-stricken life in the midwest, Woodrell weaves a plot of incest, murder, and revenge. It's almost Hamlet meets Oedipus Rex in the woody Ozark mountains. Between digging for a plot line and Woodrell's dreary, hopeless tone, some readers will likely quit this novel halfway without a second thought. It reads a bit slowly and there are few, if any, redeeming qualities in any of his characters.
But if you enjoy an edgy novel that takes a gritty look at dysfunctional family dynamics deep in the heart of the Ozarks, then this will be a book you can't put down.
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