Again, while not living up
to the hype that I kind of put myself through with the legend of Daniel
Woodrell, at least Woe to Live On, one of his earliest novels, is at least
quite interesting, unique and rather violent in its fictional account of the
American Civil War. I think I may have pinpointed what I dislike about
Woodrell, or at least what has left me disappointed in regards to what I expected
of him. While he is an excellent prose stylist, he is not a very good
storyteller, as much as it pains me to say, and his characterization is really
terrible. Things happen, people are introduced and die within the same
paragraph, and while his fancy wording is nice to look at, it really does not
push the story forward, and a lot of the details get lost in translation,
which, for me, makes reading one his books kind of confusing, but at least some
what pleasurable. This book, which is relatively plotless, deals with a group
of Confederate soldiers in Missouri led by a black man named Holt, which gives
the book a unique perspective. Young Jake Roedel, who within the first few pages
coldly shoots a young boy whose father he just hung so the boy won’t seek vengeance,
is the main character, despite his propensity for violence he can never
justify. The violence is told in such a detached manner, it is hard to like
Jake, but we do follow him, and the brutal death of his brother, which involves
a few scenes where he must feed him and amputate his arm after getting wounded,
are what I will most remember from this novel. Despite not really being able to
tell who’s who and what event is taking place, this is still a cool little book
worth checking out if you like your history a little skewed.
Rating: 4/5
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