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43rd out of 72 books
—
72 voters
Give Us a Kiss
Doyle Redmond is on the drift from a failed marriage and a floundering life, moving in an easterly direction in the Volvo he stole from his soon-to-be-ex-wife, heading for home: the red and rocky soil of the Ozarks where Redmonds have been farming and fighting since just after the Civil War. More than likely it was a mistake to stop off en route for a visit with his folks...more
Paperback, 224 pages
Published
August 1st 1998
by Pocket Books
(first published 1996)
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Another great country noir by Woodrell. He builds the suspense and has you rooting for the characters whether you like them or not. Although his depiction of the Ozarks shows only a portion of it, that is a seedy underside of the population a reader hopes to only ever experience on the page. Woodrell's rich descriptions capture a colorful cultural history here, some of which is still lived in this region. You can experience the indulgence and danger vicariously though his wild tales, as he does...more
I've made it extremely clear over the years that I love love love plain speech in first-person narratives and dialogue. I love regional speech, vernacular, local color. It makes the writing so much more meaningful, so much more real and true. So I thought I was going to find another master of that style, like Joe R Lansdale, in Daniel Woodrell. Unfortunately, I wasn't all that smitten by what turned out to be a pretty self-indulgent love letter to himself.
This probably shouldn't have been the f...more
This probably shouldn't have been the f...more
My first exposure to Woodrell was Tomato Red, which quite possibly has the best opening paragraph to any book I've ever read. This set the tone for my expectations with Woodrll and Give Us a Kiss is written along those same lines, but is certain a better overall read.
Set in the Ozarks, Doyle Redmond goes home to see his folks and then is sent on a task to find his brother, a dope growing local criminal with an affinity for danger and loose women. Doyle is in the middle of a divorce and trying to...more
Set in the Ozarks, Doyle Redmond goes home to see his folks and then is sent on a task to find his brother, a dope growing local criminal with an affinity for danger and loose women. Doyle is in the middle of a divorce and trying to...more
My dear pal Al just sent me this book, and I read it from cover to cover in a single day. It's a quick, easy read--really short chapters help create a quick pace, and also add to the tension and suspense. The novel follows a writer, Doyle, on his journey back home to the Ozarks. He's been sent to find his brother, who's on the lam, and he's driving a car that has technically been stolen. So trouble quickly ensues. The book is narrated in the first person, and I absolutely love the narrative voic...more
Published in 1996, Give us a Kiss was Daniel Woodrell's fifth novel, and his first (I believe) to take place in and around the Missouri Ozarks. Like Tomato Red, the first person voice really drives this loosely semi-autobiographical novel. The narrator, Doyle, is a writer (whose life and past resembles that of Woodrell) who has written a few crime novels and has come back from living in California. His parents, who live in Kansas City but are from the fictional town of West Plain, Missouri (a st...more
this will be the...5th or 6th from woodrell for me...kindle.
begins w/a quote from marilyn monroe: all we demanded was our right to twinkle.
and before that, 'this novel is dedicated to three ladies whose support made it happen" marian wood, ellen levine, and deborah sweet
"and to the memory of my father robert lee woodrell"
and then there/s this from his jazzy eulogy
and he saieth, "let the trumpets and the saxophones swing, man, swing!"
and grandfather pedro (peed-drow) daily "now, if a fella only k...more
begins w/a quote from marilyn monroe: all we demanded was our right to twinkle.
and before that, 'this novel is dedicated to three ladies whose support made it happen" marian wood, ellen levine, and deborah sweet
"and to the memory of my father robert lee woodrell"
and then there/s this from his jazzy eulogy
and he saieth, "let the trumpets and the saxophones swing, man, swing!"
and grandfather pedro (peed-drow) daily "now, if a fella only k...more
End of the year book report time.
While crowds of people pack themselves into Times Square a couple of miles due west from me I'll give some thoughts on this particular book.
I expected to love this. After Karen's glowing review of Winter's Bone. Instead of being blown away by this book I was just kind of eh about it. I just realized I only gave this three stars while giving the last couple of Crumley books I read four stars. I liked this about as much as the Crumley novels though, but I don't fe...more
While crowds of people pack themselves into Times Square a couple of miles due west from me I'll give some thoughts on this particular book.
I expected to love this. After Karen's glowing review of Winter's Bone. Instead of being blown away by this book I was just kind of eh about it. I just realized I only gave this three stars while giving the last couple of Crumley books I read four stars. I liked this about as much as the Crumley novels though, but I don't fe...more
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A gritty Southern drama that is a little over the top on violence - like the Hatfields & the McCoys. I guess that stuff happens in them backwoods.
Doyle Redmond, the main character, is the smart one of the bunch and left Missouri to be a writer after high school. With a handful of rarely read novels under his belt he leaves Los Angeles to check on his brother and the trouble he's been avoiding for years. Back home, all hell breaks loose with fighting, shooting, family fights, rivalries betwee...more
Doyle Redmond, the main character, is the smart one of the bunch and left Missouri to be a writer after high school. With a handful of rarely read novels under his belt he leaves Los Angeles to check on his brother and the trouble he's been avoiding for years. Back home, all hell breaks loose with fighting, shooting, family fights, rivalries betwee...more
Ozark Noir seems to be a category that Woodrell has cornered, and it's a good moniker for this novel of atmosphere. Yes, there is a plot that simmers along and comes to a violent and ironic end. Yes, there is a war between clans back in the Missouri countryside. But the driver for me is the revelation of character, specifically the narrator, presumably somewhat autobiographical, of a would-be writer who returns to his roots of violence and crime, having escaped to quasi-academia via the marine c...more
This reminded me of Barry Gifford novels where the plot’s almost secondary to the quirky characters and their even quirkier anecdotes. These little tales kept interrupting the story in an A.D.D. mode, like the writer had trouble focusing on his story. “Give Us A Kiss” is a sort of modern Hatfields versus McCoys tale about kinfolk feudin’ over a mighty powerful merrywanna crop. I found the idea of folks killing each other over weed ridiculous until I read in the paper that “medical” marijuana sho...more
I didn't like this nearly as much as Winter's Bone. Although it's about outlaw Ozark folks (including members of the Dolly clan), it's much more R. Crumb-comical than hillbilly-Homeric. I listened to it on audiobook, and I'm not sure whether I would have liked it more or less if I'd read it myself. The narrator used a high-pitched voice when he voiced the female characters, which may have contributed to the cartoonish feel of some of the characters (especially the narrator's love interest, who s...more
A great read. This is the first book I've read by Woodrell, but I'm definitely going to run out and find a few more. He stakes claim to the Ozarks with force and in my mind, when it comes to crime fiction, he now owns them.
While I enjoy crime novels set in cities, it is a rare treat to read a novel set in a rural setting that is both authentic and well-written. A novel that doesn't slum, but embraces the inhabitants of the small town.
This book made me almost glad that I caught a head cold, as it...more
While I enjoy crime novels set in cities, it is a rare treat to read a novel set in a rural setting that is both authentic and well-written. A novel that doesn't slum, but embraces the inhabitants of the small town.
This book made me almost glad that I caught a head cold, as it...more
I ran out of steam towards the end of this one and began a bit of speed-reading to find out what happens. This is my third Woodrell book--I very much enjoyed Winter's Bone and Woe to Live On. Give Us a Kiss was enjoyable but a bit uneven, and I went in and out of being convinced with the dichotomy of literate wordsmith vs. backwoods hick in the main character. Still, there were quite a few clever moments of high-falutin' words partnered with acts of shitkickery that made me smile, and a few scen...more
DanielWoodrell is a hell of a writer. I came across his work when the film “Winter’s Bone” was released and he was identified as the author of the book on which it is based. E. Annie Proulx blurbed on this earlier book, describing Woodrell as a “Ladystinger of a writer”. A ladystinger as his readers will discover is a 32 revolver. In “Give Me A Kiss” the protagonist Doyle seems semi-autobiographical; an Ozark boy who attained a college education and has become a published but largely unread writ...more
Feb 11, 2013
John
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2013,
all-time-favorites
I love Daniel Woodrell's writing! His "hillbillies behaving badly" stories really strike a cord with me. Woodrell loves the Ozarks, "Ozark mountains seem to hunker instead of tower, and they are plenty rugged but without much of the majestic left in them". His characters are hard living, hard drinking, tough and independent. They don't have much use for rules or the law. But family is everything. If you are kin you can always rely on family to help you out. And as Doyle, the university educated...more
I so enjoyed Winter's Bone (see review here), that I set out to read another Woodrell forthwith. In Give Us A Kiss: A Country Noir, Doyle Redmond, a published but unknown author, leaves California in a Volvo stolen from his unfaithful wife, to return to his native Missouri. He sees his parents who dispatch him to find his brother, Smoke, and to convince him to turn himself in on outstanding arrest warrants in Kansas City. Doyle finds Smoke deep in the woods near their hometown of West Table, in...more
I haven't read all of Woodrell's books, yet, but he has become one of my favorite authors. A polite description of this genre might be country noir, but I don't think that the author would object to the less politically correct "hillbilly noir". Murder, mayhem, sex, mind-altering substances abound, but underneath it all is a complex tale of family and how it can shape us as individuals in spite of our best efforts to escape its influence.
My human geography seminar inspired me to read this book because we are reading about people's experiences in places. While those books are autobiographical, I decided to read some fiction about my home state. I've read Woodrell's short stories and loved them, although they are quite a heavy and occasionally depressing. However, I like his style and how he really sets up location thoroughly.
I guess I thought this would be a little more along the lines of Donald Ray Pollock with some white trash crime adventures...Instead the main conflict for a lot of the book is how the 35 year-old protagonist can get into the pants of a 19 year-old. Towards the end, hillbilly feuding come to the fore, but then ends on such a silly note.
This is the first novel I read by Woodrell and I loved it. He is a very vivid writer who set this novel and some of his others in the Ozark mountains. He creates a real sense of place and his characters are very real. He's a great crime writer who is not getting the notice he deserves.
A lighter more humorous book from Woodrell. This ends with a comic touch rather than tragic. I think this suffers in comparison Death of Sweet Mister and Woe to Live On (which are also quite funny) though the construction is just as good. But you can’t put up that much darkness every time so here is to writing with nuance and variety. A tale of family and criminality and I think the main character is Woodrell poking a little fun at himself.
Whoo-wee! That's a good'in. A barn-burner, page-turner, elegant and dangerous. A book about dope farmin', country girls, gun play, deep Ozark family feudin', whiskey drinkin', goomers and goobers and writing itself? Thank God for Daniel Woodrell. My new favorite living writer. Winter's Bone was even better than this, but I will make my way through every other one of his six other books and I am looking to see Ride With The Devil, a film adaptation of his second novel.
He's just a fine, fine write...more
He's just a fine, fine write...more
While the subject matter is much the same as the other Woodrell books I've read lately, this one was funny as well-darkly comic, I guess I should say. The book oozes with sex, violence and colorful, strong language. Again, not for the faint of heart, but I enjoyed it.
This novel just grabbed me by the collar and pulled me right into it. Although based on Missourians, it still seemed oddly familiar, the people and situations were so similar to people I knew in Central Texas.
I read this book in less than a week. Any book I can read in less than a week I know it was good. I read it one summer when I was 19 and working at a slow paced business. I could not get enough of it.
Daniel Woodrell is one of my favorite authors--I love his "hillbilly noir." This was a very fast read with both laugh out loud parts and insightful parts and I was sorry when I had finished it. I liked it even though it had a "happy ending," in comparison with the outcomes in some of Woodrell's other novels.
4.5/5. What a fun read. This is my 5th Woodrell book and probably my favorite. Seems like it is probably semi autobiographical. Great story, easy to get into, very relatable to those of us who feel like we can't escape our genes.
It's been six months since I've read a 4 or 5 star book. I grabbed the only Woodrell book left on the library shelf. I space out the good writers, but I guess I won't wait as long to read the next one.
I love his style of writing, and this novel didn't disappoint. You can tell it is one of his earlier works, though, as it was a bit more ham-fisted than his later novels. It's still a fun read.
I could feel the heat of the summer, hear the swell of the crickets in the grass and smell the danger in the air. Some of the best writing I've seen in a very long time.
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Growing up in Missouri, seventy miles downriver from Hannibal, Mark Twain was handed to me early on, first or second grade, and captivated me for years, and forever, I reckon. Robert Louis Stevenson had his seasons with me just before my teens and I love him yet. There are too many others to mention, I suppose, but feel compelled to bring up Hemingway, James Agee, Flannery O'Connor, John McGahern,...more
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