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39th out of 166 books
—
93 voters
Woe to Live on
From Publishers Weekly
Narrator Jake Roedel is in his mid-teens when he joins the First Kansas Irregulars in 1861. During the next few years he sees, and commits, more than his share of Civil War atrocities. Most of the action takes place in Kansas and Missouri between the rebel Irregulars (bushwhackers) and the Union Jayhawkers, with some civilians caught in the crossfire....more
Narrator Jake Roedel is in his mid-teens when he joins the First Kansas Irregulars in 1861. During the next few years he sees, and commits, more than his share of Civil War atrocities. Most of the action takes place in Kansas and Missouri between the rebel Irregulars (bushwhackers) and the Union Jayhawkers, with some civilians caught in the crossfire....more
Paperback, 224 pages
Published
August 1st 1998
by Gallery Press
(first published 1987)
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Dec 05, 2008
Jack
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Those with a heartbeat: males perhaps in particular
Recommended to Jack by:
Seeing the film version "Ride with the Devil"
Shelves:
reallygoodstuff
I have wanted to read this book from the moment I saw Ang Lee’s film version, Ride with the Devil. And last winter I read Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone, the first Woodrell book that I have read, and it had me hot, once again to read Woe. I finally checked it out of the library as it is now ‘out of print, and I read it over Thanksgiving. Loved it.
Ang Lee and his screenwriter very carefully followed Woe, and much of the movie’s dialoge comes directly from its pages.
My review:
Thousands of authors have...more
Ang Lee and his screenwriter very carefully followed Woe, and much of the movie’s dialoge comes directly from its pages.
My review:
Thousands of authors have...more
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For many months I avoided this quasi-historical novel after I was sickened by its opening scene.
Against the armature of The War Between the States a moral epic unfolds among the Bushwacker Secessionists who are young men (teenage boys actually) enacting grotesque deeds against the Jayhawk Federalists. These are guerrilla fighters, not inclined to join up and follow the rules of the regular armies. Strangely, an enigmatic figure is a black man fighting along side the "secesh".
How much violence...more
Against the armature of The War Between the States a moral epic unfolds among the Bushwacker Secessionists who are young men (teenage boys actually) enacting grotesque deeds against the Jayhawk Federalists. These are guerrilla fighters, not inclined to join up and follow the rules of the regular armies. Strangely, an enigmatic figure is a black man fighting along side the "secesh".
How much violence...more
1 like · like · see review
I hadn't planned on reading any Civil War books this year but I am reading all of Woodrell's works and have had this on order with my library for close to a year now. So it was a welcome surprise when it showed up with my library holds! While this is an historical fiction Civil War book it is like none I've ever read before, nor expect to ever read again. Not so much a story of the war itself as it is of a small group of southern men fighting independently as raiders, most are from southern stat...more
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This is another very good novel from Daniel Woodrell, author of Winter's Bone, set on the contentious border between Kansas and Missouri during the American Civil War. While Union and Confederate armies fight traditional battles farther east, in this no-man's land, "Bushwhackers" and "Jayhawkers" fight a dirty guerilla war where there are no rules and in which little quarter is asked and none given.
The main protagonist is the narrator, German-American Jake Roedel, who's riding with a loose coali...more
The main protagonist is the narrator, German-American Jake Roedel, who's riding with a loose coali...more
21 likes · like · see review
Just finished this today. If you like James Garcia Blake or Ron Hansen, chances are you'll love this book as much as I did. Essentially the story of a young man caught up in the guerilla war between the Bushwhackers of Missouri and the Kansas Jayhawkers in the early years of the US Civil War, this is a beautiful, at times poetic, rendition of a man's transformation through violence, comradeship and finally love. Woodrell perfectly captures the vernacular of the times and the locale, and the rhyt...more
Huck Finn in Hell. The influence of both Twain and Cormac McCarthy are fairly clear to see in Daniel Woodrell's Ride with Devil (or Woe to Live on). The sheer carnage reminds one of McCarthy's Outer Dark and Blood Meridian. But there's more. Ride With the Devil is also a coming of age novel telling the story of Jake Roedel, a young Bushwhacker (and immigrant's son), who has not known a woman, but who has killed 15 men.
In Woodrell's hands, Jake is a complex mix of child and killer. He has been...more
In Woodrell's hands, Jake is a complex mix of child and killer. He has been...more
8 likes · like · see review
This is the second of this author's books I've read. The first was "Winter's Bone" which I have reviewed and which I gave 4 stars; couldn't give it 5 due to subject matter just as I couldn't this one 4 stars because of the violence. I recently saw the author on tour and this book came up a lot in the discussion so I decided to try it.
It takes place during the Civil War mostly on the Missouri/Kansas border and the author informs in his prologue that it is not a happy book. It is primarily about a...more
It takes place during the Civil War mostly on the Missouri/Kansas border and the author informs in his prologue that it is not a happy book. It is primarily about a...more
My first taste of Woodrell He seems to mainly write in his own invented genre of “country noir” This book also deals with crime and violence but is a coming of age story and a war story dealing with the conflicts on the border of the Civil War. Thankfully this coming of age story (something I really don’t seek out) is more in the lines of Mark Twain and especially Cormac McCarthy of Blood Meridian and Outer Dark. The superbly realized voice of Jake Roedell the narrator tells the tale. He excuses...more
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What a brutal yet beautiful book. The story of a young recruit among the rebels, bushwackers, who specialize in guerrilla warfare battling the bands of Jayhawkers from Kansas. Jake joined Black John Ambrose's band of the First Missouri irregulars with his "near" brother Jack Chiles.
The obvious comparison is to The Outlaw Josie Wales, but this book seems much more brutal or primal, if you will. There are no punches pulled in this story and death is a constant companion. Jake sits on the periphery...more
The obvious comparison is to The Outlaw Josie Wales, but this book seems much more brutal or primal, if you will. There are no punches pulled in this story and death is a constant companion. Jake sits on the periphery...more
how I love a book that not only entertains, but also educates and enlightens. My knowledge of the Border Wars between Kansas and Missouri was limited to what I was taught in high school US history, that is, that Congress didn't want to settle the volatile issue of slavery in Kansas and Nebraska, so they passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act and a few people from Missouri disagreed, kicked up a fuss because they were pro-slavery, and were then relocated away from the border. That's just sad, isn't it?
W...more
W...more
On the backdrop of the Kansas/Missouri border war, Woodrell gives us the story of Jake, a Dutch immigrant so stolid in his devotion to the American south that he, and his band of proud Southern outliers are willing to murder the menfolk of every cessation town they run across.
Jake's tale is buttressed by his own hero-worship of his "brother", Jack Bull, a freer spirit, a brother in arms, one that gives him anchor until Jake finds a confusing brotherhood with a freed black slave named Holt.
I fo...more
Jake's tale is buttressed by his own hero-worship of his "brother", Jack Bull, a freer spirit, a brother in arms, one that gives him anchor until Jake finds a confusing brotherhood with a freed black slave named Holt.
I fo...more
so let's see...i've read tomato red, winter bone...or is it winter's bone?...the bayou trilogy...was there another? i dunno. this then, could be the 4th from woodrell unless i've misplaced one. seems possible.
from 1987? need to verify that...could just as easily be the date of an edition printing and not the original printing/publishing.
has a forward from ron rash...says woodrell is an outlier...and rather than run to a dictionary to look that word up--i honestly do not know, for certain, what i...more
from 1987? need to verify that...could just as easily be the date of an edition printing and not the original printing/publishing.
has a forward from ron rash...says woodrell is an outlier...and rather than run to a dictionary to look that word up--i honestly do not know, for certain, what i...more
I have to admit...I saw the movie first only because I love one of the actors in it! Now that I've read the book-WOW!!!! Pure genius! Amazing dialog and very true stories of the Civil War. One of the reasons I read it is that I live in Missouri around the area's that much of this takes place. Daniel Woodrells writing is so amazing and true to the times that I really could not put this book down.
I have also read "Winters Bone" by the same author and can say that Daniel has a real gift for speakin...more
I have also read "Winters Bone" by the same author and can say that Daniel has a real gift for speakin...more
Daniel Woodrell hit a home run with this book. The author of the critically acclaimed novel, Winter's Bone, gives us a novel set along the Kansas-Missouri border during the Civil War. The central character is a teenager named Jake Roedel, who is a member of the First Kansas Irregulars. Basically, Jake and his friends are Confederate Bushwackers at war with the Kansas Jayhawkers. They are led by Black John Ambrose, whose character is clearly modeled after "Bloody Bill" Anderson. Among Jake's frie...more
Ho. Lee. Shit. I am a big asshole for never reading Daniel Woodrell before. This is hands-down the best novel I've absorbed in years. Imagine Wells Tower rewriting Cormac McCarthy and you kinda know what Woe to Live On is like. C-Mac without the intentional obtuseness, with the added bonus of at least one amazing turn-of-phrase per paragraph? Oh, my stars and garters.
And what's this? It was turned into a movie-film? EXCITING! Directed by Ang Lee? Interesting. Starring Tobey Maguire and Skeet Ulr...more
And what's this? It was turned into a movie-film? EXCITING! Directed by Ang Lee? Interesting. Starring Tobey Maguire and Skeet Ulr...more
2 likes · like · see review
Jun 28, 2012
Spiros
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
those deluded into believing that their enemies' enemies must be their friends
Shelves:
cinerelated,
new
So you wait five years to get your sweaty hands on a copy of a book, and what happens? No matter how you pace yourself, you find yourself tearing straight through it. There oughta be a law...
This might just be Daniel Woodrell's greatest book, which is saying quite a lot. In just a few pages, he manages to expose the pain of growing up, admittedly under the most arduous of circumstances, more thoroughly than books three times as copious could hope to do. And for combining passages of gut-wrenchin...more
This might just be Daniel Woodrell's greatest book, which is saying quite a lot. In just a few pages, he manages to expose the pain of growing up, admittedly under the most arduous of circumstances, more thoroughly than books three times as copious could hope to do. And for combining passages of gut-wrenchin...more
My emotions want to give this book a higher rating than I did. The fact is the story is not "monumental", but it is more than worth absorbing. Many a reader may not chose to pick up this volume because it deals with Missouri bushwackers during the Civil War. Indeed it has its share of violent encounters to turn off the more squeamish. One might compare it in its own way to The Red Badge of Courage. But, folks, I'm here to tell you that this has some of the best written prose I've ever read. The...more
This was an impressive and entertaining read and it makes me want to pursue more literature and history about the time period. The only real issue I had with the book was that Jake Roedel's narration was at times a little too poetic and clever for where I placed his intellect. Every page seemed to have a new clever aphorism that, while entertaining and often made me smile, got to be a bit of an overload. Still, I found the majority of the book entirely absorbing and I didn't want to put it down....more
The book Ride With the Devil was based on. Coming of age story set in the guerilla warfare of the Kansas-Nebraska border during the Civil War. Part of the war never spoken of, avoids for the most part talking about causes beyond those of revenge and anger, no great quest to end slavery or to promote it, just the bare essentials. Language/prose is almost beautiful in its' artistry and approach, formal and at the same time brutal.
I ramble
I ramble
Woodrell has a distinctive narrative voice; and while it is present in "Ride with the Devil," the economy of style that makes "Winter's Bone" such a powerful novel is only hinted at. "Ride with the Devil" is the work of an author with talent but lacking maturity; his prose inclining towards florid too often. I also get the impression he is far more comfortable writing about contemporary Missourians. It is almost as if "Ride with the Devil" were an exercise that allowed him to hone his skills and...more
I a) stayed up late reading this and b) woke up early to finish it. Nothing in it changed my read-everything assessment of Mr. Woodrell's work. I feel a binge coming on.
Jake Roedel, like Winter's Bone's Ree Dolly, has taken up sudden, permanent residence in my brain. Add him to the pantheon. The unfolding of his character and the revelations that Woodrell continues to parse out until the very end make him impossible to despise, even if he would have you do so at times. I am now fantastically cur...more
Jake Roedel, like Winter's Bone's Ree Dolly, has taken up sudden, permanent residence in my brain. Add him to the pantheon. The unfolding of his character and the revelations that Woodrell continues to parse out until the very end make him impossible to despise, even if he would have you do so at times. I am now fantastically cur...more
At long last, I finally got my hands on a copy of 'Woe To Live On', after it being out of print for years and now, its finally back in print!
I've always like studying the American Civil War, with 'Woe To Live On', it tells a rather interesting part of it, and even after reading it I'm still a little faze to what the rebels actually did to contribute to the war, other than to fight for their families and their way of life. A rather short book and quiet simple to read, I got through it relatively...more
I've always like studying the American Civil War, with 'Woe To Live On', it tells a rather interesting part of it, and even after reading it I'm still a little faze to what the rebels actually did to contribute to the war, other than to fight for their families and their way of life. A rather short book and quiet simple to read, I got through it relatively...more
This has to be one of the most well written books I have ever read. Woodrell tells the story of a group of Civil War raiders who terrorize Union sympathizers while trying to avoid the army. It is very much hit and run tactics. The story also includes Capt. William Quantrill's infamous raid on Lawrence Kansas. Having said that, the majority of the book concerns the camp life of the raiders and their interactions with Rebel sympathizers who help hide them out.
Woodrell captures his characters PERFE...more
Woodrell captures his characters PERFE...more
Incredible. Better than Blood Meridian. Yet you can read it in an evening.
Every sentence is honed to a razor-sharp economy. Nothing is wasted or extraneous, and at the same time it lives and breathes as a first-person recounting, a living storyteller relaying all the pain and shame and anger and comradeship in the most American war.
Every sentence is honed to a razor-sharp economy. Nothing is wasted or extraneous, and at the same time it lives and breathes as a first-person recounting, a living storyteller relaying all the pain and shame and anger and comradeship in the most American war.
This story is beautifully written. The language used is spot on for the time period and draws you into the story and keeps you there. This is not a romanticized account of life during the Civil War. It holds no punches describing the harsh realities of war and the bloodshed, brutality, loss, and hard choices that come with it. It has your heart racing during skirmishes and breaking during moments of loss and reflection. Loved it. Highly recommended.
Mar 26, 2013
Joshua James
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2013,
my-favourite-books
It isn't often that I can finish a book and immediately want to flip back to page 1 and start again. In fact, I knew before I'd even finished chapter one that I was going to give it 5 stars and return to read it again some day. Mr. Woodrell makes me proud to be a bookworm.
The story is brutal and depicts the horrors of war in such a vivid way that I was disgusted by these murderers. At the same time, I found that I was sympathetic to them, and their need for vengeance after being "invaded," and the language nearly made me laugh throughout.
Although this wasn't planned on my part, this was a good companion novel to "The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton by Jane Smiley that I read in July. It's essentially the same Civil War story, but told from the Confederate point of view this time.
NOt in the genre that I write about here. This is a version of a
"Western " but really a well written novel set in the American civil war. Insightful re the terrors of war and the strange way in which we find ourselves on different sides of a conflick.
"Western " but really a well written novel set in the American civil war. Insightful re the terrors of war and the strange way in which we find ourselves on different sides of a conflick.
I read this after seeing the Ang Lee movie "Ride with the Devil." Beautifully written, studded with small gems of language, e.g., "As he left me, hope was with me, but I was getting suspicious of it, and did not toss a big embrace around it."
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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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“This new spot for life might be but a short journey as a winged creature covers it, that is often said, but, oh, Lord, as you know, I had not the wings, and it is a hot, hard ride by road.”
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“I was not much used to women except for mothers. Everything I did, they did different.”
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