The Death of Sweet Mister by Daniel Woodrell

Penzler Pick, June 2001: This is Daniel Woodrell's third book set in the Ozarks and, like the other two, Give Us a Kiss and Tomato Red, it peels back the layers from lives already made bare by poverty and petty crime, exposing the reader to the raw everyday hopes and fears of the poor and the helpless. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. 'Wonderful.noir at its darkest, and affecting, and utterly convincing.' ( The Washington Post Book World) Like Holden Caulfield and Huck Finn, Shuggie Akins tells his story of a reluctant descent into the world of adults in this unforgettable and ultimately moving novel. Soon he and Glenda are engaged in a torrid affair setting in motion a series of events that are violent, shocking, and totally unpredictable-yet irredeemably inevitable. Then along comes Jimmy Vin Pearce with his shiny green T-bird and his smart city clothes. The three tentatively coexist in a ramshackle house situated in a 'boneyard' in a rough-hewn Ozark town. His putative father, Red, a brutal man with a short fuse, mocks and despises the boy. His distracted, frequently tipsy mother, Glenda, turns a blind eye to the effect her sexually provocative teasing has on him. But not even he can fully comprehend the nature of the forces working against him. Daniel Woodrell delivers his most powerful work to date in The Death of Sweet Mister.Īn overweight, lonely thirteen-year-old, Shuggie Akins is shrewdly observant.

The Death of Sweet Mister by Daniel Woodrell