Books in consideration: ‘Winter’s Bone’
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Novelist Daniel Woodrell was born in Missouri but moved to California with his family during childhood. It was only after he was an adult -- and earned a master’s of fine arts at the prestigious Iowa Writers Workshop -- that he returned to Missouri. The Ozarks, in particular, have bcome a part of his fiction.
Woodrell’s novel ‘Winter’s Bone’ was the basis for the film of the same name, up for four Oscars at the Academy Awards on Sunday. It’s one of the five pictures nominated for best adapted screenplay, co-written by director Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini.
In our pages, Rick Rojas talked to Woodrell about the region and his work. Rojas writes:
Knowing the Ozarks, Woodrell said, takes comprehending how people who, while living in the heartland, can be so distant from the American notion of wanting a comfortable and prosperous life. In the Ozarks, he said, no one finds shame in a meager existence. ‘It’s always been hard to make a living here,’ Woodrell said in a telephone interview. ‘You don’t feel any requirement to strut around, acting like you have more than you have.’
Woodrell and his wife will attend the Academy Awards on Sunday to see how the film based on his book is rewarded. It is one of 10 films nominated for best picture.
-- Carolyn Kellogg
