The Maid's Version

Starred review from June 24, 2013
Woodrell’s (Winter’s Bone) evocative, lyrical ninth novel is deceptively brief and packs a shimmering, resonant, literary punch. In a grand “gesture of reconciliation” from his father, young Alek is sent to West Table, Mo., to spend the summer of 1965 with his grandmother, Alma Dunahew, a hardworking maid to a wealthy local. The bad blood between Alek’s father and Alma stems from her opinion of what transpired just before the 1929 Arbor Dance Hall explosion, a tragedy that claimed her outspoken sister Ruby and 41 others. Who was responsible? Gypsies who threatened the townsfolk? The preacher who believed “vil music, evil feet” deserved to be silenced forever? Or was it Ruby’s controversial new (married) beau? Sections about some of those who perished fall between chapters detailing an engaging yarn of hidden secrets, but also one that fast-forwards decades to find an adult Alek addressing a memorial vigil, finally getting the chance to talk about what Alma confided to her grandson during the pivotal summer they spent together. From an economy of poetic prose springs forth an emotionally volcanic story of family, justice, and the everlasting power of the truth. Agent: Ellen Levine, Trident Media Group.

Starred review from July 15, 2013
A grandson becomes obsessed with his grandmother's story about a small-town disaster from many years ago. Set in the Ozarks, the book is inspired by history and is far less noir-tinged than the author's earlier works (The Outlaw Album, 2011, etc.). Loosely based on the real-life West Plains Dance Hall Explosion of 1928, it centers on Alma DeGeer Dunahew, a maid with three children in fictional West Table, Mo. After years of bitter silence, Alma has chosen to unburden her story on her grandson, Alek. "Alma DeGeer Dunahew, with her pinched, hostile nature, her dark obsessions and primal need for revenge, was the big red heart of our family, the true heart, the one we keep secret and that sustains us," Alek says. Alma's younger sister Ruby may be a bit wayward, but Alma cherishes her. When Ruby is killed along with 42 other victims in the local Arbor Dance Hall, Alma is determined that the explosion was no accident. From these slim threads, Woodrell gives us many potential culprits, among them an Old Testament preacher and a gang of bank robbers, not to mention all the secrets and lies kept by the good people of any rural village. Short chapters reveal only the most telling and scarce details of Woodrell's lineup of characters, lending the story a spare, bitter charm. This may be a minor work for this major American writer, but no craftsman toiling away in a workshop ever fashioned his wares so carefully. A commanding fable about trespass and reconstruction from a titan of Southern fiction.

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August 1, 2013
In his first novel in seven years, Woodrell (Winter's Bone, 2006) returns to the Ozarks to tell the story of a catastrophe based on a real-life occurrence. Alek Dunahew is sent to live with his grandmother, the former housemaid Alma DeGeer Dunahew. Haunted by the death of her sister, Ruby, in the explosion of the Arbor Dance Hall in 1928, Alma's views of the cause of the disaster created a schism between her and one of her sons. But Alek is curious and listens carefully, tucking away Alma's stories of her drunken husband, her wild sister, and her affair with Alma's employer and the mysterious whisperings about mobsters and shootings. Told in meandering flashbacks with a lyrical cadence, the story is gripping and heartrending at the same time. Interspersed with Alma's memories are vignettes of some of the victims of the explosion and how they happened to be at the dance hall on that particular night. With this book, Woodrell confirms his place among the literary masters.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

April 15, 2013

Woodrell's first novel since 2006's chillingly exact Winter's Bone was inspired by a 1928 dance-hall explosion in his hometown that took 28 lives. Woodrell heard about it from his grandmother, maid to a family that included someone rumored to be responsible.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2013

This brief novel, set in the small Missouri town of West Table, centers on the mysterious 1929 explosion and fire at the Arbor Dance Hall and its effects on a local family across three generations. Among the 43 people killed was Alma DeGeer Dunahew's younger sister Ruby DeGeer. Forever after haunted by the incident, Alma, a maid for one of the town's wealthiest families, is nearly driven crazy by her belief that the tragedy was a criminal act--the result of a scandalous love affair between her sister and her employer. Years later, when Alma's grandson Alek is sent to spend part of a summer with his eccentric grandmother, he begins to learn of the town's secret history and of his family's role. VERDICT Drawing on real-life events that rocked his hometown and his family, Woodrell returns nearly a decade after his celebrated Winter's Bone with a story that feels less of a different time and more timeless--a stark, haunting tale of almost mythic power and sweep. [See Prepub Alert, 3/18/13.]--Lawrence Rungren, Merrimack Valley Lib. Consortium, Andover, MA

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2013

This brief novel, set in the small Missouri town of West Table, centers on the mysterious 1929 explosion and fire at the Arbor Dance Hall and its effects on a local family across three generations. Among the 43 people killed was Alma DeGeer Dunahew's younger sister Ruby DeGeer. Forever after haunted by the incident, Alma, a maid for one of the town's wealthiest families, is nearly driven crazy by her belief that the tragedy was a criminal act--the result of a scandalous love affair between her sister and her employer. Years later, when Alma's grandson Alek is sent to spend part of a summer with his eccentric grandmother, he begins to learn of the town's secret history and of his family's role. VERDICT Drawing on real-life events that rocked his hometown and his family, Woodrell returns nearly a decade after his celebrated Winter's Bone with a story that feels less of a different time and more timeless--a stark, haunting tale of almost mythic power and sweep. [See Prepub Alert, 3/18/13.]--Lawrence Rungren, Merrimack Valley Lib. Consortium, Andover, MA

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.