Give Us a Kiss

Doyle Redmond, a sort of hillbilly novelist who hasn’t made much money from writing returns to the Ozarks in a Volvo stolen from his future ex-wife. One of the “wild kids” “reared on baloney and navy beans, corn mush and Kool-Aid, and quick, terrible rough stuff,” Doyle has lived in California long enough to get published and pick up a belief in regression therapy.

Back home, Doyle falls in with his older brother, who has a crop of weed to harvest and warrants from Kansas City. He also meets Niagra, a 19 year old beauty who cooks wonderful “hillbillyette” food and aspires to Hollywood.
“I believe we got the makings of a dream that’ll burn mighty hot, Doyle, you’n me,” she tells him.

Give Us A Kiss is subtitled “A show more Country Noir,” and that about sums it up, except the story is seeded with insight and original, sharp writing. show less

Doyle Redmond is sent by his parents to try and convince his brother Smoke to turn himself in. There's a warrant out for him, and they are tired of being hassled. But Smoke and his gal, Big Annie, have a nice harvest coming in soon, and Smoke thinks the payoff might buy him a shorter sentence. Doyle joins up with them. But a rival clan, the Dollys, want to profit from the Redmonds' work, and much fighting and shooting ensues.

Woodrell's writing always sucks me in. This is one of his earlier works, and not quite as dark as some of his later stuff, but it still packs a punch. Don't start it unless you have time to finish it in one sitting!

It is a crime that this book is out of print. Un-f'ing-believable.

It also kind of ticks me off that so much fuss is made about this being hillbilly noir, as though it centers on a breed of person apart from what the rest of us know. There are rednecks, I believe, in every inhabited zip code in the country, and here and there a person born to write as well. The former are not rare; the latter are. DW is one sure as shoot.

I mean no disrespect to Sallis when I say DW outdoes him here and there. And Sallis has his own problems with getting the credit that's due him. But I sure am wondering how you can pass over this sort of author while hauling out other folks' backlists who don't merit a second dip in the pond.

I've only read two of DW's show more books so far, but I'm going to read them all - so far they're stay-up-late addictive. In an interview DW says he's been criticized for making all his characters morally ambiguous; I figure anyone who has that problem with the book has missed the point entirely and might as well move on. Perhaps to a James Patterson novel or something.

I hear this is his "funny" book. Mmm, I don't know; I think it's more accurate to say that the narrator has an essentially optimistic outlook on a very stark and dramatic set of circumstances. A gentle assessment of everything that comes down the pike might, I guess, sound funny to some. And yes, I definitely laughed out loud reading it, a pretty rare happening. But it's not a comic novel, not in my considered opinion.

Had I not already read Winter's Bone, I might not recognize the firm under-structure of clan, relationship to the land, and blood destiny as smack-center to this book. I suspect I'll find it in all of DW's work. That's fine with me. It might be just a bit of a heavy-handed treatment here (the wayward son making it big out in the world and being pulled back by the inevitable magnet of family, etc. etc. and discovering that he must live his authentic life and so on.)

In reading about DW, I haven't caught a whiff yet of the difficulty of or dissatisfaction with being "other" (the book character does take whuppins from everyone, including his own brother, for uppity bookishness). I have no reason to suspect that DW isn't happy to be back in the Ozarks where, presumably, he spends a little more time thinking books than most people. (He professes his love for the Ozarks all over the place and unambiguously.) I find that fascinating.

There are many, many wonderful lines in the book. Here's just one:
"I suppose it *is* a tragedy sometimes, this requirement of being who you are. Who you really are." show less

A wonderful hillbilly story, that takes place in the lower Ozarks, is Missouri. You have drugs, various forms of senseless as well as valid violence. White trash women, excessive drinking, and mild sex. What more could you want in a book?
The story is about Doyle, whose marriage has fallen apart in California, so he steals his wife's car and heads back to where he grew up. His parents ask him to find his older brother Smoke, and to try and convince Smoke to turn himself in, as he is a wanted man. Doyle finds Smoke, finds out Smoke is about to harvest a huge crop of pot, and he decides to join Smoke in this endeavor. Unfortunately the Dolly family is also interested in their crop. The Dolly's are pure white trash, hillbillies, and this is show more when the shit hits the fan.
This was a very fun book to read. show less

A wonderful hillbilly story, that takes place in the lower Ozarks, is Missouri. You have drugs, various forms of senseless as well as valid violence. White trash women, excessive drinking, and mild sex. What more could you want in a book?
The story is about Doyle, whose marriage has fallen apart in California, so he steals his wife's car and heads back to where he grew up. His parents ask him to find his older brother Smoke, and to try and convince Smoke to turn himself in, as he is a wanted man. Doyle finds Smoke, finds out Smoke is about to harvest a huge crop of pot, and he decides to join Smoke in this endeavor. Unfortunately the Dolly family is also interested in their crop. The Dolly's are pure white trash, hillbillies, and this is show more when the shit hits the fan.
This was a very fun book to read. show less

Not quite as good as Winter's Bone or Tomato Red (which couldn't have been better in my eyes) but still the same great Ozark atmospherics and way with language. The female leads didn't ring as true to me as Rhee Dolly did in W'sB and I had trouble buying Doyle Redmond as a novel-writing redneck, even though he's loosely based on the author's own life. On the other hand this book had more of of his great wry humor. I'll read everything he writes.

I finished this book very quickly. Woodrell is a writers writer. He uses metaphors and dialouge that are just hard to find in most books.
Give Us A Kiss is a down to earth gritty book. If your offended easily this is not the book for you to read. However, being from Missouri I think he did justice in the parts where he was talking about our beautiful landscape. If his books weren't so expensive I would own them all, but obviously there's enough people aware of his craft and his books seem to be elusive and expensive when you do find them.