Reviews of The Outlaw Album by Daniel Woodrell

The Echo of
Neighborly Bones

Once Boshell finally killed his neighbor he couldn't seem to quit killing him. He killed him again whenever he felt unloved or blue or simply had empty hours facing him. The first time he killed the man, Jepperson, an opinionated foreigner from Minnesota, he kept to simple Ozark tradition and used a squirrel rifle, bullet to the heart, classic and effective, though there were spasms of the limbs and even a lunge of big old Jepperson's body that seemed like he was about to take a step, flee, but he died in stride and collapsed against a fence post. Boshell took the body to the woods on his deer scooter and piled heavy rocks on the man, trying to keep nature back from the flesh, the parts of nature that have teeth or beaks. For most of a week Boshell was content with killing his neighbor just once, then came a wet spattering Sunday, the dish went out and he couldn't see the ball game on TV, so he snuck away to the pile and cleared the rocks from the head ...

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Many of the stories in The Outlaw Album are concerned with justice. In "The Echo of Neighborly Bones," "Uncle," and "Returning the River," wronged characters carry out their own revenge. Do you think the punishments fit the crimes?



2. Much of Woodrell's fiction is dependent on its rural setting - the isolation and rough terrain a crucible in which an insular community is forged. Do you find that the portrayal of rural America is accurate? Do you think that Woodrell's characters would translate to another setting?



3. Young women play a number of roles in The Outlaw Album - in "Twin Forks," it is the memory of a young woman that brings Morrow back to the Ozarks; in "Uncle," a teenage girl exacts her revenge on her former tormentor; in "...