I got my battered, missing the last two pages copy out and re-read it, after your post.
I always found it interesting that while Mathy has a chapter about her, she is the one character whose POV we never enter. That makes sense, as she is the mysterious hub of the story.
Love everything you have to say about this book.

I recommend William Humphreys's "The Ordways" to people who want to understand Texas. His better known work would be "Home from the Hill", which was a movie starring James Mitchum, I believe.

"The Ordways" is a family saga. The bulk of the novel deals with the father's search for his son, who was stolen away by his neighbors. But there are wonderful side stories, as well. The first section, "In a Country Churchyard", is one of the finest pieces of evocative writing I know.
But he's not all stylistic with it.

Obscure, great and very American.

Ack! Of course I meant Robert Mitchum.

My brain is fried from outfitting our high school's production of "Les Mis". I beg the pardon of all Mitchum fans.

So was the dialogue from the book or original to the movie?

Sal:

Wonderful insight: that we never enter Mathy's POV. Thanks so much for the "Ordway" recommendation. I will get it straight away.

I think you somehow got James Michener and Robert Mitchum mixed up, right?

"Le Mis", eh? That's a lot of work. Good luck.

Kishke:

The original "wedding night" dialogue is straight from the book. The screenwriter wisely left it intact. Schamus' adaptation is spectacular. He wisely leaves what works from the novel, and improves in crucial structural areas.

I will put these in my Amazon shopping cart.

The mention of Civil War era "terrorists" reminds me of a novel I read recently, "Gilead," by Marianne Robinson. The narrator - in Kansas, next door to Missouri - speaks of his father and grandfather, who were associated with John Brown.

It's a wonderful book, more of a memoire than a novel, but fictional.

I will put these in my Amazon shopping cart.

The mention of Civil War era "terrorists" reminds me of a novel I read recently, "Gilead," by Marianne Robinson. The narrator - in Kansas, next door to Missouri - speaks of his father and grandfather, who were associated with John Brown.

It's a wonderful book, more of a memoire than a novel, but fictional.

Yehudit:

It was you, quite a while ago, I believe, who recommended "Gilead" to me. And so I thank you at this late date for the fine recommendation.

Do let me know what you think of "Woe to Live on" the novel and "Ride With the Devil" the movie. Obviously, I'm most anxious to hear your thoughts about the "American terrorists."

On WOE TO LIVE ON:
I live on the Kansas/Missouri border, Kansas side. The border war stands for many of us as fact and folklore. A 150 year rivalry still exists between western Missouri and Eastern Kansas that was born in blood and terror and still roils, a bit more good naturedly. Massacre sites, marked and unmarked dot our countryside. Ang Lee filmed much much of the wooded scenes for "Ride with the Devil" two miles from my land. Quantrill's ride to Lawrence crossed Kansas just six miles north of here.

Most of us today realize that there were no good guys and bad guys - that terror bred terror and revenge brought unbridled revenge. Woodrell conveyed that in "Woe," boys and men caught in escalating terror, compartmentalizing morality. Jake Roedel shoots a young 'Union' boy in the book's opening sequence: "Pups make hounds," yet Woodrell gradually shows Jake as deeply moral.

Maybe these same things are playing out in the middle east and elsewhere today where terror reigns and those involved compartmentalize to survive.

Jack:

Thanks so much for the articulate comment.

However, I'm afraid there is no parallel between the Border wars of the Civil War and the Arab Israeli conflict.

I suggest, for starters, that you read the Hamas Covenant.

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp

In it, the terror group outlines their religious and political philosophy, their long and short term strategies.

First and most important is the Arab Muslim struggle against the Jews:

Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious. It needs all sincere efforts. It is a step that inevitably should be followed by other steps. The Movement is but one squadron that should be supported by more and more squadrons from this vast Arab and Islamic world, until the enemy is vanquished and Allah's victory is realised.

As you can see, Jack, Hamas, and all other transnational Islamic terrorist gangs, are not really concerned with Palestinians or a Palestinian State. No, Hamas and all such groups, envision an endgame in a 7th century Caliphite, where the Arab Muslim world rises up, destroys the Jews and Crusaders (Christians) and rule over The Uma, the utopian Islamic empire.

Let's isolate some salient points:

1. The covenant calls for the complete annihilation of the State of Israel. Take note, when the Arabs talk about "occupation," they are not talking about Gaza or the West Bank, they are talking about Israel. The state, the population. They believe that the State of Israel is founded on Muslim territory and is thus an insult to Islam and must be, as a religious duty, physically destroyed. A

2. Further, The Covenant calls for the death of Jews, everywhere. The covenant is, you will see, a proudly Jew-hating document the likes of which the world has not seen since the Nazi era.

3. The covenant states that Jews and Zionists control world banking, that Jews started the World Wars, etc. Unfortunately, these mad anti-Semitic conspiracy theories are not unique to Hamas. They are endemic to the Arab Muslim world. Already a major newspaper in Pakistan has stated that the Mumbai massacre was the work of the Zionist Mossad to make Muslims look bad and to foment trouble between India and Pakistan.

Lest you think that Hamas is a small, isolated band of crazies, please remember that they won the Palestinian elections by an overwhelming majority, not just in Gaza, but also in the West Bank. They are an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic group responsible for the assassination of Anwar Sadat, and the largest Islamic umbrella terror groups in the Muslim world.

Attempts to morally equate the proudly genocidal Arab Muslim terrorists and terror states such as Sudan, Libya, Syria, Yemen Iran, etc. with Democratic Israel and with Jews are, if one is honest, doomed to intellectual collapse.

Witness the Mumbai massacres where the Islamic terrorists sought out the very, very few Orthodox Jews of India, tortured Rivka Holtzberg, 6-months pregnant, in front of her husband and two-year old baby, and then murdered her; and then did the same to Gavriel Holtzberg. There is no equivalence with Israel or with any Jews on planet earth today. Whereas these barbaric acts have become the norm in Muslim lands—most often against other Muslims.

And what were the Holtzberg;s great crime that they were tortured and murdered? Well, they were Jewish.

Jack, understand this, when it becomes okay to torture and murder Jews because they are Jews, well you are next.

No matter where you live, no matter what your beliefs, no matter what the deed on your property says, Muslim terror will find you and Muslim terror will voice a grievance (any grievance will do) that will give them the justification to destroy you.

Forgive me for going on at such length, but you strike me as a very smart and sensitive guy and I want to take the time to properly engage the issue you raised.

Please take the time to read the entire Hams Covenant, I know, I know, it's tedious and seems quite mad, but it's a dead serious playbook from which Muslim terrorists all over the world tke their murderous cues.

Thank you for the lesson and your advice, Robert. I am a sympathetic gentile, and perhaps a little naive, but I emphasize 'sympathetic.' I certainly didn't articulate my point very well.

The point I tried to make wasn't about nations or terrorist organizations such as Hamas or Hezbollah, but rather about people, individuals. As individuals, we sometimes find ourselves able to do hateful, immoral acts that we know with every fiber are wrong. We rationalize and compartmentalize those deeds, like Jake and Holt did in "Woe". My thoughts were exclusive of mad anti-semites (or like people characterized by Pitt Macheson in the book) who seem to operate without conscience, but they certainly appear to be adept at manipulating those of their people who do live with a conscience.

I will read the Hamas Covenant on the link you provided.

Jack:

Thanks so much for getting back to me and clarifying your comment. Again, I want to emphasize that Israel never targets civilians, therefore the compartmentalizing to which you refer just does not apply.

Once you read the Covenant you'll come to see that the terrorists have no need to compartmentalize, hatred, bigotry and slaughter have been enshrined as a religious obligation. You as a Christian (I'm assuming, forgive me if I'm wrong) and I as a Jew, are less than human. No compartments necessary.

Anyhoo.

I sensed immediatel that you are open and sympathetic and I don't want to be tedious. So just read the Hamas covenant. It seems strange to western sensibilties, like a blast from the 7th Century with arcane language and ideas, but I can assure you that the Arab world takes the covenant as seriously as we take our Constitution.

BTW, sorry for all the typos and tortured synatax but I'm in the middle of a script rewrite and so I blog and answer comments when I can grab a few free minutes.

P.S. Did you like "Ride With the Devil?" I thought it was a fantastic adaptation.

I loved "Ride with the Devil." I'm an Ang Lee fan and a Civil War afficiando, and the story took place - almost literally in respect to some of the filming - in my back yard, so what's not to like?

Like you, I saw the film well before reading the book. It is one of the few films that I purchased on DVD. As an avid reader and a film buff, I was surprised by how faithful the screenplay was to the book. Too often that isn't the case. I was so impressed by the screenplay when I saw it, without realizing that much of its genius lay in Lee and Shamus realizing what a gem they had in Woodrell's book.

I have recently read Woodrell's latest novel, "Winter's Bone." He has a gift for dialog which I would assume is a screenwriter's dream.

Do you write original screenplays, adapt, both?

Jack:

My work covers a wide spectrum. I won the Emmy Award for The Devil's Arithmetic, an adaptation of a young adult novel.

My very first feature Body Double, directed by Brian De Palma was from a story that Brian hatched.

My second film, A Stranger Among Us, directed by Sidney Lumet, was an original screenplay.

If it moves on the screen, I'll write it.

Have not read "Winter's Bone" yet. It's on my night table, right below the always cheery and fast-paced Hamas Covenant:-)

Robert,

I don't mean to use your blog as a 'pen pal' site, but at that risk -

Some about me:

I said that I am not Jewish (yes, I am a Christian, but not one of those that think you Jews murdered our God) and I said that I am sympathetic and a perhaps a bit naive. But I would emphasize the "a bit." I love reading fiction and write some as well. And I list a number of Jewish writers as favorites: Wouk, Uris, Philip Roth and have read much of their work, including Roth's "The Plot Against America." I also have read some Bernard Malmud and Chiam Potok and others that escape me now. I recently read John Updike's "The Terrorist" (yes he is Christian but the subject matter was intriguing)and wonder if you have, and if so, what you thought of it?

I dropped out of college in the early 70's - too much drugs, alcohol, and fun to be bothered with studies - and have recently returned. I will graduate in the spring (Kansas University) in Language, Literature and Writing. I have won a few regional and English Department-type writing awards, including the Ozark Creative Writers Showcase Award for a short story that I wrote about racism in Lawrence, Ks in the 70's (the black/white kind of racism). They are far from Emmys but rewarding for me nonetheless. I did not see your Emmy winning program but I did see and enjoy both the DePalma and the Lumet films.

My close friend and roommate from my first go at college is a screenwriter and producer in Hollywood which is where I assume you are, Ron (Ronald) Parker. Do you know him?

Your discussion above about the lack of need for compartmentalization for radical Islam, and also Israel for much different reasons makes sense and rings true.

And finally, my wife uses "anyhoo" all the time, so in that respect talking to you is like talking to my wife only perhaps you DO NOT know everything.

Jack