DANIEL WOODRELL QUIZ

Test your knowledge of one of America’s finest writers of backcountry noir, most typically in the Ozarks. Author of eight novels and the short-story collection, The Outlaw Album, Daniel Woodrell’s prose turns standard English on its head, leaving you begging for more. Have a go, and you’re in the running to receive a 30-euro (£25 / $40) gift certificate to spend at Amazon; in case of a tie, a name will be drawn. Deadline: Jan. 10, 2015 THIS QUIZ IS NOW CLOSED. To see the answers click HERE

e-mail (required)

Name the novel or short story:

1. Mom’s a real looker with a no-good husband; while her thirteen-year-old boy is overweight and a bit thick, but he’ll do anything to protect her.

2. In this short story a Vietnam vet kills an intruder in his home, only to discover the man is another vet from a more recent war suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

3. A near portion of the sky founted an orange brilliance in a risen tower, heat bellowing … so many citizens crawled into the flames to pull at blistered, smoking bodies … several fortunate souls were saved from death by the force of their throwing … pelted with falling debris, yes, and damaged, but not roasted skinless, hairless, blackened and twisted on their bones.

4. Short story in which a social worker tries in vain to convince the parents of their incarcerated son that he has changed—and therefore eligible for parole—due to his newly found creative gift of poetry.

5. He’s the kind of fella that if he was to make it to the top based only on his looks you’d still have to say he deserved it. Hoodoo sculptors and horny witches knitted that boy, put his bone and sinew in the most fabulous order. Dark-haired, green-eyed, with face bones delicate and dramatic both. If your ex had his lips you’d still be married.

6. This early crime novel ends with the town detective cold-conking his brother in his brother’s bar and saying: “You dumb bastard . . . I love you.”

7. Sixteen-year-old girl has a week to find her Daddy before the county repossesses the family home.

8. Deadbeat pool shark dad, John X., returns to St. Bruno with a ten-year-old daughter in tow and a bad guy on his tail. His grown sons aren’t amused.

9. The detective who cold-conked his brother in a previous novel now struggles with trigger-happy robbers who bust in on a high-stakes card game that's supposedly protected by the local gambling kingpin.

10. Which one of the following actors has NOT been in a film adaptation based on one of the works by Woodrell?

a. Mark Ruffalo
b. Jennifer Lawrence
c. Tobey Maguire
d. Harry Dean Stanton
e. Sheryl Lee
f. Jim Caviezel

© TBR 2014

This quiz may not be archived, reproduced or distributed further without the author's express permission.
Please see our conditions of use.

The Barcelona Review is a registered non-profit organization