The Death of Sweet Mister: A Novel

by Daniel Woodrell, Dennis Lehane Narrated by Nicholas Tecosky

Overview

Shug Akins is a lonely, overweight thirteen-year-old boy. His mother, Glenda, is the one person who loves him -- she calls him Sweet Mister and attempts to boost his confidence and give him hope for his future. Shuggie's purported father, Red, is a brutal man with a short fuse who mocks and despises the boy. Into this small-town Ozarks mix comes Jimmy Vin Pearce, with his shiny green T-bird and his smart city clothes. When he and Glenda begin a torrid affair, a series of violent events is inevitably set in motion. The outcome will break your heart.

"This is Daniel Woodrell's third book set in the Ozarks and, like the other two, Give Us a Kiss and Tomato Red, it peels back the layers from lives already made bare by poverty and petty crime."-Otto Penzler, Penzler Pick, 2001

Editorial Reviews

MAY 2012 - AudioFile

If Huck Finn had been raised by his father, he might have turned out something like Morris “Shug” Akers, the narrator and protagonist of Daniel Woodrell's 2001 novel. Shug gets a fine voicing from Nicholas Tecosky; his detached and retrospective tone is that of a man—or perhaps a boy—who is looking back at his horrible and truncated childhood without illusions or regret. Shug has power over nothing except his emotions and the tractor for mowing the “bone orchard” where his mother, who calls him “Sweet Mister,” is the nominal caretaker. They both live in fear of his father, a petty criminal. Tecosky’s cool narration becomes downright chilling as Shug learns what he’s willing to do—and what he’s willing to give up—for love. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

From the Publisher

"[Woodrell] has achieved near mastery of style: language, plot, characterization and theme mesh with a seamless power."—Michael Anderson, New York Times Book Review

"A fiery, poetic, hair-raising novel."—Bret Israel, Los Angeles Times

"The plot, tawdry in the abstract, is transformed by Woodrell's gallows humour and his rendering of Shug's voice, part Huck Finn, part Holden Caulfield."—Bharat Tandon, Times Literary Supplement (U.K.)

"A dark, disturbing beauty of a story . . . Woodrell throws down sentences that will leave you amazed."—Charles Frazier, author of Cold Mountain

Charles Frazier

"A dark, disturbing beauty of a story . . . Woodrell throws down sentences that will leave you amazed."

Bharat Tandon

"The plot, tawdry in the abstract, is transformed by Woodrell's gallows humour and his rendering of Shug's voice, part Huck Finn, part Holden Caulfield."

Bret Israel

"A fiery, poetic, hair-raising novel."

Michael Anderson

"[Woodrell] has achieved near mastery of style: language, plot, characterization and theme mesh with a seamless power."

MAY 2012 - AudioFile

If Huck Finn had been raised by his father, he might have turned out something like Morris “Shug” Akers, the narrator and protagonist of Daniel Woodrell's 2001 novel. Shug gets a fine voicing from Nicholas Tecosky; his detached and retrospective tone is that of a man—or perhaps a boy—who is looking back at his horrible and truncated childhood without illusions or regret. Shug has power over nothing except his emotions and the tractor for mowing the “bone orchard” where his mother, who calls him “Sweet Mister,” is the nominal caretaker. They both live in fear of his father, a petty criminal. Tecosky’s cool narration becomes downright chilling as Shug learns what he’s willing to do—and what he’s willing to give up—for love. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169938135
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	04/24/2012
Edition description:	Unabridged

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