Give Us a Kiss [Paperback]

Daniel Woodrell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1998

The law wants his brother on a felony charge, and Doyle Redmond is supposed to talk him into giving up. But Smoke is a convincing man--and Doyle's fast realizing that you "can" put the country back into the boy . . . but sometimes, it ain't so smart.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Again, Woodrell mines his native Ozarks for artistic and comic inspiration, but this time the lode that produced the dazzling The Ones You Do (1992) turns up as much paste as as it does precious stones. The lure of marijuana as a cash crop provides the premise for the author's fifth novel, a lighthearted tale about a pair of literary brothers who wind up settling an old family score when a drug deal goes awry. As the story opens, narrator Doyle Redmond, a crime novelist, is returning to the Ozarks from California in a Volvo he stole from his wife after she slept with a prominent poet. Back home, Doyle hunkers down with his brother, Smoke, a fellow author whose attention has turned to cultivating a large marijuana crop for a big profit. While helping Smoke harvest the illegal bounty, Doyle engages in an impromptu romance with the daughter of Smoke's girlfriend, a teenage beauty named Niagra Mattux, who has a yen for the silver screen. This brief idyll gives way to violent reality when the dope deal finally goes down and the Redmond brothers are ambushed by a family of local degenerates called the Dollys. Woodrell's extraordinarily deft prose makes for a luscious read, and his unique combination of existential redneck humor and sharp literary barbs proves entertaining. But there's little substance behind the nonstop jokes, a problem that grows more aggravating as the plot winds down into a series of stock action scenes followed by a predictable resolution.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

A semidark comic novel set in the Missouri Ozarks, this is the amusing tale of tough-guy midlist novelist Doyle Redmond's transformation into the writer he only dreamed of being. Escaping from trendy California in his estranged wife's Volvo, Doyle reconnects with his roughneck heritage: gun-crazy grandpa and older brother, big-breasted gals, marijuana farms, and a 50-year-old blood feud with the infamous Dolly clan. Reader interest is held throughout by Doyle's absurd descent into his dream self. With this fast-paced yarn's final page, Doyle, now a murderer en route to prison, takes mock glory in his newly earned media renown and the knowledge that his out-of-print crime novels will now be reprinted. All told, this is a good-natured, good-hearted tale. By the author of the critically praised novel The Ones You Do (LJ 3/15/92), this present effort is highly recommended for larger fiction collections.
-?James B. Hemesath, Adams State Coll. Lib., Alamosa, Col.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (August 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671025031
• ISBN-13: 978-0671025038
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #721,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good time will be had by all. Read it!, September 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Give Us a Kiss (Paperback)

When our book club chose this book as part of its new author day, I thought "what kind of trash is this." But like a good shot of moonshine, it was revolting enough to leave its mark and tasty enough to make me want more. HOnestly, why hasn't this guy gotten his due? There is more slick writing, quirky characters and raunchy adventure i nthis book then many books twice its length. And with the lead character a sort of hillbilly writer/philosopher (that is not a contradiction in terms!) one has a narrator throughout the book who never fails to make you laugh. THe book centers around the adventures of Redmond Doyle, a hack writer who returns home to the Ozarks from a more "high falutin" environment, only to find out that you cannot escape your past or your roots. As he gets pulled into the inevitable feuds and violence that is part of Ozark lore, he wonders why he ever left in the first place.With plenty of fights, sex, hillbilly weirdness and the ramblings of the main character, the book is liike a canoe ride down the river in Deliverance. It will make you squeal like a pig!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Humdinger noir kicks some downhome butt, April 25, 2003

By 

LGwriter "SharpWitGuy" (Astoria, N.Y. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Give Us a Kiss: A Country Noir (Hardcover)

Can't get much better than this Woodrell guy--not when it comes to fusing violence with country living. Dag nabbit, they just go together like spittle on a backy-chewin geezer's whiskers. Woodrell is somethin' fresh and mean and lonesome and true in the land of the hardboiled. He takes you down a crick with Doyle Redmond, his protagonist, all cozied up with 19-year old Niagra, the daughter of Doyle's big brother Smoke, and when them two drift down that flowing water, heat just naturally gets turned up. Cause Niagra has flames lickin' up her legs--her sexy red boots--and Doyle's first look at 'em does him in. He's hooked.

Smoke's woman, Big Annie, cottons to Doyle in a sisterly/motherly way since he's her beau's brother and also after her daughter. The four of them harvest their dope (i.e., marijuana) cash crop which a pack of nasties, the Dollys, try to weasel in on. Take over, in fact. And, yes, it is a backwoods legendary feudin' thing--the Redmonds vs. the Dollys. The noir-ness of the book is not just this feud; it's Doyle's and Smoke's tendencies to feel things in the extreme.

This is a great read cause Woodrell is a mighty fine writer. He knows how to sling the right words, blend them smooth as you please in an eminently readable way. Most entertaining. A genuine pleasure, if you ask me.

Pick it up and have a dang good time.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First get rid of all the other books!, July 2, 2004

By 

Hank (Eugene, OR) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Give Us a Kiss: A Country Noir (Hardcover)

This guy is that good. Burke, Grisham, Norden, Hegwood, all you southern noir types go home. Woodrell is that good. This guy is a real writer's writer. A-1 on the jukebox and nowhere on the charts I guess. Give Us a Kiss displays a voice and style that harkens back to Faulkner, James M. Caine and Walker Percy. A true gem.