A review by littletaiko
La muerte del pequeño Shug by Daniel Woodrell

3.0

First off, Woodrell really has a way with words. He captures the dialect of an area so well and describes things simply and beautifully. Almost too beautifully as it becomes a bit jarring to have such lovely language used to describe such horrific events. Shuggie is a fat teenager with a beautiful alcoholic mother who attracts the wrong type of man, including Red who may or may not be Shuggie's father. Red's main interests are drugs and being abusive to pretty much everyone he meets. Needless to say things go very wrong. Having only read The Maid's Version by Woodrell before which didn't work for me overall, I can now see why people are a fan of Woodrell's writings. It was also a nice little bonus to see a brief mention of the dance hall explosion in Sweet Mister that is the focus of The Maid's Version.