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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
This is one of my old stand-bys, all-time-favourites. I have read and re-read a few times (I often re-read it as friends are reading it, just because I get excited to talk about where they are in the story etc)
first... the writing. There's just something about the way Keri Hulme writes this novel... It's as though she created the characters, but, given who they are... they do what they will do & she has no more control over it. It's all she can do just to write it all down.
second... the characters. Kerewin (the strong), Joe (the mixed up), and Simon P (the lost).
I love them all... Kerewin makes me want to drink whiskey & read, and learn jujitsu or something. Simon P is so incredibly intense, sees auras, hears music in the driftwood & seaweed washed up on a beach. A little boy of mystery. Joe.... he's the hardest to love, but you do. you can't help it. You know he means well, he loves his family & he would do anything for them. And what a family! Just think of all those extended relations, the closeness & community there. It's unbelievable.
then... It's full of maori myth & language. I'm a sucker for a book with dialects & phrases from unknown languages... especially when they have a dictionary or glossary of terms in the back :)
However -- I have known people who chose this book for a book club - and everyone hated it! (How dare they?? lol). It has lots of little snippets of poetry, stream of consciousness, a bit of chronology jumping in the plot... If you're not up for that, it might put you off. But, the language is beautiful, the characters are full, and the story unstoppable - so, I love it and highly recommend it!
**re-read, June 2012... I'm still in love with this book!
first... the writing. There's just something about the way Keri Hulme writes this novel... It's as though she created the characters, but, given who they are... they do what they will do & she has no more control over it. It's all she can do just to write it all down.
second... the characters. Kerewin (the strong), Joe (the mixed up), and Simon P (the lost).
I love them all... Kerewin makes me want to drink whiskey & read, and learn jujitsu or something. Simon P is so incredibly intense, sees auras, hears music in the driftwood & seaweed washed up on a beach. A little boy of mystery. Joe.... he's the hardest to love, but you do. you can't help it. You know he means well, he loves his family & he would do anything for them. And what a family! Just think of all those extended relations, the closeness & community there. It's unbelievable.
then... It's full of maori myth & language. I'm a sucker for a book with dialects & phrases from unknown languages... especially when they have a dictionary or glossary of terms in the back :)
However -- I have known people who chose this book for a book club - and everyone hated it! (How dare they?? lol). It has lots of little snippets of poetry, stream of consciousness, a bit of chronology jumping in the plot... If you're not up for that, it might put you off. But, the language is beautiful, the characters are full, and the story unstoppable - so, I love it and highly recommend it!
**re-read, June 2012... I'm still in love with this book!
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Racism
A book has not straight up messed me up emotionally like this in a long time.
One of the most original books I’ve read, but I don’t think it’s for everyone. Kerewin is an interesting main character, which is what kept me reading for much of the book. The prose ranges from traditional to stream of consciousness to poetic and it can sometimes be hard to follow, but I found that a fun challenge at times. :) lots of lines struck me, but I also felt equally as lost during many other parts in the story.
It’s a complex book that touches on Māori culture, child abuse, alcoholism, asexuality, and more.
I was invested in the first 3/4 of the book, but the last 1/4 lost me.
It’s a complex book that touches on Māori culture, child abuse, alcoholism, asexuality, and more.
I was invested in the first 3/4 of the book, but the last 1/4 lost me.
Very intense and very disturbing. Read with courage. Clever symbolism.
beautiful, brutal...Maori phrases mixed into poetic prose...I've always wanted to live in Kerewin's tower by the sea
The last 10% of this book has some interesting things in it. The first 90% covers a surprisingly small number of events in smug, looping, wordy, verbose, pseudo-poetic prose. If you like a house being described as, "the oscillating wave thrumming in the nothingness of every atom's heart," then you'll like this book.
The main character is a terrible Mary Sue living on an independent fortune made by painting, of all things. She is a connoisseur of alcohol, herbal treatments, mushrooms, tobacco, & knives. She is very well-read and speaks at least three languages. She is an expert boat technician, fisher, carpenter, gardener, sculptor, stonemason, fist fighter, guitarist, & cook in addition to painter. She has extensive collections of jewelry and mystical ephemera from all over the world. She is able to get through to a wild child that no one else seems able to reach. She says whatever she wants whenever she wants and wins every argument she starts. She can entertain crowds with songs that she makes up on the spot even while extremely drunk. She lives in a literal seaside tower, for pete's sake. Kerewin is the walking wish-fulfillment of every wannabe self-sufficient witchy woman out there.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
Yet despite all these blessings Kerewin's a sour pickle that spends most of her time drinking heavily and feeling sorry for herself because she's alienated from her family. Why? We never find out. It's all fixed by the end, and we never find out exactly how that happened either. It might have made an interesting story.
As it is, she meets the wild child mentioned above and his long-suffering, abusive adopted father. Do they start to warm the cockles of her sour heart? You bet they do. This takes hundreds of pages despite it being practically pre-ordained.
After this stretched-out trope of typical cranky-hermit-learns-to-love, there is a surprising and shocking turn of events which gets us to the meatier part of the book, but it's a long time coming. There's a mystical section that's interesting but sort of unrelated to the rest? The abusive dad obtains some magical stone and then it's never mentioned again? And then everything's wrapped up very tidy in a brief little sliver at the end that feels rushed and pat.
There's some nice writing hidden amongst the puffed-up, self-satisfied wordplay. And there are some interesting windows into Maori culture. That's about it.
The main character is a terrible Mary Sue living on an independent fortune made by painting, of all things. She is a connoisseur of alcohol, herbal treatments, mushrooms, tobacco, & knives. She is very well-read and speaks at least three languages. She is an expert boat technician, fisher, carpenter, gardener, sculptor, stonemason, fist fighter, guitarist, & cook in addition to painter. She has extensive collections of jewelry and mystical ephemera from all over the world. She is able to get through to a wild child that no one else seems able to reach. She says whatever she wants whenever she wants and wins every argument she starts. She can entertain crowds with songs that she makes up on the spot even while extremely drunk. She lives in a literal seaside tower, for pete's sake. Kerewin is the walking wish-fulfillment of every wannabe self-sufficient witchy woman out there.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
Yet despite all these blessings Kerewin's a sour pickle that spends most of her time drinking heavily and feeling sorry for herself because she's alienated from her family. Why? We never find out. It's all fixed by the end, and we never find out exactly how that happened either. It might have made an interesting story.
As it is, she meets the wild child mentioned above and his long-suffering, abusive adopted father. Do they start to warm the cockles of her sour heart? You bet they do. This takes hundreds of pages despite it being practically pre-ordained.
After this stretched-out trope of typical cranky-hermit-learns-to-love, there is a surprising and shocking turn of events which gets us to the meatier part of the book, but it's a long time coming. There's a mystical section that's interesting but sort of unrelated to the rest? The abusive dad obtains some magical stone and then it's never mentioned again? And then everything's wrapped up very tidy in a brief little sliver at the end that feels rushed and pat.
There's some nice writing hidden amongst the puffed-up, self-satisfied wordplay. And there are some interesting windows into Maori culture. That's about it.
I have mixed feelings about this book. I can see why some people love it. The relationships between the characters themselves, their small moments together, are riveting. When Hulme pushes towards larger symbolic meaning, however, I don't think it quite works. I also found the writing to be too scattered and didn't buy the magical realism at the end. It's not that I do not enjoy works that push narrative boundaries—I read Split Tooth this month and enjoyed it tremendously—but in the case of The Bone People, all of the poems and asides felt like bloat.
Stunning. I think a mark of a good book is characters that really stick with you. I've been dreaming about Simon P. The characters are so raw and complex and complicated and you leave with so many unknowns but in a way I think that makes them even more real. And life is weird and so many shades of grey. I think that's the biggest takeaway. People aren't good or bad, they're often both. That makes us all human.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The format takes some getting used to. It was easier to understand the story when I realized that the characters were presented in a mix of spoken and interior dialogue.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse