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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
I liked the writing style. I thought the first few pages were beautiful and they were what led to me purchasing the book. Unfortunately the story just dragged on and on and I was 150 pages or so in without knowing what the point was. I also didn't really like any of the characters and stopped caring enough to find out where the story was going.
Wow. This one stayed with me for months after. Brutal and sad, with a bit of hope.
The Bone People shattered me. Not just once, but several times. I've rarely had a book affect me so much. It's a difficult read, but well worth the emotional effort.
A friend of mine recommended this novel to me probably 25 years ago (Nicole D., if you're reading this, THANK YOU!) and I have finally gotten around to reading it. I loved every facet of this large, poetic, unlikely and very un-PC novel. It's characters are larger than life, angrier and more wounded and aching than the average protagonists, than any author these days would dare to portray, yet they breathe on the page like friends and family, the kind you love and hate at the same time. Their struggles are real, and the language of the novel evinces real pain, real sadness, so that at times it is difficult to read. Still, the plot rocks on with such inexorable certainty, like a great weight in high gravity, and it becomes unbearable to not reach the end, even when one wants it to continue.
Some very uncomfortable reading (prepare to sob!) in this disquieting novel about isolation, cultural survival, trauma, dysfunctional love and extremely violent child abuse. Hulme's writing style is vivid, graphic, poetic; her leading lady is a memorable character, refreshingly liberated but the novel is overlong and the chaotic final segment despoils the importance of what went before. It's worth pointing out that Hulme put the ending in the prologue, which makes a bit more sense when you re-read as a conclusion. Recommended.
Isn't it fascinating how differently books strike you at different times. I orignally read this about seven years ago, and I took months over it. That implies to me now that I was only reading it because I felt I ought to. Despite that, my feeling on seeing it as part of a GroupRead Challenge was that I'd like to read it again.
I almost didn't read it, though. Got it out of the library and was so busy doing other things that it was due back and I hadn't got beyond the Prologue. It would probably have been practical to return it, however, I renewed it and started reading properly. And I'm glad I did.
I'm not going to say any more except to praise the writing. Keri Hulme has crafted a beautiful piece of literature. All the readers' senses are evoked; we are delighted with fragments of poetry, completely realistic and involving dialogue, and prose that conveys pictures of the scenery and the scenes and the people in such an integral way that you're not even aware you're reading descriptions. This book is a taonga, and it now goes onto my list of must-read-again-in-the-future, and buy-when-I'm-financial.
I almost didn't read it, though. Got it out of the library and was so busy doing other things that it was due back and I hadn't got beyond the Prologue. It would probably have been practical to return it, however, I renewed it and started reading properly. And I'm glad I did.
I'm not going to say any more except to praise the writing. Keri Hulme has crafted a beautiful piece of literature. All the readers' senses are evoked; we are delighted with fragments of poetry, completely realistic and involving dialogue, and prose that conveys pictures of the scenery and the scenes and the people in such an integral way that you're not even aware you're reading descriptions. This book is a taonga, and it now goes onto my list of must-read-again-in-the-future, and buy-when-I'm-financial.
The Bone People is, quite simply, the most powerful, moving, stunning book I have ever read. The characters are well drawn. I wanted to hate Joe, but he was in so much pain that I couldn't, really. I never excused what he did - and Hulme did not ask the reader to do that. She challenges the reader to look at our society as a whole; to see what we do to people and how we as communities play a role in creating some of the violent, terrible situations that result in children being abused.
I know that some people found that the mysticism in the latter section of the novel took away from the book. I disagree. I found that it fit in well with the story and helped flesh out some of the messages the author was trying to get across. Some of the imagery in this novel is absolutely breathtaking. I have never been so utterly moved and transfixed by a novel as I have by this one. It challenged my perceptions and it made me a different person when I was finished it.
The book is quite long, and it can be slow in a few spots. I found that I had to read it twice. I admit I did hate Joe the first time I read the novel; I really only began to understand him the second time I read the book. This is a complex, multi-layered work that speaks to a wide range of issues: child abuse, spirituality, community, and culture.
I highly recommend this novel to everyone. You may not like it or agree with it, but you will be impacted by it. It still haunts me today.
I know that some people found that the mysticism in the latter section of the novel took away from the book. I disagree. I found that it fit in well with the story and helped flesh out some of the messages the author was trying to get across. Some of the imagery in this novel is absolutely breathtaking. I have never been so utterly moved and transfixed by a novel as I have by this one. It challenged my perceptions and it made me a different person when I was finished it.
The book is quite long, and it can be slow in a few spots. I found that I had to read it twice. I admit I did hate Joe the first time I read the novel; I really only began to understand him the second time I read the book. This is a complex, multi-layered work that speaks to a wide range of issues: child abuse, spirituality, community, and culture.
I highly recommend this novel to everyone. You may not like it or agree with it, but you will be impacted by it. It still haunts me today.
This is a strange, evocative book, with a wonderful heroine. It’s fluidly and delightfully written, sometimes a little fey, but it isn’t afraid of anything, from death to cannibalism to child abuse. It took me to an edge every once in a while, and I still have some trouble accepting one of the characters. But it’s a book about transformation and redemption, and it refuses to leave anyone out of the human circle. So, finishing the novel, I ended up with a lot to think about.
It’s set in New Zealand and is full of Maori words, so one is constantly checking the glossary at the back. The culture, land and people are drawn in a very natural way, and you never doubt that you are in a different place.
It’s set in New Zealand and is full of Maori words, so one is constantly checking the glossary at the back. The culture, land and people are drawn in a very natural way, and you never doubt that you are in a different place.
(I do not do star ratings anymore, as I don't think they are a fair assessment to literature.)
- Definitely TW for child abuse.
-A well written asexual protagonist in a book written in the 80s??? Thank you Keri
- Definitely TW for child abuse.
-A well written asexual protagonist in a book written in the 80s??? Thank you Keri