berlinbibliophile 's review for:

The Bone People by Keri Hulme
3.0

This is an extremely upsetting book, but also a really well-constructed one. It deals with horrifying, graphic child abuse, couched sometimes in dreamy prose-poetry, sometimes in stark, bald sentences that really drive home the horror. And then again, that child abuse is forgiven surprisingly easily and quickly by all involved. So I didn't enjoy reading the book, but I'm glad I did, for the extraordinary writing and structure, if not the content.