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nisobe's review against another edition
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Death
storyphile's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Death
Moderate: Child death and Death of parent
kodi_rae's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Medical content
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Grief
Minor: Body shaming
writingcaia's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This is the spiritual, brutal and poetic journey of three deeply traumatised humans.
Kere, a half Māori woman broken from her family, removed too from her art and her will to live, hides herself in her tower until one day having sneaked inside her abode she meets the mute and wild Simon, the long blond haired and sea foam eyed young kid the flotsam brought after a shipwreck, the only survivor of it, unable to speak for reasons unknown he can’t explain anything about who he was but there’re the strange markings on his body and something took his voice from him and made him fearful and wild. Unable to communicate his traumatised child thoughts and feelings and the reason he steals, breaks and enters peoples’ houses and acts so strangely he drives is “adoptive” father and rescuer, the Māori pakeha-life Joe completely crazy, especially since after he lost his wife and baby son. Unable to deal with Simon’s trauma and its consequences and his own loss and suffering violence seems Joe’s only option to deal with the havoc of it all. But, love is still very deep in them and it will bind these three characters unexpectedly, or maybe Simon wished it so.
There’s so much more to say about this book, this story, it moved me, it changed the way I see trauma and the violence of it on the mind and that is inflicted.
This is not an easy read, the writing is very introspective, very poetic, changes in narrative format all the time, plays with words, but you get to see the inner works of their traumas, and also their hopes, their love, another thing that makes it harder to follow is that the POV changes without warning, and there’s also a lot of Māori expressions (which I only found out in the end were most of them translated at the end of the book, still…), and, then, there’s the brutality, the unfiltered violence.
I fell in love with this tale very quickly although it took me longer than usual to get through it. I won’t recommend it to squeamish, easily disturbed people, everyone else yes, it’s such an ode to the Māori survival among the pakeha, the borderline between being one and the other, loving the roots and respecting them, while adapting to the pakeha world, it is also an ode to different people, mixed and broken, to love of all types even aromantic and asexual, which I found amazing in a book released in 1984. This was a novel debut by a Māori poet, immediately booker prize winner and a classic in the making. I definitely wish I can reread it soon. So, yeah, go read it.
Kere, a half Māori woman broken from her family, removed too from her art and her will to live, hides herself in her tower until one day having sneaked inside her abode she meets the mute and wild Simon, the long blond haired and sea foam eyed young kid the flotsam brought after a shipwreck, the only survivor of it, unable to speak for reasons unknown he can’t explain anything about who he was but there’re the strange markings on his body and something took his voice from him and made him fearful and wild. Unable to communicate his traumatised child thoughts and feelings and the reason he steals, breaks and enters peoples’ houses and acts so strangely he drives is “adoptive” father and rescuer, the Māori pakeha-life Joe completely crazy, especially since after he lost his wife and baby son. Unable to deal with Simon’s trauma and its consequences and his own loss and suffering violence seems Joe’s only option to deal with the havoc of it all. But, love is still very deep in them and it will bind these three characters unexpectedly, or maybe Simon wished it so.
There’s so much more to say about this book, this story, it moved me, it changed the way I see trauma and the violence of it on the mind and that is inflicted.
This is not an easy read, the writing is very introspective, very poetic, changes in narrative format all the time, plays with words, but you get to see the inner works of their traumas, and also their hopes, their love, another thing that makes it harder to follow is that the POV changes without warning, and there’s also a lot of Māori expressions (which I only found out in the end were most of them translated at the end of the book, still…), and, then, there’s the brutality, the unfiltered violence.
I fell in love with this tale very quickly although it took me longer than usual to get through it. I won’t recommend it to squeamish, easily disturbed people, everyone else yes, it’s such an ode to the Māori survival among the pakeha, the borderline between being one and the other, loving the roots and respecting them, while adapting to the pakeha world, it is also an ode to different people, mixed and broken, to love of all types even aromantic and asexual, which I found amazing in a book released in 1984. This was a novel debut by a Māori poet, immediately booker prize winner and a classic in the making. I definitely wish I can reread it soon. So, yeah, go read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Self harm
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Colonisation, and Sexism
Minor: Drug abuse, Animal death, Cancer, and Child death
mscalls's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Racism
lilcoppertop's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Cannibalism, Car accident, Child death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Pedophilia, and Suicidal thoughts
mariebrunelm's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I started writing a blurb for this book but I couldn't put my finger on the atmosphere. How to describe something that is so dark, so poetic but also so mundane? The Bone People is a sneaky book. It starts quite lyrical, lures you in with the author's very unique way with words, and slowly lets darkness seep in until you can't stop reading but you're increasingly disturbed by what you discover. This is a harrowing, harrowing book. It's mostly about the peculiar relation between the three main characters - reclusive artist Kerewin Holmes, the boy who meets her and disrupts her world, and the boy's father Joe who is capable of the most tender fatherly love and the most excruciating violence. These three humans gravitate towards each other, staying at arm's length or coming dangerously close to one another.
The author's Maori culture shines through, seeping into words and sentences to add a glint here, a depth there.
Rep: aro/ace MC.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Grief, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Cancer and Mental illness
Minor: Cannibalism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Vomit
wai's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I knew nothing about this book going into it. I had never heard of it before, and had just found it in a 2nd and Charles for a good price and thought the cover was beautiful and intriguing. I've been trying to really expand my reading list and read books from different countries and cultures, as an American. I cracked open this book having no idea what to expect.
In ways, I think that was a good thing - I didn't have other people's perceptions of it biasing me as I read. And this is absolutely the kind of book that people either love or hate, and both positions are equally valid. I think if I had read this when I was younger I would have hated it and probably not even finished it. But as it stands now, I found it to be a very thought provoking and complex book. I feel like I need to re-read it at least two more times to even begin to digest it. I have so many questions!
As many others have mentioned, the book largely deals with the issue of child abuse and contains many graphic passages depicting the father figure, Joe, beating his adopted son, Simon, who is also mute and communicates largely through sign language and writing. Throughout the novel we learn about this, about how Joe's extended family have reacted (disapproving but trying to rectify it within the family) and how Joe's past abuse has shaped him to also rely on violence. We get to know Joe prior to learning the extent of his physical abuse against Simon, and thus end up with a conflict that exists in many families, my own included - how do we reconcile Joe as a sympathetic figure who has faced multiple traumas himself vs the Joe we now see as abusive? It's a reality that many parents have fallen into and what's been dubbed the "Cycle of Abuse", where there is legitimate love and care on their end but only know how to handle children through the example of their own abusive parents, and ultimately leads to the confusion of their own children as they get older and have to confront how they feel about parents who traumatized them while simultaneously loved them. Ultimately though, I don't think this was handled properly and the redemption arc that Joe goes through with both prison time and the fantasy element of reconnecting with his Maori god(s)/religion. It's not enough and feels inappropriate, although I feel like in the 1980s people saw violence as punishment for children as acceptable generally (spanking/hiding/etc.) and that Joe was simply a "good man who took it too far" which does not translate to modern views on parenting and abuse.
Something that I didn't really understand was this minor theme of homosexuality that continued to be brought up as well. There are hints that Joe is gay or bisexual, having had a relationship with another man when he was young (a teenager or early 20's I think?) and yet gay men are condemned/seen as distasteful by the main characters. One is even an actual pedophile, and used to liken gayness to pedophilia, particularly in men. My impression was that Simon was also facing sexual abuse from someone, not Joe but one of his relatives that routinely babysat him, and there are some vague implications towards this, but nothing ever comes of it. It just fades off into the background of Joe's violence and ultimate arrest. This is also very strange given that the other main character, Kerewin, ultimately comes out as asexual to Joe when he asks what her thoughts on marriage were. She has no sexual urges or interest, has never had sex with anyone, and this doesn't change throughout the book. In comparison this is quite progressive and an aspect that I really liked, but it is definitely confusing overall in terms of what Hulme is trying to say about sexuality (and potentially gender?).
I also did not like the end of the book where everything seems to be wrapped up nice and tidy where Joe is redeemed and reaccepted into their family and everyone is together again, but I also wondered if that was actually meant to be seen as real? The magical realism element is most potent in these final passages, including showing Kerewin being healed in her stomach cancer by a mysterious figure and such. Joe and Simon's final passages had been left off in very vague ways that could be interpreted as them dying, and so I thought perhaps the epilogue was meant to be them in their Heaven, emphasizing a sort of What Could Have Been. I don't know.
I still am not sure exactly how I feel about this book but I know that it will stay with me for a very long time.
In ways, I think that was a good thing - I didn't have other people's perceptions of it biasing me as I read. And this is absolutely the kind of book that people either love or hate, and both positions are equally valid. I think if I had read this when I was younger I would have hated it and probably not even finished it. But as it stands now, I found it to be a very thought provoking and complex book. I feel like I need to re-read it at least two more times to even begin to digest it. I have so many questions!
As many others have mentioned, the book largely deals with the issue of child abuse and contains many graphic passages depicting the father figure, Joe, beating his adopted son, Simon, who is also mute and communicates largely through sign language and writing. Throughout the novel we learn about this, about how Joe's extended family have reacted (disapproving but trying to rectify it within the family) and how Joe's past abuse has shaped him to also rely on violence. We get to know Joe prior to learning the extent of his physical abuse against Simon, and thus end up with a conflict that exists in many families, my own included - how do we reconcile Joe as a sympathetic figure who has faced multiple traumas himself vs the Joe we now see as abusive? It's a reality that many parents have fallen into and what's been dubbed the "Cycle of Abuse", where there is legitimate love and care on their end but only know how to handle children through the example of their own abusive parents, and ultimately leads to the confusion of their own children as they get older and have to confront how they feel about parents who traumatized them while simultaneously loved them. Ultimately though, I don't think this was handled properly and the redemption arc that Joe goes through with both prison time and the fantasy element of reconnecting with his Maori god(s)/religion. It's not enough and feels inappropriate, although I feel like in the 1980s people saw violence as punishment for children as acceptable generally (spanking/hiding/etc.) and that Joe was simply a "good man who took it too far" which does not translate to modern views on parenting and abuse.
Something that I didn't really understand was this minor theme of homosexuality that continued to be brought up as well. There are hints that Joe is gay or bisexual, having had a relationship with another man when he was young (a teenager or early 20's I think?) and yet gay men are condemned/seen as distasteful by the main characters. One is even an actual pedophile, and used to liken gayness to pedophilia, particularly in men. My impression was that Simon was also facing sexual abuse from someone, not Joe but one of his relatives that routinely babysat him, and there are some vague implications towards this, but nothing ever comes of it. It just fades off into the background of Joe's violence and ultimate arrest. This is also very strange given that the other main character, Kerewin, ultimately comes out as asexual to Joe when he asks what her thoughts on marriage were. She has no sexual urges or interest, has never had sex with anyone, and this doesn't change throughout the book. In comparison this is quite progressive and an aspect that I really liked, but it is definitely confusing overall in terms of what Hulme is trying to say about sexuality (and potentially gender?).
I also did not like the end of the book where everything seems to be wrapped up nice and tidy where Joe is redeemed and reaccepted into their family and everyone is together again, but I also wondered if that was actually meant to be seen as real? The magical realism element is most potent in these final passages, including showing Kerewin being healed in her stomach cancer by a mysterious figure and such. Joe and Simon's final passages had been left off in very vague ways that could be interpreted as them dying, and so I thought perhaps the epilogue was meant to be them in their Heaven, emphasizing a sort of What Could Have Been. I don't know.
I still am not sure exactly how I feel about this book but I know that it will stay with me for a very long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Violence, Physical abuse, and Grief
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Drug use, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Homophobia and Pedophilia
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