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marioncromb's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
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
4.25
Wonderful to see an aroace (and nonbinary/gnc) main character in a Booker Prize winning book from the 80s! Honestly building a medieval stone tower by the sea to live and draw in with a well stocked booze cellar is goals tbh.
I really enjoyed spending time in the NZ setting with these characters and the ways they clashed and grew together. The book sets up several mysteries at the start that are fun to unravel and come back to at the end, although maybe some moral unease on my end at the enjoyment in unraveling one of those mysteries being 'what exactly was the traumatic abuse that happened to this child'.
The book is very long though and in the second half I was definitely flagging in places where it felt morr indulgent or repetitive. Its a little deus ex machina at the end as well, i wasn't totally convinced things could be fixed that easily, realistically. Although arguably it is about the hope of things being better, this time.
I really enjoyed spending time in the NZ setting with these characters and the ways they clashed and grew together. The book sets up several mysteries at the start that are fun to unravel and come back to at the end, although maybe some moral unease on my end at the enjoyment in unraveling one of those mysteries being '
The book is very long though and in the second half I was definitely flagging in places where it felt morr indulgent or repetitive. Its a little deus ex machina at the end as well, i wasn't totally convinced things could be fixed that easily, realistically. Although arguably it is about the hope of things being better, this time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, and Grief
Minor: Cannibalism, Addiction, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Drug use, Excrement, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, and Acephobia/Arophobia
exiles's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Alcohol, Child abuse, and Misogyny
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Pedophilia and Homophobia
aliquid's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
hm. this book has been haunting me for the last couple days.
i dont think i can ever get over kerewin giving permission. on her piling in on simon. what was i supposed to glean from that? that someone who had been the lone person able to stand up to joe and get him to stop abusing his child? who had heard joes excuses of sometimes simon just pisses me off and still thought that he shouldnt be beating his child? that she gets pissed off at simon and all of a sudden she makes sure joe knows that he can beat simon as much as he wants?
i had been started to enjoy the book before then. a bit leerily but i was intrigued by this whole, yes joe is abusive. but with the help/intervention of kerewin he is accepting that he should not do it and that he and simon can heal. and that theres ways to discipline his child that are not abusive. and that they could be a family for real. and we cut to.... simon, nearly dead in the hospital. like i really dont understand what im supposed to gain from it. that joe really did take kerewin at her word of she can tell me when to beat simon instead of really going for okay, maybe abusing my child isnt the best way. that kerewin has one smashed guitar one missing knife and all of a sudden her moral fiber is snapped. come on man.
also i wish that kerewins family troubles werent resolved in like 2 pages in the epilogue. talked abt hinted abt the whole book and we just go ya its cool joe asked em to come over and everybody loves each other? but thats not really an issue for me i just wish kerewins problems/history was talked abt more since we learn so much abt joe and simon.
i had been started to enjoy the book before then. a bit leerily but i was intrigued by this whole, yes joe is abusive. but with the help/intervention of kerewin he is accepting that he should not do it and that he and simon can heal. and that theres ways to discipline his child that are not abusive. and that they could be a family for real. and we cut to.... simon, nearly dead in the hospital. like i really dont understand what im supposed to gain from it. that joe really did take kerewin at her word of she can tell me when to beat simon instead of really going for okay, maybe abusing my child isnt the best way. that kerewin has one smashed guitar one missing knife and all of a sudden her moral fiber is snapped. come on man.
also i wish that kerewins family troubles werent resolved in like 2 pages in the epilogue. talked abt hinted abt the whole book and we just go ya its cool joe asked em to come over and everybody loves each other? but thats not really an issue for me i just wish kerewins problems/history was talked abt more since we learn so much abt joe and simon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Pedophilia and Homophobia
nannahnannah's review against another edition
2.0
Okay, so this is a review by someone who was (and still is, to a lesser extent) abused by her father.
And yeah, that's important, if you've read this book.
So if you look at the book's page, The Bone People has a rating of over four stars, which is pretty darn good on goodreads. Reviews sing its praises, etc. etc., and I just . . . can't relate.
My problem with this beautifully-written book? You guessed it! The abuse!!
I just can't get past it.
I don't know a thing about Keri Hulme's background, but unless she's faced a similar issue, her coverage of child abuse is so damn distasteful. It's like a slap in the face to all abused people who read this. Let me tell you why:
The book centers around three well-written, completely-rounded out and fully-fleshed beautiful characters: Kerewin, a rich ex-artist who's holed herself up in a self-built tower and prefers to be alone and lonely; Joe, a Maori man with a drinking problem and an equal spread of temper and charm; and his foster child Haimona (Simon), who's mute and probably one of the best characters I've read in a long time (also the reason this is 2 stars instead of 1).
So, mostly when he drinks, Joe beats Haimona, or finds a reason to beat him. And Haimona is repeatedly labeled as a "difficult" and "troubled" child. He runs away from school, steals things, sometimes breaks property, etc. And even when it's brought to Joe's attention that he does these things because he wants attention (even if it's the wrong kind of attention!), Joe continues to tell Haimona that he's a bad, BAD kid.
It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy: the kid is told so often he's BAD, that he'd begin to believe it and continue to act out. Is it not obvious to any of the characters?? (or to the writer?)
But anyway, Haimona continues to do things in his own way to communicate with the adults, and they continue to lash out at him in the worst way, and the worst thing is the book continues to say it's O K ?? Because they still somehow love him?
In one part, Joe tells Kerewin that it's okay, because "it's not like I'm beating Haimona, I'm beating the 'badness' out of him!" like W T F!? It's the most abusive thing I've ever heard in my life. And stuff I've heard personally. You are still literally beating your child. The things you tell yourself while you're doing it to reassure yourself literally doesn't matter at all, okay? It's not about how you feel while you're doing it. Literally. It's about your child.
And then in the middle-ish part of the book, Joe beats Haimona viciously enough that Haimona is hospitalized and almost dies. His head is bashed in on a door frame, and he risks permanent head trauma. Like what the fuck, I'm sorry, but really.
You know what the book does afterward? The book goes on to talk about how baaaaad the poor abuser feels, oh waah. I couldn't care less about how Joe feels after hurting his foster son, I honestly couldn't. At this point, it honestly feels like this book was written to make people feel sorry for child abusers. Like the author said "how NOVEL would it be if I wrote a book from a child abuses point of view and made people sympathetic to their pain?" HA HA. Listen, if you beat your child up, it's never, ever, EVER the child's fault.
It took me 26 years to learn this. And I'm finally standing up for myself. I'm finally distancing myself from my abuser and learning to say no and cutting him out of my life. And for this book to be sympathetic for the abuser and say the child is better off with the abuser after all is just disgusting. I'm sorry.
I love Kerewin and Haimona as characters, but the book is nasty.
Nasty.
And yeah, that's important, if you've read this book.
So if you look at the book's page, The Bone People has a rating of over four stars, which is pretty darn good on goodreads. Reviews sing its praises, etc. etc., and I just . . . can't relate.
My problem with this beautifully-written book? You guessed it! The abuse!!
I just can't get past it.
I don't know a thing about Keri Hulme's background, but unless she's faced a similar issue, her coverage of child abuse is so damn distasteful. It's like a slap in the face to all abused people who read this. Let me tell you why:
The book centers around three well-written, completely-rounded out and fully-fleshed beautiful characters: Kerewin, a rich ex-artist who's holed herself up in a self-built tower and prefers to be alone and lonely; Joe, a Maori man with a drinking problem and an equal spread of temper and charm; and his foster child Haimona (Simon), who's mute and probably one of the best characters I've read in a long time (also the reason this is 2 stars instead of 1).
So, mostly when he drinks, Joe beats Haimona, or finds a reason to beat him. And Haimona is repeatedly labeled as a "difficult" and "troubled" child. He runs away from school, steals things, sometimes breaks property, etc. And even when it's brought to Joe's attention that he does these things because he wants attention (even if it's the wrong kind of attention!), Joe continues to tell Haimona that he's a bad, BAD kid.
It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy: the kid is told so often he's BAD, that he'd begin to believe it and continue to act out. Is it not obvious to any of the characters?? (or to the writer?)
But anyway, Haimona continues to do things in his own way to communicate with the adults, and they continue to lash out at him in the worst way, and the worst thing is the book continues to say it's O K ?? Because they still somehow love him?
In one part, Joe tells Kerewin that it's okay, because "it's not like I'm beating Haimona, I'm beating the 'badness' out of him!" like W T F!? It's the most abusive thing I've ever heard in my life. And stuff I've heard personally. You are still literally beating your child. The things you tell yourself while you're doing it to reassure yourself literally doesn't matter at all, okay? It's not about how you feel while you're doing it. Literally. It's about your child.
And then in the middle-ish part of the book, Joe
You know what the book does afterward? The book goes on to talk about how baaaaad the poor abuser feels, oh waah. I couldn't care less about how Joe feels after hurting his foster son, I honestly couldn't. At this point, it honestly feels like this book was written to make people feel sorry for child abusers. Like the author said "how NOVEL would it be if I wrote a book from a child abuses point of view and made people sympathetic to their pain?" HA HA. Listen, if you beat your child up, it's never, ever, EVER the child's fault.
It took me 26 years to learn this. And I'm finally standing up for myself. I'm finally distancing myself from my abuser and learning to say no and cutting him out of my life. And for this book to be sympathetic for the abuser and say the child is better off with the abuser after all is just disgusting. I'm sorry.
I love Kerewin and Haimona as characters, but the book is nasty.
Nasty.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Alcoholism
Minor: Homophobia
yavin_iv's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Violence, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, and Cancer
Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death of parent, and Child death
Minor: Pedophilia, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Cannibalism
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
nosie's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, and Ableism
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Homophobia
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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