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jenna_smuszkiewicz's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I decided to pick up this book because I heard the main character, Kerewin, was aroace and I wanted to read more of that rep. It is very clear that Kerewin is aroace which is good. This book was just not for me. I wanted to learn more about the child's past, go in the Kerewin's path and exactly what was going on with her, and dive into the mental health of the child's adoptive father, Joe. We go a little into all of those but not enough to make the picture clear to me.
After the event (Joe beating up Simon so hard he goes into a coma) , I don't understand what is going on with the characters there, especially Joe and Kerewin. And I don't know how we get from what's happened in this book to the ending. I don't understand how they can have a happy ending without reconciling more of their past and mental health struggles and child abuse that was permitted to happen
Maybe this book is meant for other people. I get that. If you do decide to read, please read the content warnings. There is a lot in this book.
After the event
Maybe this book is meant for other people. I get that. If you do decide to read, please read the content warnings. There is a lot in this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Physical abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Child abuse, Drug use, Medical trauma, and Grief
Moderate: Chronic illness and Abandonment
Minor: Pedophilia and Adult/minor relationship
impla77'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
2.25
The good parts of this book: The prose is interesting and complicated, if a little pretentious. Even though most of the book doesn’t really have a plot, I didn’t find it boring
HOWEVER, the characters are just straight up.. horrible people, and in the last 100 pages, there is just fantastical deus ex machinas out of left field. A happy ending randomly after quite a harrowing start to the book.
HOWEVER, the characters are just straight up.. horrible people, and in the last 100 pages, there is just fantastical deus ex machinas out of left field. A happy ending randomly after quite a harrowing start to the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness
Moderate: Pedophilia, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, and Ableism
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
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
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