Scan barcode
A review by futurama1979
Bone Gap by Laura Ruby
5.0
Reread 11/22 for a class.
There's something so amazing about going back to a book as an adult that totally changed you as a reader when you were 16 and finding it equally enchanting. I want to talk a little bit about genre first, because it's something that is both super hazy and super atmospheric in this book. When very, very pressed to label this book with one genre, magical realism is the only apt one that really comes to mind. But even then, this book is more than a magical realism book. It has the fantasy and whimsy of a fairytale and the horror and dread of a thriller. Ruby so masterfully picks and chooses aspects from a handful of genres and uses them all to the absolute maximum of their potential. When I think of other YA magical realism novels that are done with this much attention to the particular story the author is telling within the genre expression, the only other thing that even comes to mind is [b:The Raven Boys|17675462|The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, #1)|Maggie Stiefvater|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1573508485l/17675462._SY75_.jpg|18970934] and its sequels. And for me, putting any book up with the Raven Cycle is really high praise.
Ruby's characters are so unique, so well-rounded and developed, and so lovable. Roza and Finn as the main points of view we see the story from both are written believably and consistently and at the same time completely defy readers' expectations. Roza is fully fleshed out beneath her beauty, and her character is a super nuanced dissection of the pressure women feel under an objectifying male gaze while also viciously, defiantly maintaining her agency and fighting for her freedom from that objectification by literally whatever means possible. Finn, too, has an incredibly empowering, subversive story in which he is able to work through the utter frustration of his disability (which Ruby still lets him feel and which doesn't magically just go away like so many disability narratives in fantasy-based YA) to find real power and real strength in it without being 'cured'.
And of course Petey, who was my favourite the first time I read this book, is a joy. She has that toughness and bite while still being vulnerable and needing reassurance. She has the power to tell people that don't matter to her to leave her the fuck alone and she has the honestly and openness to tell people that do matter to her what she's still insecure about. She rejects and defies a male gaze while never cutting ties with her identity as a girl and her femininity. She just fucking rocks.
I've never read another novel like Bone Gap and I probably never will. That's a good thing; this book deserves to stand in a class all its own.
There's something so amazing about going back to a book as an adult that totally changed you as a reader when you were 16 and finding it equally enchanting. I want to talk a little bit about genre first, because it's something that is both super hazy and super atmospheric in this book. When very, very pressed to label this book with one genre, magical realism is the only apt one that really comes to mind. But even then, this book is more than a magical realism book. It has the fantasy and whimsy of a fairytale and the horror and dread of a thriller. Ruby so masterfully picks and chooses aspects from a handful of genres and uses them all to the absolute maximum of their potential. When I think of other YA magical realism novels that are done with this much attention to the particular story the author is telling within the genre expression, the only other thing that even comes to mind is [b:The Raven Boys|17675462|The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, #1)|Maggie Stiefvater|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1573508485l/17675462._SY75_.jpg|18970934] and its sequels. And for me, putting any book up with the Raven Cycle is really high praise.
Ruby's characters are so unique, so well-rounded and developed, and so lovable. Roza and Finn as the main points of view we see the story from both are written believably and consistently and at the same time completely defy readers' expectations. Roza is fully fleshed out beneath her beauty, and her character is a super nuanced dissection of the pressure women feel under an objectifying male gaze while also viciously, defiantly maintaining her agency and fighting for her freedom from that objectification by literally whatever means possible. Finn, too, has an incredibly empowering, subversive story in which he is able to work through the utter frustration of his disability (which Ruby still lets him feel and which doesn't magically just go away like so many disability narratives in fantasy-based YA) to find real power and real strength in it without being 'cured'.
And of course Petey, who was my favourite the first time I read this book, is a joy. She has that toughness and bite while still being vulnerable and needing reassurance. She has the power to tell people that don't matter to her to leave her the fuck alone and she has the honestly and openness to tell people that do matter to her what she's still insecure about. She rejects and defies a male gaze while never cutting ties with her identity as a girl and her femininity. She just fucking rocks.
I've never read another novel like Bone Gap and I probably never will. That's a good thing; this book deserves to stand in a class all its own.