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The Bone People

4.06 of 5 stars 4.06 · rating details · 9,061 ratings · 862 reviews

In a tower on the New Zealand sea lives Kerewin Holmes, part Maori, part European, an artist estranged from her art, a woman in exile from her family. One night her solitude is disrupted by a visitor—a speechless, mercurial boy named Simon, who tries to steal from her and then repays her with his most precious possession. As Kerewin succumbs to Simon's feral charm, she als...more

Paperback, 450 pages

Published October 7th 1986 by Penguin Books (first published February 1984)

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Jun 03, 2012 Whitaker rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, new-zealand, 2012-read

This novel is a shining jewel, one with a huge flaw in its centre.

diamond with a flaw

It is still, however, an impressive and beautiful work, and a hugely ambitious one: an attempt to create a story that marries the disparate identities—Maori and European—that make up present day New Zealand. There is a realism-based story of friendship, self-destruction, and child abuse, and there is a symbolism-filled story of healing, catharsis, and the necessary fusing of Maori and European civilisations. Each is well-told but they don’t fit together. This is a problem because they are the same story. Hulme’s writing sparkles and plays fantastic tricks of light and manages to—mostly—obscure that flaw, but can’t make it go away.

The three main characters are Joe, Kerewin, and Simon/Haimona. They are respectively Maori, Maori-European, and European. All are estranged from their families and cultures, and deeply damaged. In each other, they find comfort and solace, but also hurt and pain. As I noted, a key story element in the novel is child abuse. It’s horrific and at the same time is a necessary trigger for the eventual catharsis that occurs.

When asked whether Simon/Haimona is a Christ figure, Keri Hulme, in an interview, replied that she doesn’t like categorising him like that because it might cast an approbatory light on the child abuse that occurs. She went on to say that she wanted to write about child abuse because it is a problem in New Zealand that is not acknowledged.

I can understand this desire. We can’t, however, get away from the symbolic, religious elements of the story because they seem just too carefully thought out and constructed. We have a trinity; we have a child that is “sacrificed” to a greater end; we have a father figure called Joseph; we have a mother figure who is a virgin; we even have a powerful image of the three in one: It is impossible to not see religious symbolism in this. To cap it all, the strength of the narrative derives its power from that symbolism.

These elements are not forced. They carry weight in terms of who the characters are and in terms of their narrative arc. But the story of these individuals has a powerful current that runs counter to the symbolism of the narrative arc. It is difficult on the one hand to decry the abuse and at the same time to approve the catharsis that follows, but this is what the work demands.

That Hulme even manages to fuse this contradiction into a whole is testimony to the strength of her writing. But it is not enough. The tension is just too great, and so, we see in it a crack, a cleavage that is not healed. Was this intentional: a symbol on a meta-fictional level of the cleavage between Maori and European civilisation in New Zealand? If so, that would be too clever by half. I would prefer actually that Hulme wanted to tell this story, and tried and failed to resolve its inherent contradictory forces. Somehow the passion behind that creative impulse moves me more than the idea of a cold crafting of a deliberately flawed work.

[An interesting discussion the book may be read at The Guardian Books Blog](less)

21 likes · like · see review

Sep 06, 2007 Jude rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone who is inetersted in unusual works of fiction

I have read this book 11 times. It's not because of my faulty memory (although I do have one), it is because this is my favorite fiction book of all time. The shape is unusual for a novel - it is not told in one voice or from one point of view. At times there is an omniscient narrator and at others it is told in the first person. It is the story of the journeys of three people back to the landscape of family. Sometimes free verse, sometimes standard prose, always poetic. Keri Hulme plays with th...more

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Jul 26, 2007 Lucy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2006

i loved this book so much! i don't know why it's taken me so long to write this post, since i've been wanting to rave about the book since i finished it. i was a bit dubious when i read the introductory note about it having non-standard grammar etc, but it was so good! i think i even liked it enough to kick cryptonomicon off my literary speed dating list, except that i don't think it would create the right impression... the language is beautiful and the characters are wonderfully real and comple...more

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Aug 19, 2007 Meredith rated it 4 of 5 stars

I cannot put my finger on why I love this book. I didn't really think it all that special when I read it, but it has stayed in my mind so vividly when many a lesser book has dissipated from my memory. I think the authors descriptions are understated while being vivid. I read the book years ago and I can still remember clearly descriptions of meals cooked, of the matter-of-fact efficiency the main character displayed in her solitude. All of the characters are overtly flawed, and the author doesn'...more

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Jul 25, 2007 Lee rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I recommended this book to my book club several years ago, the only other woman who had read it glared at me and said "if we pick this book, I am going to be REALLY mad at you" and so I withdrew the suggestion. This winner of the Man Booker prize is painful to read. It forces the reader to consider the complexity of human nature and behavior -- how thin the line can be between love and abuse. It is set in New Zealand and is about three wounded and likeable characters - a man, a woman, and a...more

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Mar 02, 2012 Bettie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Bettie by: Gift from laura

Shelves: books-with-a-passport, published-1984, booker-winner, winter-20112012, new-zealand, paper-read, bedside, tbr-busting-2012

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 06, 2007 Charmayne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Read this for Intro English my freshman year and recently re-read it.
The book centers around three main characters, but their relationship with one another is best left up to the reader to determine as the story unfolds.
Hulme is a self-identified bicultural writer, which makes The Bone People a bicultural text, incorporating both Maori and Pakeha influences within the New Zealand setting. According to my professor: "One of Hulme's high school teachers, responding to her writing, told her her wr...more

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Jul 17, 2010 L rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a strange style Hulme has used to present her story. It took me probably 15 or 20 pages to figure out how to read this book. But once it opened for me--wow! By page 34, I love both Kerewin (artist (estranged from her art), exile (from her family), dislikes people, especially children) and Simon (the child, naturally, speechless, which is less expected).

By the half-way point Hulme has moved away from the sunny view of "cranky loner woman falls in love with strange child and all is happy." N...more

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May 20, 2008 Thomas Warf rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 11, 2007 Courtney rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: awardwinners, bookerprize, fiction

Set in New Zealand, the novel chronicles the complicated relationships between three emotional outcasts of mixed European and Maori heritage. Kerewin Holmes is a painter and a loner, convinced that "to care for anything is to invite disaster." Her isolation is disrupted one day when a six-year-old mute boy, Simon, breaks into her house. The sole survivor of a mysterious shipwreck, Simon has been adopted by a widower Maori factory worker, Joe, who is both tender and brutal toward the boy. Through...more

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Aug 07, 2007 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

My all time favorite book. Part poetry, part allegory, part narrative... the writing enticed me to attempt the book just one more time all through college, until I finally found my affinity for it. My life has consistently spiralled back to poor Kerewin, and I still haven't found what brings me back time after time. Is it the language? The landscape? The story of Simon, finally able to speak and integrate his trauma? I am now finding that Simon gave me unbelievable empathy for my own child, who'...more

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Aug 13, 2007 Jenny Schmenny rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

I considered giving this four stars because it's convoluted and ponderous, with implausible characters. But I like that, and I love the lyrical wordiness, and the great, wrenching emotionalism.

Another thing: I tend to not notice that books have glossaries until after I've plowed all the way through. I did that with A Clockwork Orange when I was 12, and I've done it twice with The Bone People. I found it pretty hard to glean Maori from context.

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Mar 03, 2009 Isis rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: literary-fiction

I out myself as a philistine, I guess, with my dislike of this painfully literary book, which I read only because I was in New Zealand and thought I ought to read a famous NZ author. Once I got past the aggressively defensive introduction (Idiosyncratic Author is idiosyncratic! I can dizzily swap first-person POV and use my own grammar and make up my own words because I am Artistic!) and the Mary-Sueish tinge of the central character being named after the author (*headdesk*), I found this book.....more

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Jun 30, 2010 Caitlin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, contemporary-fiction

Kerewin Holmes is a reclusive artist secluded in her stony tower in a small town in New Zealand. Joseph Gillayley is a Maori factory worker and a widow. Simon is his foster son, a mute and feral child washed ashore in a shipwreck. The three find one another when Simon breaks in to Kerewin’s house and the emotionally detached Kerewin soon finds herself drawn into the mystery of Simon’s past and his struggle to be understood and accepted. Joe seems to be a caring foster father, but his rearing of...more Kerewin Holmes is a reclusive artist secluded in her stony tower in a small town in New Zealand. Joseph Gillayley is a Maori factory worker and a widow. Simon is his foster son, a mute and feral child washed ashore in a shipwreck. The three find one another when Simon breaks in to Kerewin’s house and the emotionally detached Kerewin soon finds herself drawn into the mystery of Simon’s past and his struggle to be understood and accepted. Joe seems to be a caring foster father, but his rearing of Simon is anything but orthodox. He shares his smokes and drinks with the seven-year-old and seems to hardly care if the boy shows up for school or runs to Kerewin’s for the day. Yet he cares for the boy tenderly as he wakes in terror from nightmares of his past life. To Joe and Simon, Kerewin is a savior. She is someone who will accept them and perhaps understand their life as outsiders. But as their friendship grows, Kerewin will discover a darkness in Joe and Simon.

The winner of the Man Booker Prize, this book is beautiful, sad, and a bit challenging. The style is different from anything I’ve ever read. The author includes snippets of song and poetry along with passages in the Maori native tongue, similar to the way The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao incorporates Spanish text. The narrative also jumps from first to third person, shifting from the perspectives of each of the three main characters and back to an omniscient narrative. There is also a lot of dream imagery which gives the text a stream-of-consciousness flow and a surreal feeling. This style was completely foreign to me, making it a bit difficult to become completely engrossed, but it also made the book seem more exotic. It’s appropriate given the emphasis on the Maori people and the underlying message about the spirit of traditional New Zealand. The story has a lot of dark and light and I’ve kept back the most important revelation in the book for those who may choose to read and still be surprised.

To see more of my reviews, head to http://yearofmagicalreading.wordpress...(less)

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Mar 07, 2008 Shandy rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Amber

This is a book that people either love or hate. It deals with issues that are normally in black and white, and paints them in shades of gray.

The protagonist, Kerewin Holmes, part white, part Maori, lives alone in a lighthouse in New Zealand. Set in her ways, she is content to live out her days in solitude. One day a mysterious, silent, blonde boy winds up on her beach. Unsure how to handle this situation, she deals with it the best she can by taking him in and slowly figures out who his caretake...more

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Apr 13, 2008 sab rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to sab by: Saw someone's fanatical 5 star and thought I should check it out

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I'm finding it really difficult to write about this book simply because I know I will fail in giving it its full justice. I was completely absorbed in it, constantly wanting to know what was going to happen and, simultaneously, not knowing how or why I was so engrossed. The writing is stunning, original, unpredictable and INTERESTING. The poetry at the beginning of the whole novel is gorgeous. The descriptions of preparing meals really adds to the smells, sights and sounds of the culture. I don'...more I'm finding it really difficult to write about this book simply because I know I will fail in giving it its full justice. I was completely absorbed in it, constantly wanting to know what was going to happen and, simultaneously, not knowing how or why I was so engrossed. The writing is stunning, original, unpredictable and INTERESTING. The poetry at the beginning of the whole novel is gorgeous. The descriptions of preparing meals really adds to the smells, sights and sounds of the culture. I don't mind that I didn't understand a lot of the novel- both between the language and the dream-like, mythical abstraction of sections- because the *feel* of the book is very right.
I love how Hulme provides insight into the characters' individual histories simply to give even more dimension. (I.e. Joe having briefly loved a man!? Why that's there, and for what, 2 sentences, I do not know, but man, that's good stuff! Perhaps because Kerewin is so androgynous?) On the flip side, I know that Hulme is showing the complexities and grays of people's characters, but, dang, I have to say that I think Joe is forgiven way too easily. I don't care how good he can be to Simon, this monster in him is unacceptable. That, along with how brutal people often even speak to Simon was hard for me to sit with. If you love somebody, set them free, yo! In the mean time, Kerewin is so (sorry for lack of better word) cool to me (she was my favorite point of view) but I didn't understand why she didn't work harder to make the violence stop. In any case, besides these few resentments, I care deeply about the characters and how they develop.
The book, however, started to lose my complete attention the closer I got to the end and that makes me sad! Not so much as to what actually happens but as to how Hulme had spent hundreds and hundreds of pages developing each character and event (and, oh, sooooo well done!) and then she kind of...I don't know, something was different. (If anyone reading this has read the book and can clue me in as to what shifted for me, please comment! It started around the time of the Kaumatua which was also cool in itself!)
Regardless, I was still astonished by the novel. Keri Hulme is an extraordinary writer. (Interesting that the main female character's name Kerewin Holmes, is so similar to that of the author's, hmmmm?)

By the way, I think this phrase/definition helps to understand a little more:
E nga iwi o nga iwi = O the bones of the people (where 'bones' stands for ancestors or relations), or, O the people of the bones (i.e. the beginning people, the people who make another people.)(less)

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Feb 05, 2008 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 06, 2007 Maria M. Elmvang rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cultural, owned, 2006, 3-stars

I read this 7 years ago and really liked it, but couldn't remember much of it, so I wanted to read it again. Honestly, I'm not too sure what I think of it now. It's a fascinating story, but at the same time rather depressing, and the ending is... well, is not an ending. A lot of threads are left dangling and I'm left wondering what happens next. I'm not altogether sure that's a bad thing, but then I'm not sure it's a good thing either... It's a very, very different book from what I usually read,...more

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Sep 09, 2007 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Just finished it. I have to say, it is a difficult read, I think mostly because of the whiskey induced, puzzling prose. However, since I love puzzles, I parsed this one out in this way... This main character, she is alcoholic, but totally in control of herself. She reserves all her energy for herself, is mostly androgenous, and is wound up in this hybrid European/Maori mix... She is all of both. She is fascinated by spirals, and in a way, the book is written in a spiral, switching viewpoints as...more

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May 06, 2008 Marnie Morales rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone who loves to read

Recommended to Marnie by: Nikku

Shelves: all-time-favorites

Quick Synposis: Novel - A Moari recluse finds a "family" with a orphaned boy of unknown origins and his adoptive Maori father. Being part of a family means being privy to its secrets and pain.

Probably my favorite book ever. I always tell people how I cried myself to sleep for a week while reading this book. It's so good it hurts. I think I have lived a pretty painless happy life. So to read about trauma and pain sometimes seems a bit like watching from the outside. I can't always connect to the...more

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Sep 11, 2007 Erin rated it 1 of 5 stars

I hate this book. I'm not sure that there is any book on the planet I dislike as much as this one. I read it for a book group several years ago, and I was the only member of the group who didn't adore it. I was shocked that my opinion of the book was diametrically opposed to that of every other member of the group. I remember going on a rant about how horrible this book was to the literacy coach at Ryder Academy (oh, 87th Street, how I miss you), and then chucking it several feet across the clas...more

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Oct 23, 2007 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars

I don't much care for the star metric of rating books along the like - dislike spectrum. it is at best an imperfect proxy for communicating both the quality and impact of a book. i can't, for example, honestly say that "i really liked" this book; hulme's narrative left me feeling manipulated and abused.

its a simple enough story of the relationship between a woman, a mute boy and his father. and i think many people might mistakenly assume that this is a story fundamentally about colonialism and...more

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Sep 03, 2007 Glen rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book. It was very creative in the way that it gave a voice to a character that couldn't speak. It was also unique in that it was almost presented in a way that the main character wasn't the protagonist. It was a Booker Prize winner though, so the expectation is high. It might be hard to follow the dialogue if the reader isn't familiar with some Kiwi slang. There is a glossary in the back for many Maori words, but there are a variety of New Zealand English words that will mean noth...more

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Aug 25, 2007 Ruby rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: general_fiction

The book is set in New Zealand and revolves around three broken people who lives become entangled. It is heart-wrenching and disturbing...yet very beautiful. When I originally read this book in the late '80s and it haunted me for a long time. I was very drawn to it even though I had found it emotionally draining. It's a difficult read, partly because of the content (child abuse, alcoholism, etc.) and partly because of the writing style. I couldn't get it out of my mind. Almost 10 years later I r...more

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Jan 13, 2009 Jesse rated it 5 of 5 stars

This story centers on Kerewin, the author's doppelganger, an individualist who has built her dream house - The Tower - on the edge of a small New Zealand town. She's determined to go it alone, and lives in her tower in isolation, fishing for food in the local bay, and eschewing most contact with others. Kerewin is stalked and befriended by one of the local boys, a mysterious orphan named Simon. Simon doesn't talk, and gets into trouble; I imagine he'd be labeled autistic, if this was the kind of...more

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Jan 03, 2009 Discoverylover marked it as to-read

"Integrating both Maori myth and New Zealand reality, The Bone People became the most successful novel in New Zealand publishing history when it appeared in 1984. Set on the South Island beaches of New Zealand, a harsh environment, the novel chronicles the complicated relationships between three emotional outcasts of mixed European and Maori heritage. Kerewin Holmes is a painter and a loner, convinced that "to care for anything is to invite disaster." Her isolation is disrupted one day when a si...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 11, 2013 Kathy Davie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, history, homey, horror

A sad story about a dysfunctional group of people in New Zealand.

It won a Booker Prize and a Pegasus Prize for Literature. I can understand this, although why obtuse and confused always seems to accompany such winners continually raises questions in my mind.

My Take
There are two things I loved about this story: the incorporation of Maori culture and the general idea of the storyline. I hated the cruel side of Joe. That everyone just kept brushing it under the rug, although I had a hard time belie...more

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Jan 22, 2013 Loraine Lawson rated it 3 of 5 stars

A very experimental and daring piece, but disappointing in the end when, literally, deux ex macchina saves the main characters. It's difficult to read for many reasons, but most especially because of some very self-indulgent ramblings. But then again, there are a lot of writers who over-indulged in fits of poetic rambling in the Western cannon, and it's called great literature. She won a Booker award and it's highly acclaimed. But, frankly, I think it'd best be read in lit class.

If child abuse...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Booknblues rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: booker-prize, new-zealand

Three is the magic number of Keri Hulme's book The Bone People. Three people, Kerewin Holmes an artist who lives by the sea in an enchanted tower which she built, Joe a Maori man who lives in a house of pain of his own creation and Simon the lost child who searching for a home, band together to form a strange family.
These three become involved with each other in a dance of death and destruction and a battle for redemption of the human spirit. They make up the family of man or the bone people, br...more

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Sep 03, 2012 Vibina Venugopal rated it 4 of 5 stars

I haven't often come across disturbing characters at a single go, they are so alluringly haunting , I had taken for granted that only memoir could be like this..Do use the Index in the book or else anything in Maori language and its culture would just go over the head..I found the dialogues and thoughts of characters to be very confusing, many times I kept wondering what and where and how things are going on..But that is Hulme's style even through the strange confusions you don't really want to...more I haven't often come across disturbing characters at a single go, they are so alluringly haunting , I had taken for granted that only memoir could be like this..Do use the Index in the book or else anything in Maori language and its culture would just go over the head..I found the dialogues and thoughts of characters to be very confusing, many times I kept wondering what and where and how things are going on..But that is Hulme's style even through the strange confusions you don't really want to put down the book..I started with loving this book then slowly it started to ebb away and towards the end I didn't know if I really liked it or not..I have not come across many writers who develop such contagiously disturbing characters...Hulme puts the readers right into Joe's mind that you get the psychotic vibe on his physical abuse towards Simmon his mute son...The characters seemed strange yet interesting..Kerewin an artist with her self imposed exile living in a tower by the sea..Simon has his memory completely washed out and being mute is unable to express a thing, yet his expressions are poetically put forward to the readers...Joe is held by grief of losing his wife and son finds , to get away from it , he gets it undone on Simon who is all troubled son..In spite of his love he consistently abuses his son...I also liked the way Maori culture and myth were intertwined into the story, giving insights on New Zealand's local life and people....Violence and self annihilation somehow becomes the core of the novel...Joe almost beats Simmon to death when Simon grabs a piece of glass to attack Joe both end up in hospital alive..Kerewin, Simmon and Joe share a muddled up relationship yet they care for each other..I also loved the way Hulme had created a situation by which the relationship is forced upon them, yet they take it and live by it....I also liked the way Simmon's character was used to highlight and develop the characters of Kerewin and Joe and their internal struggle for identity and choice of life and living....Simmon at times had my sympathy., losing his family he only had Kerewin and Joe to be something close to a family....Simmon quite aggressive he beats up older children breaks up window of neighbours even when he was a good mood, the mind of a troubled mute boy just striked in me...Even when Kerewin comes to Simmon's rescue by suggesting an alternative in dealing with him to Joe, she eventually gives up when her own treasured things are taken carelessly away by Simmon and her window broken...Though Kerewin's loneliness and lack of family and happiness are fulfilled to an extend through Joe and Simmon, still she is resolute to come in terms of the absence of it through her life and art....Hulme's use of tenses again was a bit confusing...Reading the novel was vexatious to an extend still I marveled at the Hulme..She leaves many question unanswered, and the climax is left undone.,to take it positively or negatively is up to ones's own ..Though in my personal opinion I don't see a place where these three souls would fit in together, yet human behaviour is so complex and unfathomable at times that anything can happen....(less)

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About Keri Hulme

Keri Hulme was a writer in residence at Otago University in New Zealand in 1978, and in 1985 at the University of Canterbury. Her first novel The Bone People won the Booker Prize in 1985. Hulme’s other works include The Windeater / Te Kaihu (1982), a collection of short stories, and Homeplaces (1989), her homage to three coasts of the South Island. She lives in New Zealand.

By 1985 Keri Hulme had a...more Keri Hulme was a writer in residence at Otago University in New Zealand in 1978, and in 1985 at the University of Canterbury. Her first novel The Bone People won the Booker Prize in 1985. Hulme’s other works include The Windeater / Te Kaihu (1982), a collection of short stories, and Homeplaces (1989), her homage to three coasts of the South Island. She lives in New Zealand.

By 1985 Keri Hulme had already won several New Zealand awards for her writing, including the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Award (1975), the Maori Trust Fund Prize (1977), the ICI Writing Bursary (1982) and the New Zealand Writing Bursary (1983). The bone people, her first novel, was awarded both the Mobil Pegasus Award and the New Zealand Book Award for Fiction in 1984, the year of its first publication.
The shortlist for the Booker Prize was announced on 30 September 1985. Hulme's The bone people was up against Illywhacker by Peter Carey, The battle of Pollocks Crossing by J.L. Carr, The good terrorist by Doris Lessing, Last letters from Hav by Jan Morris and The good apprentice by Iris Murdoch. Hulme didn't think her novel stood a chance against the competition and she wasn't alone: London bookies had The bone people at 5-1 odds. Their favourite was Lessing's The good terrorist. Meanwhile, Carey's publishers were so confident that they had a copy of Illywhacker ready to be reprinted with ‘Winner of the Booker Prize 1985' on the cover.
The decision was far from unanimous. Indeed, 1985 consistently appears on lists of Booker controversies and 'jury bust-ups'. Actress Joanna Lumley, who was on the judging panel, abhorred The bone people, believing it glorified violence against children. She could not attend the final judging but sent in her comments in advance and asked that she be contacted 'if it got to a scramble'. Booker's administrator, Martyn Goff, read out her comments in the face of opposition from the chair, politician Norman St John Stevas, who did not believe Lumley should have been on the panel in the first place. The panel was reportedly divided between Hulme's novel and Carey's, but Lumley was not called in. She was furious when she discovered that The bone people had been declared the winner.
Hulme did not attend the award ceremony at the Guildhall, London. At the time she was on a promotional tour of the United States and Canada. But friends and supporters Miriama Evans, Marian Evans and Irihapeti Ramsden were in the audience to hear the announcement and collected the award on her behalf. The three women were members of Spiral, the non-profit-making women's collective that had published the first two editions of Hulme's novel after other publishers sought substantial editing or revisions. When rung to be told of her win, Hulme commented: ‘You're not pulling my leg, are you? ... Bloody hell – it's totally unbelievable!'. It was not only New Zealand's first Booker Prize; it was the first time a first novel had ever won.
Hulme, who could look forward to royalties from increased sales of the book, gave the £15,000 (NZ$38,000) prize money to her mother and sister. Such was the demand for the book that it actually fell off the New Zealand bestseller list in January 1986 – not for lack of interest, but because the publishers ran out of copies. It has now sold over a million copies and has been translated into nine languages.
Since The bone people won the Booker Prize two other New Zealand novels have been in with a chance. Patricia Grace's Dogside story was longlisted in 2001, while Lloyd Jones's Mister Pip made it on to the short list in 2007. The latter lost out to Anne Enright's The gathering.(less)

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Quotes from The Bone People

“A family can be the bane of one's existence. A family can also be most of the meaning of one's existence. I don't know whether my family is bane or meaning, but they have surely gone away and left a large hole in my heart.” — 11 people liked it

“You want to know about anybody? See what books they read, and how they've been read...” — 9 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/460635.The_Bone_People?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348988500l/460635.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/460635.The_Bone_People?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Bone People by Keri Hulme[/url]

The Bone People

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