Rule of the Bone

[Briana]

Rule of the Bone
Russell Banks

As a high school student not much older than Bone, I really enjoyed this book because of its rich and powerful themes. It’s also very relatable and understandable for anybody, but especially for young adults. You learn that everything truly does happen for a reason and with every battle you face, you must learn to overcome it and grow from it. Another major theme I got out of it was that you don’t need to have biological relatives to call your family. Sometimes your real family is the people who are most loyal and loving to you.
Fourteen year old high school dropout starts off as “Chappie” who lives in upstate New York in the 1980s. He shows us his wild journey through only a couple years of his life when his vulnerable mom and stepfather – who secretly molested him – kick him out. In the book, Banks shows us the life of a misunderstood, troubled adolescent who conquers hardships of being a homeless kid in his hometown, Au Sable. At first he lives with his friend, Russ, who for some time shows Chappie “the ways” of survival when you live life as a criminal. They stay with a biker gang in an apartment that gets burned down. Unfortunately in the fire, one of the bikers, Bruce, dies trying to save Chappie which was a huge turning point in his life.
From that point on, Chappie was known to be missing and presumed dead with nowhere to go except for wherever Russ decides for them to stay. After Russ chooses to leave Chappie and head home, he must learn to live on his own and provide for himself. With all the fallouts he faces, he wants to put his past behind him and start fresh. If Russ didn’t abandon him, Chappie wouldn’t have gotten the experiences and opportunities he did which were really eye opening for me.
Starting a new life for himself, Chappie changes his name to Bone after he gets crossed bones tattooed on his arm. Bone comes across two people who completely turn his life around. His new “family” shows him the true meaning of love, happiness and home through a little girl, Rose, he saved from a child pornographer and an illegal alien, I-Man. As Rose grows older, Bone realizes she needs a home and mother just like he does. He sends her home to Wisconsin and he goes home to visit his. Bone then sees the pain and emptiness of what his home had become which was really heartbreaking and will leave you speechless. His alcoholic mom chooses her husband over taking back her own son, not even giving him the time to talk about things. Without anybody left and nowhere to go, Bone leaves to Jamaica with I-Man where he runs in to his biological father, is introduced to the marijuana drug trade and lives the real life of Rastafarians. Not only did I learn about moralistic lessons but also about some beliefs of Rastafarianism and the marijuana business/ life in Jamaica.

[Kirill]

Good, but you used "it" too much.

[Nelson]

Great Review! This novel looks very interesting and candid. I personally enjoy reading books involving runaways, gangs, criminals, and things like that. This reminds me of most of S.E. Hinton's books ("Rumble Fish", "The Outsiders", "That Was Then, This is Now", "Tex", and "Taming the Star Runner" which I highly recommend if you're interested in those kinds of novels). My suggestions would be to add in a "*Spoiler Alert*" at the beginning because it did seem as though the whole story was spoiled.

[Tara]

Your book sounds really good and relatable, and I really liked how you started this review with your opinion first, because you really gave your readers a look into your thoughts before summarizing why.

[Evan]

Good review Brianna. This book sounds very sad and depressing, but also very interesting. In addition to this I also thought it was a good idea that you talked about your overall experiences in the book.