Bone Gap - Laura Ruby

[Anne]

A possible early contender? Maybe. Certainly worth hearing what others think of it.

I enjoyed the story - a little bit thriller, a little bit mystery, and a touch of magical realism...

Strong on setting.

I don't want to give too many details away, until more have read it.

Contender? Maybe.

[Jessica]

Oh. My. God. This book! Mind spinning. I would say more than just a "touch" of magical realism, though. I'm campaigning for people to read this so I can talk to someone about it.

[Anne]

Jessica wrote: "Oh. My. God. This book! Mind spinning. I would say more than just a "touch" of magical realism, though. I'm campaigning for people to read this so I can talk to someone about it."

Heh. I guess I understated that, now that I think back! :-)

[Marta]

I just finished this book on my drive to SNO yesterday.

Incredible writing and characters, though not as awesome as Maggie Stiefvatrt's The Scorpio Races or The Raven Cycle series.)

I can see why this book gets the attention of literary folks. The writing, characters and plot and the way in which the character Rosa, the missing girl is used, is very literary.

(SPOILERS don't read past my line if you haven't read the book.)

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The theme is about how love makes you see people for who they are, which intrigues me because selective blindness and lack of empathy are constant problems in our society. It also explores beauty as a commodity explores how some people seek to control those who are beautiful, reducing beautiful women to objects and receptacles for a man's goals, desires, etc., rather than seeing them as people.

I'm really disturbed by some aspects of this book. It's going to stay with me a long time. So that makes it worthy of discussion because stories that disturb are important.

I was personally bothered that a number of men, specifically young Polish men, are portrayed as controlling jerks who don't see women as people. I almost stopped listening during the chapter that lists all of Rosa's jerky ex-boyfriends and the jerk boyfriends of her college acquaintances in Chicago. I felt like I had to either stop trusting Rosa's judgment about men or stop trusting the author to not paint young men of a certain culture with the same brush.

I was disturbed on many levels by the climax when Rosa, the missing woman, slices her face open to free herself from the supernatural stalker/kidnapper, therefore making herself unbeautiful and not of interest to the supernatural stalker.

While this freed Rosa and Finn, it doesn't solve the problem of the supernatural nasty who is free to prey on other beautiful women.

I really wanted her or Finn to cause a transformation in the supernatural stalker so he saw her as a person, rather than a symbol, either that or find a way to destroy the nasty jerk. (When it comes to the Big Bad, I'm What would Buffy do? take no prisoners kind of reader.)

Though I suppose that there are many jerks/predators in the world who don't ever change and are free to continue to victimize others.

So definitely worthy of Printz discussion.