Bone Gap by Laura Ruby
To be published on March 3, 2015
by Balzer + Bray
Source: eARC from the publisher for review
Synopsis from Goodreads: Everyone knows Bone Gap is full of gaps—gaps to trip you up, gaps to slide through so you can disappear forever. So when young, beautiful Roza went missing, the people of Bone Gap weren’t surprised.
After all, it wasn’t the first time that someone had slipped away and left Finn and Sean O’Sullivan on their own. Just a few years before, their mother had high-tailed it to Oregon for a brand new guy, a brand new life. That’s just how things go, the people said. Who are you going to blame?
Finn knows that’s not what happened with Roza. He knows she was kidnapped, ripped from the cornfields by a dangerous man whose face he cannot remember. But the searches turned up nothing, and no one believes him anymore. Not even Sean, who has more reason to find Roza than anyone, and every reason to blame Finn for letting her go.
Review of Bone Gap by Laura Ruby
I'll just put it right out there: Bone Gap isn't an easy-breezy-reading, accessible book.
I started it too late one night and, when a horse inexplicably popped up in the story, I thought I might have fallen asleep and was having a weird dream. Reading Bone Gap feels a little like a weird dream, to be completely honest.
So I put the book aside and went on Goodreads the next day. There were a bunch of rave reviews and a few DNFs. I get that. But I decided to press on, and I'm glad I did.
Bone Gap is a beautifully written book that takes some time to reveal itself. There's this quirky, somewhat sinister town. Two motherless boys. A teenage beekeeper. A mysterious girl who may or may not have been kidnapped. And yes, a horse.
I wasn't really sure what was going on for quite a while. In this way, Bone Gap reminded me of Where Things Come Back. Both books feature a small-town setting, beautiful writing, and a plot that doesn't quite make sense ... until it does.
Finn is a (somewhat) unreliable narrator, but not in the way that I expected. And there was one thing in the story that I never quite understood. Highlight for spoiler: In this way, the book reminded me a little of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, another book that features a main character who sees the world a little differently than most of us. Also, I never quite understood the kidnapping. and didn't feel like it was completely resolved. That was probably intentional? End spoiler.
Maybe you're an easy-going reader who will pick this up and just roll with it and have no issues with confusion.
Me? I'm a reading control freak and like to understand what's happening and preferably why it's happening
at all times. But I promise, things DO eventually make sense, and I do think this book is worth your time. And a little confusion :)
I'm glad to hear that it's worth pressing on through! I made it 50 pages before setting it aside, and now I'll try to get back to it.
ReplyDeleteNice post!
Definitely give it another chance. In the end I really enjoyed it a lot!
DeleteI'm so tempted now to pick this up and see what you are talking about!
ReplyDeleteDo it! :)
DeleteI am so glad that you enjoyed this gem. I had a tough time putting it all together but then it was magical :)
ReplyDeleteIt was an interesting reading experience -- I'm not such a magical realism person -- but I liked it a lot!
DeleteI finished reading this one a few weeks ago Jen and felt mostly like you. At first I was so confused and nearly DNF'ed but after deciding to press on and try to make the most of this story i'm so glad I did. I ended up really loving Bone Gap, despite some of the issues I had with it. If anything, I feel like (while this one may be a tough read) it's incredibly rewarding in the sense that Bone Gap tackles such difficult subjects that are normally glossed over in books.
ReplyDeleteLovely review Jen!
Many of us seem to have the same experience! I love books that push the boundaries and I'm glad I decided to finish.
DeleteI actually DNF'd around 40%, I just couldn't make myself finish. But I've been seeing so many great things about it, that I've actually thought about giving it another try.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand. Not saying this book is for everyone -- no book is -- but for me it too two tries :)
DeleteI'm very tempted to pick this up now!
ReplyDeleteYes!!
DeleteI am hoping I like this book. I sometimes have a hard time with these reads and other time love them. I do like unreliable narrators and I do enjoy magical realism. So I hope I love it.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way bout magical realism. Sometimes it's just too weird and trip for me. In the end Finn was and wasn't unreliable, which made it pretty interesting!
DeleteThis looks interesting but I don't know...but the last book that read that had magic realism in it was the Strange and Lovely Sorrows of Ava Lavender. I know it's probably a lot different, but still I'm tempted to give it a try.
ReplyDeleteAly @ My Heart Hearts Books
I didn't try that one. Magical realism and I have an uneasy relationship. Sometimes I'm all for it, others it is just too weird for me.
DeleteWow. Talk about a quirky book, but somehow, I'm intrigued.
ReplyDeleteTry it!!
DeleteI saw Lily read this one not too long ago and I am ecstatic to read it. I love books with magical realism. So far, they are the ones that leave so much room to philosophize about life and what we take for granted. I'm a sucker for slow-moving but still very substantial stories, so count me in! Woot woot!
ReplyDeleteFaye at The Social Potato
You are going to love this one. It does philosophize about some interesting issues -- appearance, perception, and gender.
DeleteI was totally set on not picking this book up because of the weird bee on the cover because I do not like bees and they are weird and creepy and blaghh.
ReplyDeleteBut I do really like magic realism as a genre and the way you describe this one, the way there are things that are confusing and don't make sense until later. This also sounds so very quirky and I guess, I'll just have to read this one :P
Lovely review, Jen!! :D
Rashika @ The Social Potato
I'm not sold on the cover either, though there is a beekeeper in the book. Why not the horse on the cover, I ask?
DeleteHa! I love this review!
ReplyDelete" I'm a reading control freak and like to understand what's happening and preferably why it's happening at all times."
Me too! Although I think I'm getting a little better at letting stuff go and waiting to see if it all pans out in the end.
I'm working on it!
DeleteOmg, this makes perfect sense to me....particularly the control freak statement. xD ME TOO! I hate to be "out of hte loop" when I'm reading. Maybe books like these are better being read the second time? But I barely ever reread so, yessss, hardness. I do want to try this though. I'm still intrigued. xD
ReplyDeleteTry it! I think you will enjoy seeing how all the pieces fit.
DeleteI'm only a couple of chapters in so I didn't read your spoiler and only skimmed your review, but I'm glad to see that you enjoyed it! I will say that I am kind of angry at the spoiler in the blurb on the cover, though--I kind of like to discover things like that for myself, and I didn't have the chance to. *sigh* Look forward to comparing notes!
ReplyDeleteWendy @ The Midnight Garden
I'm not sure what the spoiler is (I read an e-ARC) but it probably doesn't matter. All the things you think happened either maybe didn't happen or didn't happen the way you thought. I didn't want to say much in my review but I loved that it looks at perception and appearance and gender in some interesting ways. I can see why some people DNF'd but I really liked it. Look forward to hearing your take!
DeleteI don't have a copy of this, but I'd like to give it a try, I think. Sometimes quirky/weird reads work well for me because they're different. But I do also like to Know What's Happening. Glad you stuck with this and ended up liking it!
ReplyDeleteI skipped the spoiler in case I pick this one up. I'm a little bit of both: like to know what's going on, but will also read blindly on to an extent. I'm glad you ended up liking it. If anything, it sounds original, which is always nice.
ReplyDeleteThis book keeps popping up on my radar--though I just recently heard about. Something about it really makes me want to give it a try--I think it's the whole quirky, sinister town vibe--generally I love books like that:)
ReplyDelete