Book Discussion – Bone Gap

Author: Laura Ruby

Genre: Young Adult, Magic Realism

Pages: 345

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Synopsis

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. (Synopsis from Goodreads.)

But by then it was too late, and the girl they loved most–and knew least of all–was gone.

-Laura Ruby, Bone Gap

My Thoughts

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: Bone Gap hooked me from the very first pages. We were immediately thrown into the mysterious disappearance of Roza, and it kept me reading until I finally knew what had happened–and would happen–to her.

The biggest strenght of the novel (in my opinion) was how every character was portrayed in layers. The first from Finn’s perspective. The second from the people of Bone Gap’s. And the third was the most beautiful: when you really get a look into what the character has been through, and why s/he’s behaving like s/he’s behaving with everyone else. Something we should always remember before judging others or believing rumors.

And that’s probably why my favorite chapter was the one about Sean–Good For You. For 147 pages, I didn’t like Sean. We don’t hear much from him and when we do, he’s kind of mean with Finn. But then that chapter comes up and in just a few pages we really get to understand his character and the complexity of his resentment and suddenly his my favorite character. 

He was tired of everyone believing they knew everything there was to know about him, as if a person never grew, a person never changed, a person was born a weird and dreamy little kid with too-red lips and stayed that way forever just to keep things simple for everyone else.

-Laura Ruby, Bone Gap

I didn’t exactly know what to expect from a magic-realistic book, to be honest. I was a bit reluctant at first. (I mean, it’s like metaphors going way to far, or what exactly?) But the way Laura Ruby weaved the magic through the plot was just gorgeous. I have never read anything like this novel, and I definitely want to read more now. (So drop your recommendations down in the comment section, please!)

We have gaps in the world. In the space of things. So many places to lose yourself, if you believe that they’re there.

-Laura Ruby, Bone Gap

That’s it for me! 

What did you think of this novel?

Who was your favorite character? (So many good ones to choose from!)

How bad did you hate Roza’s abductor. (I wanted to puke everytime he asked,
‘Do you love me yet?’)

Let me know in the comments!