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Rule Of The Bone
 
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Rule Of The Bone [Paperback]

Russell Banks (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (134 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 21.00
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Product Details

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

A change in setting halfway through this ambitious novel by the respected author of Continental Drift and Affliction diminishes its effectiveness to a certain degree. The first half, a starkly realistic, powerful portrait of a troubled adolescent whose life has spiraled out of control, packs a visceral punch. Flunking out of school and already hooked on drugs, the 14-year-old narrator, secretly molested by his stepfather, emotionally abandoned by his weak mother, leaves his mobile home in the depressed upstate New York community of Au Sable and becomes a homeless mall rat. In a burst of bravado, he acquires a crossed bones tattoo, changes his name from Chappie to Bone, and attempts to find some focus in his dead-end existence. Convinced that he is destined for a criminal career, Bone vents his anger in acts of senseless destruction. His vulnerability and his need for love and direction are fused when he and a seven-year-old waif he has rescued from a pedophile take refuge in an abandoned schoolbus with an illegal alien from Jamaica called I-Man, whose Rastafarian wisdom and gentle demeanor are fed by liberal consumption of marijuana, which he deals. It is when Bone follows I-Man to Jamaica that the narrative falters. Though the drug-permeated Jamaican milieu is portrayed with impressive authenticity, the improbability of Bone's macabre adventures there frays the plot's credibility. The novel's strengths-Bone's cool, wisecracking voice and colloquial speech, the details of an adolescent's culture-are diluted by its excesses-too many descriptions of marijuana highs, too many coincidences. Yet one finishes the book with indelible sympathy for tough-guy Bone, touched by his loneliness, fear and desperation, and having absorbed Banks's message: that (as he said recently), society's failure to save its children is "the main unrecognized tragedy of our time." 100,000 first printing; $15,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

YA?Banks is that rarest of beasts, a writer with daring, skill, and heart. His latest book is equally rare?an adult novel about 14-year-old Bone, told from his perspective with corresponding jargon and without ridicule. From the first page, YAs will be captivated?"Anyhow, my life got interesting you might say the summer I turned fourteen and was heavy into weed but I didn't have any money to buy it with so I started looking around the house all the time for things I could sell but there wasn't much." The boy has a disturbed stepfather, a long-suffering mother, and a long-gone father. The first half of the book chronicles his willing but innocent drift into criminality. His life takes a turn for the better when he moves into an abandoned school bus with a Jamaican mystic. He travels to Jamaica with "I-man," and there he finds his self-centered druggie father, turns 15, is sexually initiated, and loses I-man in a violent drug deal. The remarkable narration immerses readers in Bone's self-contained world. The plentiful dialogue is rendered without quotation marks, a quirk that contributes to the almost claustrophobic feeling of being inside the teen's head. Yet, the power of being there is that when Bone begins to mature and break out of his world, so do readers. This novel is raw and moving. Buy it.?Chip Barnett, Rockbridge Regional Library, Lexington, VA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews

134 Reviews
5 star:
 (96)
4 star:
 (23)
3 star:
 (11)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (134 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most helpful customer reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read book by all teenagers!, Jun 18 2003
By 
Aggy (Massachuttes) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Rule of the Bone: Novel A (Paperback)
The wonderful Novel Rule of the Bone by author Russell Banks, a coming of age book that is written in the perspective of a life like young teenager named Chappie trying to find his place in life. His character shows the desperation of seeking to find a parental figure which loves him. The upbringing of Chappie is not a nice one, which his stepfather sexually abuses without Chappie's mothers' knowledge. Chappie grows up trying to find his identify, by experimenting with drugs, and surrounding himself with the wrong people. Through his trials and tribulations he succeeds in finding his inner self. He first changes his identity from Chappie to 'hardcore' Bone to change his reputation.

Rule of the Bone will either have the reader walk away loving the book, or either disgusted and disliking it. It shows a clear perspective of the character, the occurring events show comprehensible mental images." I didn't think of it until we actually got there but me and Rose must've looked a little weird that morning at the Tailways station, Rose in her little Orphan Annie dress and Expos cap and me in one of I- man's trademark come back to Jamaica tee shirts and the baggy cutoffs I'd made from Mr. Ridgeways lime green plants with the red anchors on them and both of us walking on I- mans fantastic homemade tire sandals." Another positive aspect of the book is its language will mostly like appeal to the average teenager. On the other hand the foul language could have the reversing effect. Throughout the book the explicit language and sometimes disturbing events may turn some readers off.

I personally loved this book, being able to relate in the conflict of trying to find out who you are is an issue each and every person in life; has once faced. Rule of the Bone is such a realistic book; it shows the negative side of life not many people like to discuss. Its honesty gives the reader a connection with the character. The many adventures he has makes this book a cliff hanger, which you simply cant put down. The setting are all over the place, from a broken down bus which they call home; to the appealing environment of a beach in Jamaica .This book appeals to most teenagers, those who can enjoy a dark to light novel with a sense of a different type of humor and non-fictional theme.

"I learned about myself and life from coming to love them out there at the school bus in Plattsburgh and being with I-man afterwards at the ant farm an dup on the groundation in Accompong. They were the only people I'd chosen on my own to love, and they were gone. But still, that morning in Mobay when I say Russ or the last time, I saw clearly for the first time that loving Sister Rose and I-man and even Bruce had left me with riches that I could draw on for the rest of my life, and I was totally grateful to them." (Pg. 384, 3rd paragraph ).

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5.0 out of 5 stars A Catcher In The Rye For Modern Times, Jun 12 2003
By 
brothermagnolia (New Orleans, LA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Rule of the Bone: Novel A (Paperback)
I won't bother to get into plot details since all the other reviewers already have. I'll just say that every summer, when that first unbearably hot day hits, I take this book out to a nice shade tree and read it from beginning to end. While the beginning is a difficult read (emotionally speaking), stick with it and you will be sun-splashed. Truly a magnificent novel.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Bone Rules, Jun 5 2002
This review is from: Rule of the Bone: Novel A (Paperback)
Rule of the Bone for me, was a life changing tale. The way I go through highschool everday has changed for me ever since. Bone, the star or the book, has so many ways I can relate to him. While i read this book i forgot all about bone and instead it was me who was going through all of the heartpounding events.
If you've ever read The Catcher in the Rye, you have to read this. It's like that book in so many ways, but better. I recomend this book to all that know how to read.
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