Customer Reviews

Translation of the Bones

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I ran across The Translation of Bones . I knew that it was a 2012 long - listed Orange Prize contender, but it takes more than that to get me to read a book. Flipping through the pages of the book, I quickly realized that one of the character's, Mary -Margaret O'Reilly , a slow -witted but devoted parishioner of a Catholic Church in South London, believes that while dusting a plaster depiction of Christ, she has seen blood flow from from his crown of thorns.

Like most of us, and as author Francesca Kay acknowledges in her novel, I felt both great curiosity and skepticism about this event and wondered where the author would go with this. As it turns out, the bleeding of the plaster Christ remains a shadowy happening. Parish Priest Father Diamond discourages discussion about the event, and blocks off that area of the church . As the Diocese office replies to Father Diamond " The Face of Our Lady on a pizza, Our Lord on a Slice of Toast! Outbreaks of hysteria are to be discouraged." p. 62.

Whether one is a believer or a vigorous atheist, this is the most interesting and thought - provoking look at faith, why we believe what we do, and the ambiguity of it all.

Stella Morrison is the married mother of ten year old Felix, who she misses dearly because her husband has insisted that Felix attend a Catholic Boarding school . Alice Armitage is in a relatively happy marriage , but is counting the days until her soldier son returns from Afghanistan. Fidelma is the obese, agoraphobic , single mother of Mary- Margaret, still suffering anxiety from her days as a Catholic boarding school student.

Mary -Margaret, and fellow parishioners Stella Morrison , Alice Armitage and non - believers alike serve as an intriguing vehicle for author Francesca Kay to explore the ambiguity of faith. Stella Morrison ponders on Mary - Margaret's happening, telling herself that" we accept all sorts of things on other people's say so . The way the Internet works, or that there was once water on Mars."

Weeks after Mary - Margaret is convinced that she has seen the blood of Christ, she discovers that she is a " child of sin" (quotations mine), and sets off to prove herself worthy of the Jesus' love. Inadvertently she sets off a tragic chain of events.

Later, as psychiatrist Dr. Azin Qureshi examines Mary- Margaret , even he is left with questions. He spends time reflecting on the secular and sacred in his life. He concludes that " people like him had no use for supernatural solace" p 211, but goes on to remember the Muslim faith of his grandparents, and reflects to himself " who are the arbiters of what is true and what is not?" p.212 .

The only fault I could find with the book was the slow moving nature of the first 2/3 of the book. After that, I could barely stop turning the pages.The novel is beautifully and profoundly written and I was left with much to reflect on. Francesca Kay writes beautifully, and the novel is full of humanity , as well as questions of faith.

Reason for Reading: The Catholic plot intrigued me as well as the author being an Orange Prize winner.

This is a story of faith; of faith tested, lost, denied, renewed and tragically misplaced. The story is dark and it is sad but it is not without hope and redemption. A short book, it makes for a quick read and the book is more about characters than it is about action. A couple of events take place and the majority of the book then ruminates on how the characters react to and deal with those events. The characters are all wonderful. An assortment of Catholics, lapsed Catholics and non-religious. Each is an entirely real person with faults and each one the reader can find sympathy with. The story revolves around a young-ish priest who is undergoing a small crisis of faith at the time of the first event and he feels as if this state of his mind has made him unable to respond in the way in which he should have done thus making his personal crisis of faith feel even more burdensome to him. The characters all find themselves asking questions about their faith, or lack of it, without being able to come to an answer that is not found in the faith itself. I enjoyed the portrayal of a parish community and found some of the thoughts and ideas to be true, while others I quite disagreed with. But on the main, I wholeheartedly found the story to be thought-provoking and stimulating, sad and dark, yes, but redemptive and full of the mystery of the faith.
One does not need to share the faith of these characters to enjoy the book, but only wish to journey with them as they travel the paths that all people traverse when they put their lives in the hands of a power greater than them.