Friday, August 26, 2011

Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison

Plot: As a bastard child, Ruth Anne "Bone" Boatwright is forced to grow up without either her real father or a good one. Bone's young mother marries the violent Daddy Glen and provides no protection from his abuse. Constantly shuttling from house to house as Daddy Glen is fired from job after job, Bone learns to live without a home or a safe place. Her drunkenly raucous, equally poor relatives teach her the good and bad sides of life as Bone tries to discover herself and her place in the world.

Comments: This is most certainly not light-hearted reading. It's challenging to read about every obstacle in Bone's daily life, such as missing dinner due to lack of food in the cupboards or receiving yet another undeserved beating from the terrifying Daddy Glen. Bone remains strong through it all, though even she recognizes that she steadily grows more bitter and hateful with each traumatizing episode. She tells the story with simple, poignant emotion. Though not the main character, Bone's mother, Anney, provides some thought to the story. The way she allows her husband to hurt her young daughter is questionable, to say the least, and the decisions she makes cause the reader to discover their own instinctive values and choices.

The plot wanders and weaves its way through important events in Bone's childhood and random memories that add color to the black-and-white photo that is her story. Bone's infamous family play large parts in the book, some more than others. Her grandma is mostly featured for "told-you-so"'s and forceful advice, while Aunt Raylene is absent through the majority of the book but plays an invaluable role in Bone's life towards the end. And Bone's three drunk, violent, but somehow lovable uncles manage to love Bone more than Daddy Glen ever could, giving her presents, treating her like family, and protecting her the only way they know how - by getting bloody revenge on anyone who hurts her, including Daddy Glen. The Boatwright family is complicated, always fighting, and very odd, and yet somehow they all stick together and it works. This provides a sharp contrast to Bone's immediate family, where nothing works despite a great deal of effort.

Rating: I rate this book a nine out of ten.

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