Ruby, L. (2015). Bone gap. New York: Balzer + Bray.
BOOK SUMMARY
Finn lives in a small town where everyone knows everyone else. It's the kind of place where one pays for the sins of his father (or, in this case, mother). Crime is a rarity, and new people, even more so. That is why when Roza comes to town, and then suddenly disappears, no one thinks anything is amiss other than Finn. The rest of the town chalk it up to another woman who feels the need to move on from the O'Sullivan brothers. Dealing with loss is difficult and can make seeing details near impossible. Somehow, Finn must convince townspeople who have decided their assumptions are truth that there is something beyond their preconceived notions. Roza's life depends on it.
Impressions and opinion of the book- very important
If it is possible to equally like and dislike a book, I am neither committed nor wavering in my feeling towards Bone Gap. There are elements of the typical boy meets girl, boy befriends girl, boy saves girl theme; however, nothing is as it seems, and the town of Bone Gap with its community of slightly off-key characters is the perfect setting for the next Wes Anderson movie.
The story is a mystery, many of the characters shrouded in secrets, and Ruby keeps the reader turning page after page in an attempt to uncover the answers to multiple questions streaming from multiple plotlines that all lead back to Finn O'Sullivan. In the end, however, when the final sentence comes to a close, the reader is left feeling fuzzy, seeing all the details, but unable to grasp or hold onto any of them. The townspeople are proven wrong about Finn and Roza, multiple people end up finding love, the bad guy is overcome (wasn't he?), and Roza returns back home. Nothing becomes clear in Bone Gap, and just as faces seem to slip from Finn's realm of consciousness, so too, does the closure in this story.
Full-Text Review
Finn has always been considered a little strange, and now that Roza has disappeared, his small town of Bone Gap holds him responsible. Finn alleges that she was kidnapped, but he cannot offer up a useful description of the abductor. Roza had appeared under mysterious circumstances a year before, and was taken in by Finn and his older brother, Sean, who subsequently developed a crush on her—and now wonders if perhaps her departure was a voluntary rejection of him. But Roza has been taken by a dangerous stranger and imprisoned in a series of bizarre supernatural dwellings from which she cannot escape—unless she agrees to marry the kidnapper. As Finn tries to puzzle out how to find Roza, he develops his own romantic interest in the strongly independent Priscilla (Petey, for short), despite what the town may think. Kidnapped young women are not a new trope in YA fiction, but such books often read like mysteries or thrillers, while this one reads more like a fable, with the matter-of-fact inclusion of magical realism. Finn does find Roza, he does fall in love with Petey, and everybody—for the most part—does live happily ever after, but afterward the reader is left to ponder the strange events, quirky characters, and resonant themes.
Hunt, J. (2015). [Review of the book Bone gap, by L. Ruby]. Retrieved from http://www.hbook.com/2016/01/choosing-books/recommended-books/reviews-of-the-2016-printz-award-winners/#_
Library Use
Bone Gap would be a great story to study symbolism in. There are multiple items throughout the book that stand for other things, making the story almost poetic or modern day myth. From the bees to the black horse to the corn of Illinois, students could research everyday items that have come to stand for more abstract concepts throughout time and history. It might be interesting to have them look into objects that have different symbolic meanings in different parts of the world, as well as things that seem to have universal meanings to all. Not necessarily confining the research to objects in Bone Gap would allow students to see how multiple stories connect to one another through symbols. Another avenue would be to have students choose a symbol in the story and then try to find other stories with the same symbol.
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