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Bone Dance
Alexandra's beloved grandfather was fond of saying, "Life is full of surprises, and sometimes the good and the bad get all bunched up together". However, he could not have prepared her for the shock of her life: the death of her father, a man she never knew, and his legacy -- a cabin on prairie land formerly owned by the LaFreniere family. Lonny LaFreniere's stepfather is the kindest man Lonny's ever known. But Lonny, tormented by guilty memories and dreams and visions he can't shake, rejects the land Pop always wanted to pass on to him. How could he have known it would end up in the hands of a city girl like Alexandra Marie Sinclair? As their story unfolds, Lonny and Alex are haunted and guided by spirits that draw them to the land and to each other in this moving and tender coming-of-age novel of not one but two unforgettable teens.
179 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1997
4 people are currently reading
141 people want to read
About the author
Martha Brooks
28 books51 followersMartha Brooks is an award-winning novelist, playwright and jazz singer whose books have been published in Spain, Italy, Japan, Denmark, England, Germany and Australia, as well as in Canada and the United States. She is a three-time winner of the Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book of the Year, as well as the Ruth Schwartz Award, the Mr. Christie’s Book Award, the Governor General’s Award, and the Vicky Metcalf Award for her body of work. Letters to Brian is her first book for adult readers. She lives in Winnipeg.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 22, 2024
no plot whatsoever
February 12, 2012
This book was a stunner. I'm embarrassed that I'd never heard of it or of Brooks before.
The language is polished, at times biting or lyrical. The characters drive everything and have depth and originality. Bone Dance crossed the invisible line and is literature.
I grew up all over the prairies, and this book feels like home. Brooks nails the landscape like no other author I've read. While books with spirits often insert them with a heavy hand (Warning: Native moment ahead), the spirits and the dreams of this book seem real, as though they're part of the ecosystem of the characters.
A few bits to keep:
Running in a dark winter park, teens howling wolf-like:
"She stopped to watch the others howling and leaping. And it was at this moment that she knew her grandfather had just moved, without saying good-bye, far beyond her reach. With absolute certainty, her heart thudding against her chest, she knew that he had slipped past her, past them all, past the dark of winter and midnight and consciousness and eating and sleeping and caring. Then she watched as her own breath rose in front of her astonished eyes, took form, and floated like a spirit hand on the crystal air."
"Here he was, almost eighteen years old, and still, even in his waking life, the damn tears could come. They rolled from his eyes and fell through soap clouds into the dishwater."
"But wishing won't change things, he thought. It's just a trick you play on yourself when you come up against something that makes you wake up inside your life."
The language is polished, at times biting or lyrical. The characters drive everything and have depth and originality. Bone Dance crossed the invisible line and is literature.
I grew up all over the prairies, and this book feels like home. Brooks nails the landscape like no other author I've read. While books with spirits often insert them with a heavy hand (Warning: Native moment ahead), the spirits and the dreams of this book seem real, as though they're part of the ecosystem of the characters.
A few bits to keep:
Running in a dark winter park, teens howling wolf-like:
"She stopped to watch the others howling and leaping. And it was at this moment that she knew her grandfather had just moved, without saying good-bye, far beyond her reach. With absolute certainty, her heart thudding against her chest, she knew that he had slipped past her, past them all, past the dark of winter and midnight and consciousness and eating and sleeping and caring. Then she watched as her own breath rose in front of her astonished eyes, took form, and floated like a spirit hand on the crystal air."
"Here he was, almost eighteen years old, and still, even in his waking life, the damn tears could come. They rolled from his eyes and fell through soap clouds into the dishwater."
"But wishing won't change things, he thought. It's just a trick you play on yourself when you come up against something that makes you wake up inside your life."
Read
November 7, 2017Beautifully written and poignant. Not surprised this one was awarded the Governor General's Literary Award.
December 29, 2022
There are unfortunately many circumstances in which parents did not know their children. Martha Brooks specializes in representing the worries and resolutions of teenagers. A story of a girl inheriting a cabin in Lac Des Placottes, Manitoba from a distant Dad seemed intriguing. Personal stories of growth are shared between Alexandra Marie Sinclair, whose Mom is Dene and an Aboriginal youth, Lonny, in Lac Des Placottes, Manitoba. They dealt with enough drama for a little novel of 180 pages, in between which were ancestral visions that both teenagers experienced on the land and in their dreams. I love spirituality like this. Woven together with Martha’s sensitive tone, around naturally beautiful grasslands, I thought Bone Dance was on five star turf. It is a part of Manitoba I do not know.
In the first few pages, a Father and Grandfather are gone and a deer was killed, obviously descending me into depressing territory. Four stars would honour a unique cultural tableau. However, drama piled onto drama with a personal letter that was not mailed, dismissing the advice on avoiding top-heavy stories, that “less is more”. Private niggles regarding overuse of the word “at”, in which we just say that Alex picked *a* thread or Lonny kicked *a* tire, wore on my nerves until my feedback tumbled down to three stars. Other readers would have no issue with these things and would savour this entirely fresh novel. It is about coming out of confusion in our life and the relief of shedding guilt about some of our relatives.
I highly appreciate this novel for a reason echoing Eddie Murphy’s explanation of “Coming To America 1 & 2”, nice films of black people. It is lovely to read something besides injustice or struggles. These are positive glimpses purely about average Canadian Aboriginal families.
In the first few pages, a Father and Grandfather are gone and a deer was killed, obviously descending me into depressing territory. Four stars would honour a unique cultural tableau. However, drama piled onto drama with a personal letter that was not mailed, dismissing the advice on avoiding top-heavy stories, that “less is more”. Private niggles regarding overuse of the word “at”, in which we just say that Alex picked *a* thread or Lonny kicked *a* tire, wore on my nerves until my feedback tumbled down to three stars. Other readers would have no issue with these things and would savour this entirely fresh novel. It is about coming out of confusion in our life and the relief of shedding guilt about some of our relatives.
I highly appreciate this novel for a reason echoing Eddie Murphy’s explanation of “Coming To America 1 & 2”, nice films of black people. It is lovely to read something besides injustice or struggles. These are positive glimpses purely about average Canadian Aboriginal families.
February 2, 2018
At first, confusing. Names disconnected from people you haven't even met. Voices switching back and forth between other people, speakers, you haven't even met. Locations - here and there and then somewhere else.
But that only lasts for the first few short chapters. It isn't very long before you're all oriented and then it's good good good.
Two strong sensible, but quite lost and confused, people. Two loving families broken by deaths. Two dreamers, dreaming things they don't understand.
See? Just reading the book has made me all cryptic! It's a lovely read about two teenagers, a little haunted. Full of First Nations' thinking and beautiful language, it makes you want to uncover every little untruth you've ever spread and just tell the naked truth to everyone you know - just to get the freedom that comes with making things right.
Set aside two hours. It's short and punchy. Read it. You'll like it.
But that only lasts for the first few short chapters. It isn't very long before you're all oriented and then it's good good good.
Two strong sensible, but quite lost and confused, people. Two loving families broken by deaths. Two dreamers, dreaming things they don't understand.
See? Just reading the book has made me all cryptic! It's a lovely read about two teenagers, a little haunted. Full of First Nations' thinking and beautiful language, it makes you want to uncover every little untruth you've ever spread and just tell the naked truth to everyone you know - just to get the freedom that comes with making things right.
Set aside two hours. It's short and punchy. Read it. You'll like it.
October 21, 2016
I have no idea why this book has such a low rating. The writing is perfection. The characters are great. AND it is one of the only FN novels I have ever read that isn't centred on abuse. Sure, there is alcoholism (with a caucasian character, and mentioned about another FN character), but there is no sexual and physical abuse which was frankly quite refreshing.
This novel would be excellent for a grade 10/11 class.
This novel would be excellent for a grade 10/11 class.
February 10, 2009
Very prettily written with an ethereal feel. This is a small story about two teenagers at a crossing point in their lives. Uses the imagery, icons and rythms of the Canadian/Northern native americans. You'll be surprised how 150 pages stick with you for days.
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February 4, 2016A parcel of land is part of the lives of two young people: Alexandra inherits it from her father whom she never knew; Lonny grew up on it and never wanted it after his mother’s death. Real Indian-mystical, with both of them experiencing prophetic dreams and visions.
June 14, 2010
strong sense of place
January 6, 2011
Sooooo sweet and touching. The story was really very simple and there was nothing really dramatic about it, but it was gentle and beautiful and made me cry a little, in a good way. Love.
January 21, 2011
It was intense and thought provoking
April 25, 2020
I enjoyed it.
June 13, 2022
Alexandra's father dies and leave her his cabin on the prairie land. Lonny is tormented by guilty memories and dreams. Lonny and Alex are guided by spirits that draw them to each other.
August 24, 2016
Alexandra Sinclair is the granddaughter of a Cree World War II veteran. She is also the daughter of a lone wolf who left her mother shortly after Alex was born. Upon his death, Alex discovers that her father left her land and a cabin by a lake as well as $17,000 to cover property taxes in Manitoba. Seventeen years old and unsure of her future, she decides to take a look at the land and live there for the summer while she sorts everything out.
November 24, 2012
Re-reading this book again sends me to the Prairie world that Brooks evokes so brilliantly and tenderly in her fiction. One of my favourites of her novels, I love the connections that Brooks makes between land and spirit and those we love
April 30, 2008
I am currently reading this book. It is confusing of who is actually speaking, though.
October 8, 2010
Bone dance by Martha Brooks (1997)
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews