Rope & Bone: A Novel in Stories

by Ginnah Howard

Rope & Bone traces the parallel, and eventually interwoven, lives of two very different women whose courage, originality and humor will carry them through the darkest of times and the toughest things that life can sling at them.

Rope & Bone’s thirty-four story/chapters span the years from 1946 to 1993. The novel opens in 1984 on Chicken Farm Road when Del Merrick, an art teacher living without plumbing or electricity, enlists help in changing a flat tire from Carla Morletti, a member of the Pagan Biker’s auxiliary, now studying for her G.E.D. This chance connection between these two women will reroute their lives and the lives of their children.

The first section of the novel, “Wildest Dreams,” flashes back to pivotal moments in the past. Part 2, “Castanets,” tells of Carla and Del’s misadventures as they try to raise their kids, get their old cars started on subzero mornings, and put in enough wood to get through until April— at the same time they’re testing their theory: a good man’s hard to find. In Part 3, “Shelter,” Carla and Del’s friendship darkens as their children’s lives become more chaotic.

426 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 7, 2014

About the author

Ginnah Howard's stories have appeared in Water~Stone Review, Permafrost, Portland Review, Descant 145, Eleven Eleven Journal, Stone Canoe, and elsewhere. Several have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her trilogy about two troubled Upstate New York families, which spans the years from 1946 to 2003, is now complete. In Book 1, Rope & Bone: A Novel in Stories (Illume Publications, July 2014) all the Merricks and Morlettis have a chance to give their "take" on their formative years. Book 2, Night Navigation (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2009) focuses on the Merrick familiy. This novel was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice. Book 3, Doing Time Outside (Standing Stone Books 2013), gives the Morlettis' side of the story. All of the novels stand alone. The National Alliance on Mental Illness of New York State gave Howard their Media Award for work on behalf of those with mental illness and their families. For more information visit: www.GinnahHoward.com

Reviews

[Rumeur · Rating 5 out of 5]

First I'd like to start by thanking the author as I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway!! I believe it came out in July. It is book 1 in a trilogy

This book was masterfully written and very well thought out in the way the author wrote this

Its the story of 2 women Adele "Del" Merrick, & Carla Morreti. Although these women are 12 yrs apart in age, their story's running themes have commonalities

Starting at the Prologue we find out how & when these 2 women meet

Part 1 takes us on a journey of each of their lives. Starting with Carla in 1963 & her story of home life with her parents & brothers. Next is back to 1946 with Del beginning her story of life at home with her mother & grandmother. The author continues their life stories going back & forth with each woman's story. Taking us through school years, boyfriends & friends they have, marriage, & raising children

Part 2 brings the women back together again since they first met in the prologue. They've become friends & their children have become friends with each other also

Part 3 starts to wind the stories to the ending, where all the characters are now older, & still there are commonalities in the stories with these 2 women

The Epilogue is unique in that the author gives us some options on endings

The brilliance lies in the stories themselves. its the journeys told by each woman, but the reader begins to see the common threads that run through both these characters lives. She's descriptive, yet allows the reader to also come to their own conclusions by not actually coming out & explaining in detail but enough detail that you can figure things out without the writer coming out and saying it in black & white....or should I say...white & black. We know these women are married, yet the author doesn't write about a wedding, or give any description of the weddings. This is just one example of how the stories are told with enough description to know about an event in their lives but isn't over described which would make the book longer & probably boring. It's written in a nice flowing pace, keeping the reader wanting to read about "what's next" , not inundating with descriptions but enough to allow us to come to our own conclusions on what's happening without holding our hand through the book

It's a journey of commonalities & differences in these 2 women's lives. Each story is named, & named carefully. My favorite story was "Rain Songs". The names help you figure out perhaps what the story is going to be telling you & I believe each story, or most anyway, could also stand alone. By putting these stories in book form, it now tells a complete story. I'm being very vague on what the stories tell as to try not to give away spoilers, & so other readers can also have the same pleasure I did in reading each story & drawing their own conclusions to what it all means

I'd highly recommend this book & am interested in reading the other 2 books in this trilogy to better get to know "the Merricks" & "the Moretti's" This book can stand alone,unlike most trilogies where you need to read the other 2 in order
for an ending, this book is all that, the other 2 being a more in depth read about each family

Kudos to the author for a wonderful journey, one in which I became engrossed in the characters & feel as if I step outside, I'll actually meet them & know their whole life. A journey with some happiness & also much sadness. How 2 women with different upbringings & backgrounds, find themselves becoming friends & the ties between them both

[George Hovis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This remarkable novel of stories recounts the friendship of two strong women, Del and Carla, as they choose mates, lose mates, and navigate the challenges of single motherhood. Ginnah Howard has that rare gift of illuminating life moment by moment, showing us how, often, fate can turn upon a choice as simple as choosing to feed a lover's dogs rather than giving a daughter the attention she needs. As with Alice Munro's, Howard's stories somehow create a sense that the stakes are always enormously high without ever seeming to depend upon plot. Yet, plot is there in every breath these characters take, from planning a Tupperware party to attending an AA meeting. Ginnah Howard's characters live on every page!

[Jamie Barringer (Ravenmount) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a good book, not so much short stories as chapters, which shift from one thread to the other and occasionally jump into the perspective of a character besides the two main characters, Carla and Del. The story follows the lives of these two women, who eventually become neighbors and friends. Their childhoods were unpleasant, and in trying to escape the abuse and dysfunction of their parents' households, Carla and Del recreate the abuse and dysfunctionality they are used to. Woven into this story is the growing disillusionment and volatility that have been festering in US society for generations, as Carla's and Del's children struggle, for the most part unsuccessfully, to find better ways to live.

As depressing as this book's portrayal of moden families is, it captures quite well the sort of family I grew up in, and that I have encountered in many other real-life families. While Howard doesn't really address the problem of figuring out whose fault it is or where & why this cancerous pattern started, she does a good job of showing how it works. There are other themes as well in this novel, and if it survives long enough I could see this book becoming a classic in another generation or two. It is well written and provides a great vehicle for examining modern society and our past.

(I won my copy of this book through a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.)

[Mary Gallagher · Rating 5 out of 5]

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious, Scary and True, April 2, 2015

By Mary Gallagher

Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Rope & Bone: A Novel in Stories (Kindle Edition)
This is a terrific novel-in-stories, with two central female characters who begin as teenagers, leading separate lives, and eventually become close friends. It takes them through to late middle age, and each chapter really explores their struggles, their relationships with lovers, spouses, children, work, community. All the characters are very human and complicated, and the stories are hilarious as well as scary and sometimes deeply sad. I loved the depiction of the semi-rural world where most of the people are hard-pressed to make a living, and this ongoing struggle affects everything else in their lives. It's true of so many people, and you don't often see this reality portrayed in contemporary fiction.

[Valerie Haynes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rope & Bone is the first chronologically (and in my opinion the best) of Ginnah Howard's trilogy of the lives of two families in an upstate New York community. It has plenty of interesting back-story and excitement, such as teenage girls running away, and a woman in a romance with a prisoner she doesn't know anything about. This is a COZY book you want to curl up with. I enjoyed it from the first page to the last.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting story about two women and how their lives intertwined through out time.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, the chapters were individual stories about the same characters, tracing their lives from their teen years to adulthood. The stories evoked every human emotion in an entertaining way that kept you invested in the two women, their families and their lives. Though they both came from dysfunction and left home to get away from it, they both created lives that perpetuated the same lifestyle for themselves and their children. I thought the character development was well done, creating characters that you cared about and liked, despite their shortcomings. I think that another reason I enjoyed reading this book is because it takes place in the northeast and many of the descriptions of towns, places and people seemed somehow familiar to me, like they could have been part of my past, growing up in that area. A very entertaining book.

[Robin Fedor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dissapointed

408 pages ,the story of two women's lives . Well written but a little drawn out at times. The ending left me feeling frustrated and unfulfilled.

[Bonnie Brody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read 'Night Navigation' by Ginnah Howard, I was excited to read this 'novel in stories' which provides the background information of the two women we first meet in 'Night Navigation'. The novel starts off with Del having a flat tire in 1984 and Carla coming to her aid. The novel spans a period from 1946 until 1993. We are privy to Del and Carla's adolescence, their loves, childbirths, and the pains and losses that life brings.

Theirs is an unlikely friendship. Del is an art teacher and Carla is a member of a motorcycle gang. However, the things that they are dealing with in their lives have a commonality that goes way beneath the surface. Both have issues with their children, struggle with finances, and dealing with love issues.

Howard knows about mental illness and has received a Media Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Her work sensitively portrays the issues that families deal with when a child has an addiction or a mental illness.

I found this novel interesting, intriguing, and always looking at the depth of human nature. I highly recommend it.

[Mageesgirl=Jan Hayes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting.