YA, MG, Seriously discussion

We have had a few votes to read and discuss this for June. Please join in!

I'm in! I was getting bogged down with Young Elites anyway...

Great. I got it on audible. I am going to be running through the southwestern desert and listening to this book about which I know hardly anything and then talking about it with you all. I will also be on the look out for a band of coatis that my friend recently saw in our running area. This is the modern world.

I just finished Bone Gap and loved it. I am looking forward to discussing it!

About halfway through now. Love the magical realism. I'm really enjoying this virtual book club so far because it gets me reading books I might not have picked up myself, which in turn lets me put it in the hands of students and colleagues who might not have read it either!

I have finished it, too. A few reviewers have noted that they were not immediately pulled in. I felt that way as I listened to the audible--which is a slow way to absorb a book for me. But which I have found a good way to get through some housework, etc. Anyway, that little voice nattering--what exactly is the fuss about? Then the last half and especially the last quarter swooshed through my body and I had that feeling--oh, yes, this is very good. Some scenes were brilliant. I won't be specific! We are not, exactly, in June yet....are we?

Finished it Friday! This is one of those books that I wanted to savor because of the lyric nature of the text. I loved the relationships between the brothers, and the interactions among the people of the community. This is one of those books that I would put in the hands of a student just looking for a good story and fine writing.

I loved this book for many reasons- the magical realism, the writing, the characters - Finn is my new favorite HERO and the world of Bone Gap!

Hey, it's June! I'll start off with my official review of the book, which doesn't contain any spoilers but rambles a bit. I've decided to just do that in reviews.

I listened to Bone Gap as an audible book—while running on a dirt road in the Southwest, mountains and prickly pear and spring wildflowers on either side, while driving to Deming, NM, while doing bits of housework. That’s a slow way for me to read a book, and perhaps that may be why the beginning felt a little slow. Nicely written. Just a little hum-de-dum. When the book gathered speed, though…I felt exhilarated in the way we do when a YA book gathers speed, when we are surprised and engaged and impressed and anxious to keep reading. It felt very much like riding a fast horse. Or, to return to the image of running on a dirt road--not jogging like I jog, pleasantly, mildly, thinking or “reading” or listening to music, but flat-out, sprinting, arms and legs pumping, and muscles ready for the moment when running becomes flight and I lift into the air and start circling the desert as a big black bird.

I won’t give away any of the plot details. But the book fits into my musings about the role of first love and true love in young adult literature. I have been struck by how this theme has dominated my last few YA books—the Printz winners Rainbow and Rowell and I’ll Give You the Sun and Where I Live Now and then Bone Gap. Sometimes the characters are especially beautiful, as they always are in the actual genre of romance, but as often they are not. The beautiful twins in I’ll Give You the Sun are also working through such flaws and problems that their appearance is eclipsed by that for the reader, and the gorgeous girl in Bone Gap finds her beauty an extraordinary burden. I certainly appreciated the way Bone Gap explored ideas of beauty and how girls feel about their own beauty—an entanglement, really, of culture and self-consciousness and biology.

I don't think I'm going to get to the book this month. I'm really sorry because I had indicated that this book would be my preference. June has just started, but it's already jam packed. I hope to read it soon though. I'm quite intrigued by the reviews.

This happens in life! Life gets in the way of books. ;) Just jump in later, at any time.

I will do that. Thanks.

Not only did I love Finn but I also liked irascible Petey. Everyone in Bone Gap thinks she is ugly but Finn does not; it is Petey who figures out why Finn can't describe the man who took Roza. Finn summons all his strength to look for Roza and oh what a journey! For those who have not read this book; take a look at this NY Times review - http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/boo...

Thanks for this, BJ! I liked the turn that Bone Gap made, when we realize why Finn is who he is...

Sharman wrote: "Thanks for this, BJ! I liked the turn that Bone Gap made, when we realize why Finn is who he is..." I agree Sharman because Bone Gap being the town that it is, has labels on everyone and Finn is kind of laughed at, made fun of while his brother walks on water! Finn naturally does not really understand why he can't describe the man who took Roza and he knows this has affected his brother deeply.

I didn't understand the underlying myth until I read the review posted. It was there, I just couldn't put a name to it (kind of like Finn). I can't tell you how much I loved the book. It is hard to say why I was so drawn to it, I just felt it. Beautiful writing and a story line that pulls at you.

bjneary wrote: "Sharman wrote: "Thanks for this, BJ! I liked the turn that Bone Gap made, when we realize why Finn is who he is..." I agree Sharman because Bone Gap being the town that it is, has labels on everyon..."

Yes, I live in a small town, too, although I moved here by choice as an adult. My children might feel more that they will be forever judged as who they were growing up. That small towns slot you into place. But I also thought the author was fairly kind to the small town folk. She had some grievances against their gossiping but didn't care it too far.

I agree Sharman, I liked Bone Gap with all the gossipers, magical characters, the carnivals, the bees, etc. The author, Ruby did a great job with setting up the world of Bone Gap, the families of Finn & Sean and Petey and her mom and Roza and her mother. I loved the way she described the "magical worlds" I was holding my breath and shook a little whenever Roza dealt with her captor.