Chris Craddock’s Reviews > Bastard Out of Carolina > Status Update

Dorothy Allison wrote what I consider to be a thinnly veiled semi-autobiographical memoir. She turns out to be -- spoiler alert -- a lesbian, like several of my ex-girlfriends, causing me to speculate whether I was the cause or catylist for their abrupt change. It is the white trash elegy that JD Vance wishes he could have written. Dorothy takes you deep inside Bone's world -- even if you aren't a friend of Dorothy.

Dorothy Allison wrote this, what I assume is a semi-autobiographical novel. She is molested by her step father, and spoiler alert -- she becomes a lesbian. It's a white trash elegy that JD Vance wishes he could have written. Actually, it is really well written, and Dorothy takes you inside Bone's world, even if you aren't a friend of Dorothy.

Bone has a giant grappling hook and she used it to rob a Woolworths. Her Aunt Ruth died and she has not been caught for robbing WWs. She had a friend who was an ugly albino girl named Shannon Pearl, but they had a fight. She invited Bone to a BBQ, but just as Bone was about to greet her she had an accident with the lighter fluid and was burned. The Pearl family was involved with Gospel, but only by Whites.

I am starting to admire Allison's prose style. She uses colorful similes like saying someone is ugly as a muddy road (not sure exactly but there was something similar) and also she observes body language that reveal the character's thoughts.

I was uncertain if this book was my cup of tea but now I'm hooked. Only problem is there are so many characters and relations I've lost track. Maybe I should use an index card for a bookmark and write down the names and who's who? Bone is the bastard out of Carolina, and she admits her fantasy is being tied up in a barn and covered with hay--and the barn is on fire!