Bastard Out of Carolina: A Novel

A complicated and complex work, dealing with conflicting feelings of love and self-worth while trying to sort out what is real and what is not. The story reflects the lives, dreams and aspirations of a little understood, isolated, almost primitive population of people living in America. The book, however, focuses on a young girl searching for a place in her topsy-turvy world were little makes sense to her except her family, which is strong on family values but unable to protect her from ongoing brutal physical and sexual attacks. The story was told with intensity and emotion

Allison's prose is brutal and brilliant, and the story is beautifully told, but this is a difficult book to read. There are aspects of it that slightly mitigated the horrors of the child abuse and rape, such as the love shown by the many aunts and uncles. Bone, who narrates the book, is an intelligent preteen who enjoys books and country-gospel music. She is repeatedly beaten viciously and sexually assaulted, which is one reason her self image is distorted. She sees herself as hateful, but she also hates her abuser. This is a harrowing story, and, as Allison admits in a postscript, taken from her own childhood. I read this for my book club, and probably would not have picked it up otherwise; but now that I read it, I'm glad I did.

This is a book about child abuse. It is visceral, honest, and raw in its unflinching descriptions of actions, emotions, and settings. It is a book I would encourage young people to seek out and read because it inspires critical thinking and thoughtfulness. The author paints a detailed picture not just of the abuse itself, but also of the how abuse happens, how it becomes a part of everyday life, and how not just the victim but the abuser, enabler,and even just those watching from afar are affected by it.

Mostly, as an adult who lives in the south, what I left with after reading this book was how familiar it all felt. Not that I am a victim or that I know any victims of child abuse as depicted here, but just the setting and the people, their personalities and struggles rang so full of truth to me. Also, the ideas of how the horrific and the unusual can become natural, how environment can warp how we view the world: it's a powerful message. This book is like a slice of reality put onto a page and it is terrible and beautiful and tragic and terrifying all at once.

This is an outstanding book. It has insight into things I hadn't thought about
Be sure to read the afterword by the author. It will help you understand why this book will be pertinent for a very tome

This raw and painful story was so difficult to read. I confess I skipped some parts because it was so difficult to stay with the anguish it engendered.
It left me with a hole where Bone's mother should be. This book is a work of fine literature. Thank you for writing it.

I admired the tenacity and toughness of the young female protagonist, Bone. She suffered horribly, as so many children do. It has commentary at the end by Dorothy Allison on how she identified with Bone through similar experiences during her childhood. A must-read.

I think the title was unescesarily provocative if her main goal was to give support to adults who were scarred by physical and emotional abuse. Also, the ending was did not include justice and fairness for all. The most impressive part was the persistence and tenacity of her extended family and their actions that helped protect her.

Outstanding story, well-told. I've read that in some areas this book has been banned in schools or libraries. I'm pretty sure that the title is all that could be considered offensive. Book banners frequently haven't read the book!

A thoughtful, well written, complex, psychological story of a young woman. Set in the south and written by a Southern author, it is authentic. It is one of the best books of its kind I have ever read.

I read the novel decades ago, and recently reread it with my book group. I hadn't remembered hardly anything that occurred in the story, which made rereading it a new adventure. The only thing I took away from the 1st reading was the main character's relationship with her stepfather. This time I understand all that influenced the main character that shaped her attitude and outlook on life. It is a good read; kind of slow for a while; but nonetheless an impressionable story.

The book was just an incredibly striking portrayal of a young girl struggling with her own identity with regards to her family, the absence of her birth father and the values women in the south are tied down to. It is just simply heart-wrenching, fortunately I bought this book for a class and DO NOT regret at all buying it, I'm so thankful I got the exposure to the profound words of Dorothy Allison. To be cautious, though, I had trouble maintaining my emotions as there are many powerful scenes in the book that can be a bit shocking or graphic, but overall it is a great read.

The book was just an incredibly striking portrayal of a young girl struggling with her own identity with regards to her family, the absence of her birth father and the values women in the south are tied down to. It is just simply heart-wrenching, fortunately I bought this book for a class and DO NOT regret at all buying it, I'm so thankful I got the exposure to the profound words of Dorothy Allison. To be cautious, though, I had trouble maintaining my emotions as there are many powerful scenes in the book that can be a bit shocking or graphic, but overall it is a great read.

I believe that Bone's story captures the the guilt, fear and pain that so many abused young people suffer in silence. This story gives a voice to those of us to ashamed to speak of it out loud. I loved it!

Beautiful written, great portrayal of the main character and her family. The abusive situation was well-rendered and stayed away from the usual cliches. You see the mother's anguish, but also how her need kept her from doing the right thing, and even the child's ambivalence about the situation. What this her fault? Could she endure to keep the family together? There were no winners in this book except maybe readers.

That said, I didn't give it five stars because I thought a couple things were missing. We never find out what happened to Reese, the protagonist's sister. And the abusive stepfather is shown being verbally and psychologically abused by his father, but we never understand why. But these were minor flaws in an other great book.

Heart breaking tale shared by so many survivors. It lets us survivors know we are not alone in our emotions, or personal stories of terrible things that happened to us. The author put words to all those unspoken emotions and feelings of self hate, fear, where to place blame and trying to find yourself.