Bone Gap

This book is breathtaking. I just finished it about five minutes ago and am having a hard time organizing my thoughts because this book is just so incredible on so many levels. The prose, for starters. Toe-curlingly good. I caught my breath a few times. The characters are well-drawn and quirky in the best possible way and just so living and breathing and aching that you can't help but feel for them. The story is incredibly original, the magic makes me feel like I'm a little kid again swimming around inside books instead of just reading them. I honestly don't have a single criticism for this book. It's impeccable. Easily in my top 10 books ever. Read it now!

After two weeks, still only at the 22% mark of this book. And, I wouldn't be this far into it if I hadn't forced myself to keep reading after the 10% mark. But, I have to give up now. I can't keep wasting valuable reading time on a book that I can't even begin to be enthusiastic about.

I can't, this far in, even begin to figure out what the book is really about. Is it about the boy who's a little "off"? Is it about the girl who disappeared? Is it about the town in general or society even? And I'm not sure if there's supposed to be a supernatural element to it or if both of those characters are delusional.

Maybe if there was something about it that gave me an idea of what I was working towards, I'd stick with it. But, I can't find any indication of what direction this book is heading.

3.5 out of 5 stars (rounding down)

Well... I liked BONE GAP, but after having read other YA magical realism novels that blew me away, this one didn't hold the same power over me. The prose is lyrical and strong, but not necessarily exquisite. The characters are complex, flawed, and believable, with Finn finding his bravery when he needed it most and Roza showing incredible resiliency despite her predicament. The rural small-town setting is unique and realistic, especially in how word spreads fast and most residents accept it as truth. And while the magical realism elements seem few and far between at first, they grow in number and strangeness as they story goes on. Sometimes they're breathtaking and beautiful - and other times, they're downright creepy.

That being said, I can boil down my torn feelings to these criticisms:

1) I didn't like Finn's older brother Sean until the end. Or, rather, I didn't like how he treated Finn with so much apathy and lack of trust. Of course, if he didn't, then the story would have been much different. But until the last chapter or two, I wanted to throttle Sean every time he was on the page.

2) The way that Roza's broken English was written bothered me. I'd be curious to know how native Polish speakers who speak English as a second language feel about this depiction in the book (i.e, Is it handled realistically? Or would Polish speakers be annoyed / offended / frustrated by it?).

3) The story itself wasn't particularly moving. Yes, magical realism is more character-driven than plot-driven, but BONE GAP's approach lacked a clear sense of direction and a lack of purpose of stakes. I kept reading because I was interested, but that interest never turned into investment.

More, more, more. In the end, I wanted more heart from BONE GAP. And while I enjoyed what I found in this blend of the pastoral, the surreal, and the unsettling, it wasn't enough to satisfy me completely.

***I received this book as a gift.

Bone Gap is a bizarre and gritty tale about perception, growing up, and learning to see beyond the surface of a person into what makes them unique.

PROS:
Bone Gap perfectly captures the power of gossip and perception in a small town. The way that labels have a life of their own and are continued through constant use. The people of the town adore nicknames that function as stigmas, they dictate how each character lives their life and it’s hard to escape one this mask is placed on them. In Bone Gap, what the town thinks of you can make or break your life there and shackle you to a very limited concept of self.

The characters are intriguing and diverse. They each have unique, memorable personalities (though I would have liked to have seen more character interactions). From bee tamers to vivacious Polish girls, each character has a story that you’ll want to hear.

I appreciate books that I can learn from and Bone Gap had several quirky facts that I’d never heard about before. The psychological condition of face blindness for one, the foods and customs of Poland, and the complex art of beekeeping all drew me into the story.

Alternating POVs flip-flopped between past and present. Hearing Roza’s story propelled the mystery forward and left many things uncertain.

CONS:
Bone Gap is, at times, extremely slow to the point of losing interest. The story is a portrait of small town life and while it can be boring in nature, the mystery kind of got lost in the mundane monotony of everyday life.

Some sections were so strange and borderline psychotic that it hit magical realism and sounded like an entirely different book. The plot was sporadic and chaotic, jumping from the slow and steady flow of the little town to this creepy fantasy land. It was unexpected but not in the best way-it was jarring and cut into the story, I had to step back and reread to make sure I didn’t miss a pivotal change.

The ending was over quickly and so random. There was no explanation to cops or anything like that, it was brushed under the rug. It didn’t add up.

Welcome to Bone Gap, Illinois, where the people are a bit odd, magic lingers. Bone Gap is an apropos name since there are places, or “gaps” in the town where reality is a bit fluid, and otherworldly doors appear. Brothers Sean and Finn O’Sullivan live in Bone Gap, and everyone loves Sean, who is an EMT and has taken care of Finn since their mother ran off a few years before. Finn is different. Certainly different enough for the folks of Bone Gap, already a place a bit left of center, to take notice of. He’s a bit dreamy, has a hard time remembering faces, and he’s infatuated with a girl named Petey who lives with her mother Mel and keeps bees, and he has a best friend named Miguel, whose arms are a bit longer than normal. Finn believes his serious brother hates him, and resents having to care for him since their mother left. The situation has only gotten worse since Roza disappeared.

Roza came into the brothers’ lives in need of help, and they gave it. The town, subsequently, fell hard for the lovely Roza. Her hands brought plants and vegetables into the world as if by magic, and since she disappeared, Bone Gap is just a little less greener, the crops more wilted. Finn actually witnessed Roza’s disappearance, and the man that took her, and now he’s spotted that man again. But, no one will listen to Finn (who is frustratingly unable to provide details about the mysterious figure), so he must find a way to get Roza back himself.

Meanwhile, Roza is being held in what seems to be a construct of the man that took her (her locations vary, as if in a dream.) He keeps her prisoner, yet grants her any wish (except her freedom, of course), while repeatedly asking her if she loves him yet.

Bone Gap has a distinctive folkloric feel to it, and while dark, it’s also quite whimsical, and Laura Ruby’s prose is lyrical and lovely. Finn and Petey, who thinks she is ugly, but who Finn finds beautiful, begin a sweet romance, and spending time with the two of them was one of the great joys of this book. I wish that Bone Gap (and its magic) had been fleshed out a bit more, and we never really know much about the man that kidnaps Roza, but Ruby’s writing is so gorgeous, and the people of Bone Gap so quirky and interesting, those seem like small things. So much of this book is achingly lovely and it’s imminently quotable. If you like magical realism, you’ll love Bone Gap. Laura Ruby’s writing is effortless, and her story of love (familial and romantic) and longing shot through with a generous vein of magic is, well, magical. I raced through this one, and if you’re looking for something different, from a hugely talented author, give this a try.

Haunting and empowering. I really don't think I can be as elegant as I want to be in reviewing this book because I'm still kind of in awe. I love magical realism, the way the mundane seamlessly blends into the magical, how you're never quite sure what is real, and this did not disappoint. Though we start with and mainly follow the main character, Finn, a teen boy dealing with a mother who abandoned him and his brother, the character who stole the show for me was Roza. Her incredible strength of character is a model we should be showing to our kids - boys AND girls. Her story captivated me from the first. The relationship between Finn and his brother Sean was also fascinating and heartbreaking. The more you got to know the inhabitants of Bone Gap, the more you feel like you're a part of the town.

It was a bit slow for me to start, but the mystery of Roza pulled me in and the sinister, otherwordly magic lurking in the gaps of Bone Gap captivated me. This is one of those books I read so fast I was hardly aware of time passing. Though you don't get a full explanation (it is magical realism, after all) of all the otherwordly mysteries in this world, the ending was definitely satisfying. I loved it.

Bone Gap is a beautifully written tale about brothers Finn and Sean O'Sullivan and the lost girl they both love. Roza mysteriously appeared in their barn early one morning. Despite her limited English, she quickly captivated the brothers as well as the entire town, only to disappear just as mysteriously a year later. Younger brother Finn, who most of the town calls "Moonface" or "Sidetrack" because he's so strange, is the only witness in her disappearance. He says she was taken, but he is unable to describe her abductor.

I can't say too much more without getting spoiler-y, but I will say that the first 2/3 of this novel unfolds beautifully, with the author revealing new clues and pieces of the story in interesting ways. I particularly liked the shifting points of view, which allows the reader to see the same events from new eyes and how the pieces fit together. This book has a very dream-like quality, and much like a dream, there are parts that don't seem to make much sense until your perspective shifts and you see a wider view of the events.

However, I will say that I wasn't pleased with the book's ending. It felt as though, after 200-odd pages with a mostly realistic plot (or at least one I was willing to suspend disbelief for), I was suddenly thrust into a fantasy novel or a watered-down Stephen King story. It felt strange and jarring and I didn't much care for it. Overall, I think fans of YA fantasy would probably like this book, but it's certainly not one of my top reads ever.

After rereading this, my feelings towards the book are still the same. I think most of it just goes completely over my head. The first time I read it, and this second time, I feel like I'm just missing everything. I know there is a point to the story, I can feel it there, but I'm just not grasping it.

The characters are likeable enough. I really enjoy the interactions between Finn and Petey (especially their ridiculous essay prompts), and Roza was just a gem. Most of the character conversations and interactions seemed random to me. I couldn't understand where they fit in with the rest of the story. In fact, that is how most of the book came across, a bunch of random events that maybe eventually came together? In a way? I mean, I guess they did, but I'm having a hard time seeing how all the pieces fit.

With this reread, I finally did understand what magical realism is. Honestly, that may be what I have a hard time with. I am a very practical person, and I like things to go in a very straight forward path from point A to point B. I had such a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that this book contained magic, yet it was still written in the world we live in. The genre just probably isn't for me.

With all of this being said, I certainly do not want to discourage anybody from reading this. If you have a problem with magical realism (like I now know I do), maybe stay away from Bone Gap. Otherwise, read, little bookworm! This book has a lot to offer, and you might just love it.

Ahoy there me mateys! This was a young adult book with magical realism and fantasy mixed in. I have no idea where I first heard about this but it has been on me list for quite some time. I finally decided to get this one in audiobook format. This ended up only being an okay read for me.

The story takes place in a town called Bone Gap where a girl named Roza has gone missing. Her arrival was a mystery and her departure was more of the same. The town assumes that the beautiful girl just moved on. Finn is the only one who knows she was kidnapped. But no one believes him. He is determined to find Roza and bring her back.

Now from the synopsis, I assumed that most of the story would involve Finn’s search for Roza. The parts of the book that dealt with Roza and her backstory and kidnapping were interesting. I loved Finn, Roza, and the other crazy characters of Bone Gap. I loved the magical realism elements like whispering, talking corn. I even thought the bullies were weirdly entertaining. The small town feel with quirky characters was captured nicely.

The flaw in this book came from the execution. I had a problem with several things:

- the plot – It stalls in the middle to become focused on Finn’s romantic relationship. I loved Finn. I loved his love interest. But it felt like I had jumped into another book. Roza’s disappearance took a back burner.

- Finn’s condition – it seem’s liked Finn’s issue was in the story just to be a plot device. It caused problems in searching for Roza and in his love life. It just seemed lackluster in it’s inclusion in the story. Now granted I don’t know the author’s background and have no real knowledge of the condition so I can’t say that the portrayal is wrong. It just didn’t work for me.

- solving the kidnapping – This was the part of the story I was most looking forward to and it satisfied me the least. I didn’t enjoy how he found Roza or how they escaped the kidnapper. Or the explanation for how they got away from him. Meh.

I did like the ending of the book and how Roza’s escape doesn’t magically solve all the problems. There is still work to be done by everyone involved. I enjoyed the writing style itself, the lyrical prose, and the slow-burn format. I would be willing to give more of this author’s work a shot.

This was such an odd, unexpected little book with just a hint of magical realism. At first I wasn’t sure I would enjoy it, but it was the characters that kept me intrigued more than anything else. In the sleepy town of Bone Gap, brothers Sean and Finn are enigmas. Sean is known for his stoic heroism, and Finn for his ethereal good looks and dreaminess. Abandoned by their mother, they are learning to fend for themselves when a beautiful stranger shows up on their property. Roza brings the brothers a new sense of purpose and restores some peace to their household. Just as suddenly, she’s gone. Her “abduction” is witnessed by Finn, but his inability to recollect any details about her kidnapper leave the citizens of Bone Gap incredulous that anything nefarious actually took place.

The narrative has a dream-like quality that ebbs and flows as Finn goes about his summer in Bone Gap. Between the horse that turns up in their barn as mysteriously as Roza had, Finn’s first love, his unusual perspective, and Roza’s strange imprisonment, there were enough unusual elements to keep me intrigued. I was pleasantly surprised by this quick, quirky novel.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.

I ADORED THIS BOOK SO MUCH I CAN’T EVEN!

What an treat to find this special little gem!

Set in a small town in Illinois it has all the charm and mystery of those small town stories that make you feel like the small town is just an otherworldly portal to an unknown and vast universe.

The writing was so ethereal, the descriptions so exquisite and magical! And the characters so common and real but at the same time made so extraordinary in their ordinariness with just the right touches of imaginative strangeness. And what happens to them, the story, the plot, so unusual too! It goes beyond supernatural or paranormal, it’s more like unearthly!

I had a blast tightrope-walking Bone Gap’s fine line between reality and fantasy!

And man, this book gets downright scary! What happens to Rosa is no joke at all! It was the kind of thing my scariest nightmares are made of! So, this was such a wonderful concoction of YA contemporary, romance, mystery, thriller, dark fantasy, and horror.

The only reason I didn’t give this book 5 stars is that I wished the supernatural world had been developed or explained a tiny more. I perfectly understand why it wasn’t because it’s a big part of the mystery, but to me it needed just a tiny more. As tiny as 0.1 star ?

Otherwise, this book is perfection in every sense! It was such a delight to read it! The writing so exceptional, so poetic! The prose so beautiful. The imagery so skilled, with a way to make ordinary things look magical that I have never seen before!

Believe me, Bone Gap gives a whole new meaning to symbolism and metaphors and to the word “magical”

I hope you all do something extraordinary and unexpected as well and step out of your comfort zone and spoil yourself big time with this book!

The town of Bone Gap rests in a place where the ordinary and extraordinary often collide. Cornfields whisper, midnight horses fly, and everybody knows everybody's business. People in Bone Gap have a soft spot for Finn despite his oddness and "strange ways of creeping up on a person." Finn and his brother Sean were abandoned by their mother for a dentist and a better life. So they're no stranger to heartache. When a mysterious woman appears in their barn, they take her in, no questions asked, and Roza quickly becomes a part of the boys' family. Roza is quiet and beautiful, and the whole town quickly falls in love her. The shock of Roza's kidnapping is felt through the town, and the question of whom to blame is at the heart of the novel. Finn is the sole witness to the incident, and his odd descriptions of what occurred cause the townspeople, and his brother, to question everything they know about the beautiful, moon-eyed boy.
While this novel may seem like a mystery, the heart of it addresses an age-old question: What, really, is love? Love takes many forms and faces, but real, true love is hard to find. Bone Gap creates a mythology all its own, but it definitely shares a few themes with the classic Persephone myth. I do wish that some of the town's magical occurrences had been more fully fleshed out and that we were told more about one of the antagonistic main characters. However, I do believe that the vagueness upped the overall vibe of the story in some places and allowed us (the reader) to draw our own conclusions. I've seen quite a few comparison between Neil Gaiman and Laura Ruby's storytelling style, and if you enjoyed Ocean at the End of the Lane you'll probably enjoy Bone Gap. Petey, Finn, and Roza were the best parts of the book. Laura Ruby's characterization was wonderful, I just wish a few plot points had a little more detail. Overall, I think this was a great read, and I'd definitely recommend it!

BONE GAP has been highly praised and sounded incredibly intriguing, often being marked as “magical realism” by several of its readers, so when I saw the audiobook pop in my options from Hoopla, I knew I really wanted to read it! I’ve been getting into magical realism more and more lately and it sounded like something I was definitely in the mood for, especially with its positive feedback.

I guess the biggest thing that stuck with me after finishing the book is that I’m not really sure in what category to put this book! It ended up being on a sort of Raven Cycle plane where it’s kind of magical realism, kind of mythology, and kind of its own genre. BONE GAP felt like took a while to get to the “magical” parts but there were some things that were constantly developing that finally blossomed into their full potential towards the end of the book, sort of causing that magical reveal. I do have to say, though, that I was hoping for a bit more of that throughout the beginning and middle. It definitely had a unique feel and was unlike anything I’ve ever read but I still struggled — as I have with a lot of books lately — in feeling connected to the overall concept in the earlier portions of the book.

The ending of the book seemed like a little too much at all once. The portions of the book with Roza were certainly leading there, and the reader is fully aware that what’s happening to Roza certainly isn’t normal, but the ending almost left me with more questions than answers in some respects. One big issue I also had with this book was my own interpretation of the synopsis.

Everyone knows Bone Gap is full of gaps—gaps to trip you up, gaps to slide through so you can disappear forever. So when young, beautiful Roza went missing, the people of Bone Gap weren’t surprised.
I accidentally took this statement literally, and with so many mentions of magical realism, I was assuming that the gaps were literal gaps in the corn field — like a Field of Dreams sort of concept — and people ended up disappearing. I mean, the town is named Bone Gap so I thought the gap was literal. Whenever I have misinterpretations like that, it really takes me a while to adjust, so that was more of a personal problem and I had to really refocus.

The bright, shining piece of this book for me what the interesting cast of characters! Finn, Sean, Roza, and Petey are such complex and interesting characters, with many different relationships to tie them together. I loved all of the different forms of love that are included in this book and how many different layers there were to each one. Each personality was so different too! The characters all have their strong points and each one really helps the others learn and grow. It’s a beautiful, tangled web and I really enjoyed each character that the book featured!

BONE GAP was cleverly written and wonderfully layered. The whole concept (aside from the magical aspects) was built upon a reveal that I didn’t even see coming until it was almost revealed and it was wholly unique and a little heart-breaking. I was impressed with Laura Ruby’s creativity, depth, and ability to plot out the whole book in ways that I hadn’t imagined. I always feel like it’s super impressive when I’m able to be caught off-guard because being an avid reader, I’ve just read so many different things that it’s always impressive to see even more originality in a book.

I had never heard of Bone Gap, Laura Ruby's 2015 novel until a young friend pressed it on me as one of the best books she'd read all year. Shame on me because the book was a National Book Award Finalist, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, and wan a number of other Best Book of the Year awards.

Bone Gap is the name of a small Illinois farm town. Eighteen-year-old Finn lives with his EMT older brother Sean on the remains of the family farm. Their father is dead; their mother ran off to Oregon with an orthodontist. Some time before the story begins, a lovely young Polish woman named Roza had shown up in the corn field, fleeing something. She lived (chastely) with Finn and Sean long enough to demonstrate almost supernatural skill at growing vegetables, for Sean to fall in love with her, and because of her beauty and personality to become popular with the townspeople. She's been kidnapped. Finn saw the kidnapper, but he cannot for the life of him describe the man's face to the local cop. That he can not does not endure him to Sean, the cop, or the townspeople.

After a first chapter to introduce Finn and the situation in Bone Gap, Ruby shifts point of view. We are now with Rosa in what could be another universe. One without another person with whom she can connect. The only other person is her kidnapper who asks repeatedly:"Are you in love with me yet?" Roza has become Rapunzel locked away in a tower (although at first it seems a suburban American house, but that's only at first).

Part One chapters alternate between Finn's and Roza's point of view as we learn about them and their situations. Finn grows attracted to Priscilla, a beekeeper about his age, who because of her looks has never attracted male attention. In Part Two, Ruby adds chapters from Sean's and Priscilla's point of views to those of Finn and Roza. Part Three resolves the questions the book has provoked.

So Bone Gap is an interesting amalgam of verisimilitude and fantasy, or realism and fairy tale. Ordinarily, I don't care for such a mixture; I like my realism to be realistic, my fantasy to be fantastic. Bone Gap is the exception, perhaps because Ruby has created such interesting characters. The story held my interest and there was not a point where I was jolted out of my willing suspension of my disbelief.

In addition, Ruby writes so well. Here's the first description of Roza's kidnapper: "But he would smile that bland, pleasant smile—the smile of an uncle, a teacher, a clerk, all those men with all those teeth—a smile that made him all the more terrifying." And here's a crowd watching Priscilla retrieve an escaped bee swarm: "Their voices washed over Finn the way they always did. Like a strange sort of choir music, one voice blending into the next, the refrains so familiar that he could have mouthed the words along with them." I also recommend studying her dialogue, which reveals character and advances the story.

For readers who have young friends, I suggest you introduce them to Bone Gap. But you might want to read it yourself first.

The Girl in the Photo

Laura Ruby’s Bone Gap is a hypnotic blend of magical realism and gripping narrative. Finn O’Sullivan’s life took a unexpected turn when his mother left him in the care of his older brother Sean. But for Finn, losing his mother is nothing in comparison to losing his brother. When Roza miraculously appears in their life, the change in Sean is immediate, but the O’Sullivans happiness is short-lived when Roza is taken by a stranger. Finn’s word holds little merit in a town that has always seen him as a boy whose mind constantly wanders, so when he tells them Roza was kidnapped, no one believes him. Convinced Roza left of her own free will, Finn’s brother Sean and the rest of the town of Bone Gap has moved on. Finn is left to struggle with the guilt of not being able to recall the face of the man that took Roza, his own sense of helplessness, and the growing chasm between him and his brother.

Bone Gap‘s strange and multifaceted setting is full of mysteries that defy rational. The narrative shifts between several characters’ perspectives, but focuses heavily on Finn and the missing Roza. Roza is held captive by a man with the ability to bend the rules of nature. As Roza struggles to understand what her kidnapper wants and how she can escape him, she is kept in world that won’t stop changing. Roza’s kidnapper is terrifying and unnervingly patient, he sees her as something to possess rather than a human being.

Laura Ruby’s novel explores what it means to be beautiful and how one is judge largely by what’s on the surface. For characters like Roza, her own beauty has become a burden, but for Priscilla “Petey” Willis, beauty is something she will never have. Bone Gap juxtaposes a superficial view of beauty with a different kind that doesn’t always require seeing with one’s eyes.

I didn’t love this book the way I think I was supposed to. It’s a good story, with some uniquely quirky characters, which I like, but the reason I finished it was because it was a gift from someone who did love the book—I didn’t particularly care what happened to these characters. For one thing, the author tells the reader about a thousand times that Miguel has unusually long arms, Sean has the physique of a superhero, Priscilla (Petey) has an ugly face, Roza is beautiful, and Finn is pretty for a boy but strange. I guess the author felt she had to keep repeating herself lest we forget. I think part of my ambivalence toward this book is that it’s not the kind of novel I would normally read, but I have read books with similar magical realism/fantasy elements like Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, and I adored that book. This one just didn’t do it for me.

I finished this book a few weeks ago and have only now gotten around to writing the review, I know, bad blogger ;) When I finished this my first thoughts were "I have no idea if I should rate this 5 stars or 1 star because this book was frustratingly amazing yet I'm still not sure what happened with the bad guy!! I'll leave it at 4 stars till I gather my thoughts!" Well that was a few weeks ago and to be honest, I'm still not sure what to rate it but I think I'll stick with 4 stars because this book was amazingly written but ultimately confusing.

Character wise we have a few people that the book revolves around. We have Finn and Sean O' Sullivan first. Sean is Finns older brother and also his guardian. My heart broke for these boys a lot because their mother up and left them alone. Sean had a bright future ahead of him but had to put it aside to look after Finn. Finn is an odd ball of sorts. He sees things differently than normal people, which I loved finding out about as the story progressed. He is picked on and beaten up a lot and my heart broke for him. Their lives change when they find Roza in their shed.

The enigmatic Roza is a mystery to the boys. They find her in their shed and it looks like she was beaten up. She doesn't say much to them but from what they can gather is that she is on the run from a man, but who is he? Roza doesn't trust easily, she has learned that men will only use her for her beauty. Slowly she learns that Sean and Finn are trustworthy and she ends up opening up to them. Sean finds himself drawn to her and wants to protect her. Just as their friendship blossoms, Roza torn from their lives. People think she up and left just as suddenly as she appeared, but Finn knows the truth. He saw someone take her from the cornfields, but when he can't describe him, everyone thinks he just made it up. Who took Roza and can Finn make anyone believe?

Plot wise, I'm not even sure what to say. It was often times confusing but not in a totally bad way, if you can understand that!!! For the most part it's a mystery but it's also a fantasy of sorts. The fantasy element comes in towards the end. We get to see the book from Finns POV and also Rozas one. I loved finding out about how she ended up in Bone Gap and who the mystery fellow was (even though I'm still not sure who he was!!)

I loved Bone Gap as the setting because it's such an odd place. The people describe it as having Gaps that people slip through, because so many people seem to go missing. The whole place just felt odd.

The romance was so sweet and heartwarming. I loved seeing both sets of people fall for each other but especially Finns romance. My heart swelled for them.

Anyway, Bone Gap was a beautifully written, imaginative and unique read and one I know so many people will love. As I said earlier, its a frustratingly amazing read but one that will captivate you. The mystery and creepiness of the bad guy and the tender romance will have you turning the pages quickly. This is a story that will stay with you long after you finish it, I finished it weeks ago and everything is still fresh in my mind! I urge everyone to give it a try, you won't be disappointed!

‘Because we don’t have your typical gaps around here. Not gaps made of rocks or mountains. We have gaps in the world. In the space of things. So many places to lose yourself, if you believe that they’re there. You can slip into the gap and never find your way out. Or maybe you don’t want to find your way out.’

Finn O’Sullivan was the only witness to the kidnapping of Roza, his brother Sean’s girlfriend. But when he wrestles with his memories trying to recall the face of the man that took her, he also remembers that she didn’t really put up a fight. So maybe she wanted to leave? It only seemed natural, after their mother left Finn and Sean as well so it would make sense for Roza to do the same. No one in the town believes his story, especially since the only way he can describe the man who took her is that he “moves like a cornstalk in the wind.“

Bone Gap, at first glance, appears to be your typical small-town in America where everyone knows everyone’s business no matter how private you strive to keep it. There’s the local brothers that go around bullying people, there’s the rumor spreading and gossip mongering, but then there’s an offhand note about the corn that whispers softly to Finn. The basis of this story stems from the abduction of Persephone myth, which when I realized this made it all the more fascinating. It’s quite evident once you realize this even if it’s only loosely inspired. Pomegranates still manage to make an appearance, there’s the subtle reference to the garden that stopped flourishing as soon as she was gone, and the corns presence in the story becomes much less Children of the Corn when you take into account the connection between it and Persephone’s return.

There are so many enigmatic facets to this story that I could discuss but it likely wouldn’t make much sense to someone who hadn’t already experienced this story. Because an experience is exactly what this story is. Its world-building is obscure, cryptic, and vague. But it’s also fanciful and unconventional and that’s what I loved most about this. Trying to nail this story down to a single genre is a troublesome endeavor, but just know that it’s part mythology, part romance, with large parts of magical realism that is so relentless it often veers into straight fantasy. One of the most innovative stories I’ve read this year.

Boy, is this book underrated! In Bone Gap, we get a boy who's searching for answers. After he sees the girl his brother loves being kidnapped and is unable to provide information about the kidnapper, he's hated by the entire town. Still, he's determined to find her; so what if the kidnapper isn't exactly human and if strange things happen in Bone Gap? After he finds a love of his own, she helps him come to a startling realization that may just be the key to getting Roza back.
This book isn't sold as a feminist book, but it is. I was so pleasantly surprised! I've read a couple of books that are blatantly about women's issues, but I liked how this one was more subtle and yet very easy to understand as such. Roza gets kidnapped because of her beauty. Through her story we learn to see how beauty is a curse for women and how sometimes men feel that they're entitled to that beauty. On the other hand, Petey is seen as the 'ugly' girl in town. Much like in Roza's case, people (especially men) feel that they can make opinions about her just because of how she looks. Both these characters cover a lot of ground on what it means to be a girl in a community that is always judging you on how you look.
The magical elements in this book are above reproach. I think this is a perfect example of magical realism done right, where one element blends in so perfectly with the other that you're not sure where one starts and one ends. Ruby draws on her own ideas and on established myths to create a world that is unique to Bone Gap with characters that echo Grecian heroes but that are also starkly modern.
There isn't a single character in this book that I didn't love. Even the creepy, hateful kidnapper is portrayed exactly as is needed in this book. Even when I was hating Sean, I still loved him. And the girls? They're so strong and resilient that they make me weep.
I can't really say how much I was impressed by the level on which this book operates. I feel that it's one of the best YA books I've read in a while. Like bees, scary corn, magical horses, and love? This is totally the book for you. And I promise, it isn't really as random as it sounds.

Review- This is a interesting story with some great magical realism. My one compliant is we do get to know the villain. He is bad because he kidnapped Roza but we do not get to see what drives him or even what he is. The story is mostly about Finn and the way that he interacts with the world around him. He has prosopagnosia which means that he is face blind. He cannot remember faces. So when he sees Roza being taken and he tried to explain what the man looks like no one believes him. Roza is in an in-between space where she can see the outside world but she is not of it. It is a hero's journey story but with the magic and the unexplained in it adds something really interesting. The ending is one of the best I have ever read. Seeing Roza finally be able to do something about where and what is happening to her was great. I look forward to seeing what Ruby writes next.

I give this books a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.

"He was tired of everyone believing they knew everything there was to know about him, as if a person never grew. As if a person never changed, a person was born a weird and dreamy little kid with two red lips and stayed that way forever, just to keep things simple for everyone else."

Around 4.5 stars. This book wasn't what I expected but it blew me away.

With beautiful statements about love and seeing and exploring the road of loss, this book is wonderful. There's magical realism, acts of friendship and fear, and an emotional rollercoaster of a story. It goes to show stories don't always end the way we expect.

Especially near the end I was starting to wonder how a story like this could possibly be wrapped up. Bone Gap is a small town full of memorable and heartfelt characters. It's sinister and compelling. Focusing on loss and love and how we undermine ourselves this story unwinds in a way that makes it hard to put down.

Title: Bone Gap

Author: Laura Ruby

Age Group: Teen/Young Adult

Genre: Magical Realism

Series: N/A, standalone

Star Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

I borrowed this book from my local library and reviewed it.

I've had Bone Gap sitting in my library stack for the last month and a half, taunting me, pleading with me to read it. From the moment I saw it on the shelf of my local library, my excitement for it hasn't died down, especially with all the positive feedback from my fellow book reviewers, and book lovers in general. I hadn't read any of Laura Ruby's work before now--despite this being one of several of her novels for young adults, and to be honest, I'd never heard of her prior to the buzz that accompanied Bone Gap.

I was a little bit nervous at first--you know how I feel about hype, guys--but once I actually began the book, I was completely swept away. The prose of this novel--beautiful, hypnotic, and absolutely all-consuming--grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go. And part of what makes this novel so compelling is Bone Gap itself: a secret, hidden town with magic bursting to its very seams--if only magic of a very subtle kind. And this dreamy, enchanting enviroment serves as an oddly chilling foil to the thriller that is contained at its heart.

And with that, we are brought to Finn O'Sullivan, his older brother Sean, and the dark, beautiful girl that comes to town and steals their hearts, and every other in Bone Gap, Roza, and her disappearance. I loved everything about this novel--the creepy, frightening prose that both draws the reader in and seeps into the mind, the characters that populate the frightening, beautiful town of Bone Gap, especially Finn, Sean, Roza, and Petey, to the chilling mystery that lies at the very heart of the novel--and perhaps the town itself.

Magical realism has been one of my favorite genres since my first discovery of it, but Ruby really does the genre justice, mixing chilling mystery, heartpounding thrills, magic in all its forms, and of course, beautiful prose. The bottom line: Bone Gap was a book I thoroughly enjoyed, and I can't wait to see more of Ruby's work! Highly recommended for fans of Neil Gaiman and Nova Ren Suma! Next on deck: Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter!

“Bone Gap” by Laura Ruby is lots of things…a realistic tale of two brothers, a touching first-love story, a glimpse into an oddly warped magical world, and an interesting look into the problems associated with a very rare and unusual disability. Mostly, however, it’s a wonderfully readable story.

The basics: Finn O’Sullivan has a hard enough time navigating high school, his disability (face blindness, which IS a real thing), his relationship with his older brother, and his feelings for the girl he’s starting to fall for. Add to this the mysterious disappearance of his brother’s girlfriend and the fact that some odd and not logically explainable things start happening to him, and you have the basis for “Bone Gap”‘s plot.

What I liked the most: The major characters are well-drawn and realistic. Finn, his brother Sean, and his love interest Petey are all unique and defined individuals, and all ring true. Likewise, the relationships between Finn and others are believable. Other characters, both quirky and standard, round out the cast. The book also delightfully captures small-town life, and the unique aspects found therein.

What I’d like to see more of: The story’s villain was intriguing, and just evil enough to make the reader truly despise him. I would have enjoyed reading a bit more of his back-story to find out what made him this way and give him a bit more depth.

Overall: I enjoyed this story very much. Magical realism is a fairly new genre for me, and this book provides a perfect example of this style of writing. Highly recommended!

Magical Realism is a realm that is still fairly unexplored in literature - whether YA or otherwise - and for that alone, "Bone Gap" is a unique read. This is the story of the small town of Bone Gap, where the corn speaks, the townspeople keep secrets, and two brothers are struggling to move forward after the disappearance of their new friend and boarder, Roza. The biggest mystery here may not be what has happened to Roza, but instead whether she is even still present on our physical plane and there is no simple answer to this key conundrum. Do you believe in a parallel universe, in an alternate astral plane? In a land where horses and goats can appear from seemingly nowhere, there are great lessons to be learned about rushing to judgment and fighting for love; and you must always remember to never go gently into the dark corn.

I wanted to read this book because I found the cover to be different. And the summary to be interesting. So getting a print ARC of it was all kinds of amazing. But then I got worried I wouldn't like it. But oh. I started it today, and I had to finish it right away. I loved it. It's weird. Yet beautiful and awesome.

At first I thought I wouldn't like this book much, because I was a bit unsure about the writing. But then I read more. And I grew to really like the writing. And I started to care for all the characters. And I found the plot to be exciting and mysterious and a bit creepy at times. And I liked the romance a lot. Sigh.

Bone Gap is mostly the story of Finn. Whom I really adored. He's a bit different. And I'm not going to explain it more than that. Just that he is different and I adored every part of him. Loved getting to know him more and getting to know why he is the way he is. He's amazing. I also liked reading about his past. And about his brother, Sean. I'm still a bit unsure about him. He was kind of an idiot at times. But he could also be kind and caring and I did like him. Probably. I very much liked their cat, though. So cute and adorable :D And the horse that comes into their life. And the goat. And reading about the chickens next door. And the bees too. I loved the animals in this book. The animals are kind of a small part but I liked reading about them.

I feel like I could say everything about this book. Yet I also feel like saying nothing about it. It is a bit weird. And so different. Yet it is also so amazing. And I just couldn't help but falling in love with this story and these characters and this writing. I was unsure, but I'm so glad I ended up loving this book. I found there to be an exciting mystery. And there is a tiny bit of magic in this book. A bit weird, yet it made sense too, so I didn't mind it. It was still exciting. I also really liked the ending for this book.

There are so many characters to read about in Bone Gap. I can't remember all their names. But there is this girl. Petey. And I loved reading about her and Finn falling in love. About them kissing and being adorable together. And I loved reading about Petey. Her life is all kinds of exciting. And her past is kind of sad and so real. But yeah. I loved her as a person. Her mom was pretty awesome too. Mostly I just really loved reading about Petey and Finn together. The romance is pretty sweet. I loved it a whole lot.

There is also another girl in this book. Roza. She was so amazing to read about. And I loved that she was from Poland. And oh. Getting to know her story and reading chapters from her point of view was so heartbreaking. Sad face. Because, yeah, I ended up loving her a lot. And it might happen that she is kidnapped. And it might be so sad and it broke my heart a lot. And getting to read about the year she has stayed with Finn and Sean was just the most beautiful and so interesting and I wanted more of it.

There is so much I loved about this book. Most of it is told from the point of view of Finn, but also a bit from Roza and Petey and Sean. And that old neighbor of theirs. Whom I also really liked reading about, though he was a bit crazy. Hmph. Yet I kind of adored him. Anyway. The town this book is set in is pretty exciting too. I loved reading about Bone Gap. Sure, the people might mostly be idiots, but I kind of really enjoyed reading about them all. Hah. It surprised me how much I enjoyed this book. So glad I did.

I don't really want to say that much more about this book. Just that Bone Gap is such an exciting book. The plot is great. The characters are adorable. And I really liked the writing. I loved reading about Finn and Petey and Roza and Sean. I loved getting to know some of their secrets. I enjoyed how exciting this book was. I wish it had been longer. And I wouldn't have minded reading more about these characters. I grew to love them all. And I'm so glad that I read this book. It was pretty amazing. Looks gorgeous too.

Huge thank you to Megan at HarperCollins International for the gorgeous review copy for this book. <3 I also just ordered a hardcover for myself as well. Because, yeah. I really did enjoy this book. And I think I might want to read it again one day soon. And I need my own gorgeous hardcover of it too. Sigh. It will be so pretty, I think. Anyway. This book was pretty amazing. And weird. Yet I loved it. I think you should all read Bone Gap. Curious to know what you all would think of it :D Will you let me know if you read it?

pooled ink Reviews:

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It was an interesting choice, definitely not something one sees often on the shelves. It’s unique, creepy, impossible, and infuriatingly insightful. The entire story is such an eerie mystery, an enthralling enigma of voice and color. This book is undeniably strange yet oddly lulling and you can’t help but want to know.

A unique and eerie mystery about a girl who goes missing and a town who can’t quite see it, BONE GAP’s pages rustle with the strange, the frightening, the impossible, and a piercing depth that will have you held prisoner amongst the corn until you finally see.

**Read the full review on Wordpress: Pooled Ink

Bone Gap definitely took time to settle into whether it be the magical realism or understanding the characters. But once the weariness and the waiting period was over, I was comfortable enough with the writing and the contemporary/magical world that is the small town of Bone Gap. I was engrossed in the stories of the quizzical Finn, the beautifully tragic Roza, and the eccentric residents of Bone Gap.

The opening is a fuzzy transition on whether Bone Gap is a mythical place or a contemporary town. Perhaps both. Perhaps neither. Its all a matter of perspective. And we get many of those since Bone Gap is told from the third-person of different inhabitants of the rural town filled with corn, chickens, horses, and, most famously of all, gaps. But the prominent voice of the novel comes from Finn O'Sullivan, the boy fraught with guilt for letting Roza slip through the cracks and be taken by a man he cannot remember. And Roza, the polish beauty who's past fails to fade from the future she fights to make for herself in America, who is kidnapped and struggles to break free from her captor to return to Finn and Sean. Even the perspectives from Petey and Finn's own brother, Sean help to unwind the mystery that is brewing in the small town of Bone Gap.

The stories are absolutely heartbreaking. The self-sacrifice these characters go through, the attempt at finding love in a small town that spreads gossip like wildfire, and piecing together the puzzle of what happened to Finn, Roza, Sean, Petey, and pretty much everyone living in Bone Gap. I don't think I loved a place or characters more than I had the ones in this book. Everyone burst with life, main characters, secondary characters, even the town itself felt like a character that I grew to admire and enjoy. For those who enjoy deep and dysfunctional characters, this is one of those books to pick up, because Bone Gap is chock full of them. The twists and turns along the way, the elaborate set up of diverse characters in a rural town in mid-eastern America, and the beauty in the depth and hidden magic of this novel.

Final Summation: Another favorite this year. Though I came to love Bone Gap, getting into it was difficult, but proud of myself for sticking through because I would have missed out in a beautifully written novel. Bone Gap takes time to soak in, to fully understand what it going on. But once you do, you fall within the gap and cannot find your way out. And I was happy to stay. Not only is it descriptively gorgeous, but it is haunting and the magical realism sprinkled about the pages was nothing short of gripping.

When I first started this book I was very interested in the story right away. I wanted to know about Finn and why he behaved the way he did. I wanted to know who Roza was and what happened to her. It had my attention. But then I got confused because things got a little odd. What I didn't know what that Bone Gap is magical realism. It put magical/mystical events into a otherwise very realistic story. And it threw me for a loop. Ok ok, if I had read the summary better or paid more attention to reviews I might not have been as caught off guard! But I was. Once I realized that I could let go of trying to fit everything into a realistic world and my confusion went down. I will admit it never fully went away, but it didn't interfere with my enjoyment any more!

Now with that out of the way - I did like Bone Gap. What I liked were the characters. I loved Finn. He was so real because he hurt so much because of Roza. You could just feel it in him. I wanted him to find peace and answers. It was hard to watch him struggle so much. By the end I felt I understood him so much more, and he understood himself!

I also really loved the character of Petey (Priscilla). She was probably my favorite character. I liked how she was strong, but yet you could see that she struggled with accepting herself at times - or more I think accepting what others (Finn) thought of her. I wanted to hug her at times, but I also knew she was the kind of girl that would've hated that!

Because I liked these two characters so much I liked the book. I'm a very character driven reader, and for this book containing the magic it does - I needed to care about the characters or I would've stopped reading it. Thankfully I didn't because I got to witness Finn and how incredibly sweet it is to Petey. And Roza and how, even in difficulty, remain sweet and kind. I got to feel the closeness of Bone Gap and share in their magic.

In the end: Read it. Just be more prepared for the magic than I was!

(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss.)

This book was weird, but I really liked it!

Finn was quite a considerate character really. He seemed to go out of his way to be nice and to do the right thing, and seemed to genuinely care for the people of Bone Gap, whilst the other residents just saw him as pretty but vacant. This was a bit of a shame really, and I really hated the way they wouldn’t listen to him about Roza’s kidnapping.

The storyline in this was really good, and I loved the way this was written, the story really sucked me in, and was basically really enjoyable to read. I did find the way Roza’s kidnapping was handled to be a little odd, and the strange occurrences in Bone Gap were also really weird, but they were also really magical! I loved how the magic was so believable, and how well the story managed to weave all these strange happenings together into something beautiful.

There was some romance and it was quite sweet. I loved the way that Finn found Petey beautiful, even when everyone else thought she was ugly, and how he didn’t let her push him away.

The ending to this was really good, and I was so happy with the way things played out. I am so glad that I decided to read this book, as I thought it sounded kind-of weird from the blurb, but it was definitely the right kind of weird for me.
Overall; magical, clever, and beautiful in its own weird way,
9 out of 10.

It is rare to find a novel that defies genre conventions with such amazing aplomb. Bone Gap is a mesmerizing story that is difficult to accurately describe. Psychological thriller, fairy tale and coming-of-age saga, the tale is set in the small town of Bone Gap, Illinois. Finn O'Sullivan and his older brother, Sean, live a solitary life until a mysterious young woman appears in their barn. Fleeing from a terrifying evil, Roza is at first aloof and frightened of Finn and Sean. Yet as time passes, she is drawn to Bone Gap's inhabitants, and her presence in the town brings out the best in everyone. Yet the evil that pursues Roza lies in wait, and when she is abducted, Finn is the only one who sees her captor. Yet he cannot describe the abductor satisfactorily. Now Finn must contend with the townspeoples' hostility and his own self-doubts and guilt. Will Roza ever be found, and who is her mysterious abductor?

I have not been so moved by a book in quite some time. Ms. Ruby's prose is elegant yet fast-paced, and the characters in this novel are well-rounded and compelling. Roza's story kept me feverishly devouring the book in greedy gulps. My heart ached for her vulnerability and simultaneously swelled with pride at her courage. She is one of the most compelling heroines I've encountered in my reading experience this year. I also loved Finn and Sean, and their relationship was wonderfully authentic. Bone Gap also contains one of the most terrifying villains I've encountered in quite some time. Restrained and insidious, the monster in this story is as timeless and as current as a villain of an old folktale and a sociopath on the evening news.

I implore everyone to read this fascinating tale, a story where truth and falsehood are hopelessly entwined, and where what you see may not be what it appears. I loved this refreshing examination of the true meaning of beauty and the deception of eyesight. As a blind individual, this book truly spoke to my heart, and I know it will do the same to you. Happy reading, and God bless you all.

My mom read Bone Gap and wasn’t a fan—she just found it a little too strange and got bored—but since I had the audiobook from the SYNC summer listening program, I decided to give it a try anyway. And I’m really glad I did. I DO think this might be the type of book that works better (for me) as an audiobook because parts of it are a little slow plot-wise. The mystery of what happened to Roza kept me interested, though, and I was fascinated by Roza’s kidnapping and who (or maybe even what) her captor is. Oh, and it turns out that one of the main characters has a condition I’d only recently heard much about and I was very surprised when it was revealed—though there were definitely clues.

The romance in this book was a bit slow-burning at first and some of the background information was doled out a bit sparingly in the beginning, but overall I really enjoyed this book and found the fantastical premise incredibly intriguing.

I chose the audio version of Bone Gap, which I believe is the only reason why I finished this book. With multiple points of view and time changes dotted randomly throughout, Bone Gap has a very disjointed quality. Although it does keep the reader guessing what might happen next, I would have rather the story be told in a more linear fashion. The mystery surrounding the "gap" is one that I feel can be interpreted in different ways by individual readers, which makes this book interesting to me. My impression of Bone Gap is that it pays homage to Ray Bradbury, as it has that same dark fantasy quality. This book is worth a listen, but will leave no lasting impression on me.

No one in Bone Gap is surprised when Roza disappears. People have been leaving the O'Sullivan brothers for years and it only makes sense that the girl who appeared out of nowhere should leave just as suddenly.

Finn O'Sullivan knows that Roza didn't just leave. And he knows that he didn't do anything to save her.

Months later most everyone in Bone Gap has given up pretending to believe Finn's story about the man who took Roza. Even Finn's brother, Sean, is tired of hearing about the man with the unique stillness and the face Finn can never quite describe.

Finn refuses to stop looking. His search will take him deep into the secrets of Bone Gap to places he couldn't imagine. In trying to find Roza, Finn will learn that sometimes you have to stop looking before you can truly see in Bone Gap (2015) by Laura Ruby.

Bone Gap is a rich and atmospheric novel. The town of Bone Gap is a strange place filled with secrets and magic that most people have forgotten. In a town populated with strange and vivid characters even Bone Gap itself becomes an indelible part of this novel that is firmly grounded with a strong sense of place.

Some would call Bone Gap magic realism but references to fairy tales and magic bring a purer form of fantasy to mind in this story where beauty can be a curse and being blind is sometimes the best way to see.

Bone Gap masterfully blends myth and magic in a contemporary setting to create a thoughtful story filled with unlikely heroes, surprising twists and a plot that expertly subverts traditional fairytale tropes. Bone Gap is a lovely, unexpected novel that is incredibly smart. Highly recommended.

Possible Pairings: The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson, Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby, The Rose and the Beast by Francesca Lia Block, Blackfin Sky by Kat Ellis, The Lost Sun by Tessa Gratton, We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, The Boneshaker by Kate Milford, Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick, Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff

I'm not sure what I was expecting going into Bone Gap, but it wasn't... this. I honestly don't know how to describe this novel; it's just really, really weird, in the best way possible. You could maybe compare it to Jellicoe Road, in the sense that you have no idea what's going for 90% of the book but it all makes sense in the end, or to Nova Ren Suma's writing, in the way both combine magical realism with contemporary mystery and superb characterization. But really, Bone Gap is unlike anything I've ever read before. It's a very unique book you'll either love or hate, and I happen to be on the love side.

Bone Gap took me a while to get into. It's very literary, and it's more challenging than most of the YA I read: it takes a while to process what's happening because half the time I didn't really know what was going on. And sometimes you have to stop and just admire the beauty of Laura Ruby's writing. So Bone Gap is definitely not a quick read. It also took me a while to get used to the narrative: Bone Gap is written in the third person and mainly told from the POV of the four protagonists, but every once in a while there's a chapter written from a secondary character's POV, or even some from the town's collective POV. Since I'm someone who usually prefers a simple first-person narration, this took a while to get used to, but the characters make it work.

The characters are what really makes Bone Gap come to life. Finn is an amazingly special character; he's incredibly fragile and vulnerable but fiercely loyal and strong at the same time, and I loved him from the first page on. How Finn sees the world differently from other people is excellently explored, and the reveal of his condition, or however you would call it, is fascinating, as it's something I'd never heard of before. I especially loved how that reveal is worked into his relationship with Petey. Their romance is perfectly handled and so realistic; I loved everything about them.

Even more so than Finn, I loved Roza and Petey. Both of their stories are fascinating and heartbreaking, albeit in very different ways. I really loved the contrast between the two female characters within the context of beauty: Roza is "the most beautiful" and might have to pay the ultimate price for it, while Petey is the ugly girl the whole town pities. The exploration of how beauty or a lack of it affects a person and is expressed in deep insecurities in both of these characters is expertly handled. I identified more with Petey's story, but both of them are very relatable and realistic. I absolutely loved both of these girls and very much appreciated the message the story sent in regards to beauty and gender.

The secondary characters all have their own stories too and seem almost as realistic and complex as Finn, Roza, and Petey. The only character that I didn't think was explored quite enough is Sean; I wish we had a couple more chapters from his POV in order to really understand him, and understand his relationship with Roza.

I'm still not sure what to make of the magical realism in Bone Gap. To be honest, it got a bit too magical for me at times; the ending seemed closer to paranormal than to contemporary. As someone who usually reads contemporary, I wanted a real-life resolution of Roza's disappearance, rather than the magical one we got. But that's a personal preference. If you like both contemporary and paranormal, this should be perfect for you! And I loved the characters and the writing so much that I didn't even really mind all the magic.

I am very, very impressed by Bone Gap. With a lyrical, enchanting writing style and eccentric, complex characters that I know will stay with me for a long time, Bone Gap is a unique story I absolutely loved. It's so weird and different that I don't even know how to explain it; you'll just have to experience the weirdness yourself. I can see how this book isn't everyone's cup of tea, considering how confusing it is at times, but it's a must-read for any fans of magical realism - or anyone who enjoys lyrical writing and unique characters, really.

What I Liked
Originally, I think, Brianna wanted to read this book first. Since she had a few other one’s she was reading I decided I’d read it. Boy oh boy am I so NOT disappointed I stole this book from her TBR pile. I have been dieing for a different kind of, wonderful, new, well thought out book like this. If I could sum this all up in one word it’d be PECULIAR!
Bone Gap reminds me of a Twilight Zone episode especially near the end (no spoilers). But if you’ve read the book I’m sure you know what I mean!
I loved all the characters. My favorite point of view to read from was Rozas because I had no idea what was happening to her. I was intrigued to know more so I kept on reading.

What I Didn't Like

I feel like the ending was resolved a bit quickly but it wrapped up nicely.
Some parts of the book felt slow but other fast paced chapters made up for that.

overall:

Bone Gap is a book I had no expectations with but LOVED! I had no idea what it was about, read it and like I said loved it! Sure there were some downsides but there was more good than there was bad. It maintains a peculiar story with interesting characters! I recommend it!

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: This book touches on a range of topics fitting together seamlessly, from relationships and quirky characters to psychopaths, magic and heartbreak.

Opening Sentences: The people of Bone Gap called Finn a lot of things, but none of them was his name. When he was little, they called him Spaceman. Sidetrack. Moonface. You. As he got older, they called him Pretty Boy. Loner. Brother. Dude.

The Review:

When I started this book I had no idea there would be an element of magic involved. If I did, I would have expected something ill fitting given that the story had a contemporary feel but I under estimated the author. Laura Ruby wrote Bone Gap beautifully.

The story was told from different perspectives, but mainly from Finn and Roza’s views. Sometimes more than one POV can be irritating especially when events are repeated but in Bone Gap it worked well because there were different things going on. One event would be shown from Finn’s view as he tries to convince town people that Roza was kidnapped, meanwhile Roza attempts to escape from her psychopathic kidnapper. Their perspectives also shed light on past experiences, and slowly the pieces began to fit together.

He preferred her barefoot, he said. She had such lovely feet.
Roza didn’t agree. What was lovely about fee that could not take you anywhere?
What was lovely about fee that could not run?

At first I assumed Finn was responsible for the kidnapping since he was the last one to see Roza. Plus, the reader gets the impression that there’s something not right with him. He doesn’t seem to be all there so I thought he had a mental illness, or that he was obsessed with Roza and I felt terrible when I misjudged him just like everyone else. He is so sweet but unworldly it’s beyond funny.

“No she looks really mad. Did I break the moped?”
“I don’t think she’s worried about the moped. People sometimes get mad when someone they care about throws himself in front of a charging thousand-pound animal wearing steel shoes.”
“Sorry,” he said, though he wasn’t sure what he was apologizing for. “Is she okay?” And he wasn’t sure if he was asking after the horse or the girl.

His love for Priscilla is sad because they’re both outcasts in their town of Bone Gap; Finn because he appears to be mentally absent and Priscilla because she’s ‘ugly.’ They see in each other what the other could not and have to fight for everyone else to believe their feelings too. It showed me that there’s someone for everyone, regardless of their looks, cultural differences or broken childhood.

One character I wasn’t too fond of was the loved by all, golden boy, Sean. Yes, he sacrificed a lot but his bitterness irritated me. He gave up his career to take care of his younger brother but he doesn’t appear to know him at all. Sean fell in love with Roza but gave up so easily when she disappeared and then blamed Finn for her disappearance, how does that work??

It took me a while to realise that the magical elements weren’t part of Finn’s imagination and although it was very unrealistic I still liked it because of the way it was written. The author clearly spent a lot of time researching for this story so learning facts on bees and Poland whilst delving into magical spaces was a unique experience for me.

At the heart of it, Bone Gap is a story on family, insecurities, diverse characters and magic.

Notable Scene:

Some people seemed to show up just when you needed them, and Charlie had no idea who needed whom more – Roza, those boys, those boys, Roza. It all felt fated somehow. But Charlie had never been comfortable with the idea of fate. He didn’t like knowing that something else, someone else, held all the cards.

FTC Advisory: Balzer & Bray/HarperTeen provided me with a copy of Bone Gap. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

Bone Gap was weird--in a really good way. There was a normalness to the book, yet at the same time, it didn't feel normal. The author did a great job melding the normal and not-so-normal elements to create something convincing and magical and, like I said, weird.

I really liked the cast of characters. They were quirky. There was Finn with his awkwardness and his inability to describe faces well. He was called “Moonface” by a lot of people. His friend, Miguel, had really long arms. Petey was oftentimes said to be a beautiful girl with an ugly face that resembled a bee’s. Charlie Valentine had a lot of chickens that he let roost inside his house. There were a lot of odd characters!

An element of mystery when it came to Roza’s kidnapping. It was . . . a bit dark, actually. The person that took her was a creep (which was demonstrated in the first Roza chapter). He wanted to make her love him. That’s all I’ll say on this matter, though. It’s best to go into this book mostly blind. It’s more surprising that way.

I had an issue with the time frame of the book. It got odd and hard to follow at times. There were flashbacks for all the characters that had their own chapters. Sometimes, flashbacks for one character included a scene that was in another flashback. The transition into and out of past events wasn’t always easy to detect, so I got confused a few times.

Overall, Bone Gap was a great read with quirky characters and weird elements. For me, the book was about what it means to really know someone (or be familiar with him/her). There's more to people than face value. That’s the biggest theme I paid attention to. The story can definitely be interpreted in different ways, though, which makes this book even better. I highly recommend reading this one if you’re up for something weird and interesting.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Everyone in the small town of Bone Gap knows Finn is a little spacey and a bit of a daydreamer, unlike his strong and charming older brother, Sean. The two have been living on their own for years, as their father died and their mother simply left. The thing about Bone Gap is, there are all kinds of gaps you can slip through and no one will wonder why you left.

Finn and Sean remember what it was like to be happy --- it started when an injured Polish girl, Roza, appeared in their barn one day and accepted their offer to stay in the apartment attached to their home. She would not say what happened to her or how she showed up there, but she agreed to stay with them. Soon after, she and Sean started to develop feelings for each other.

But one day, her past finally catches up with her and steals her away! She's been kidnapped, and only Finn witnesses it. He tells everyone what he saw but they don't believe him. "She wanted to leave," they say. She simply slipped through one of Bone Gap's gaps. Finn knows that he must take it upon himself to save her from a kidnapper with mysteries and magic up his sleeve.

BONE GAP is a fantastical tale that leaves you wishing it would continue beyond the last page. The characters are extremely likable and well-developed. The book is full of magical experiences told in such a way that they seem quite possible, and the love story is not your typical romance. This is definitely one of the best and most exciting books I've read in awhile. I'd recommend this to anyone who appreciates a well-spun tale that’s woven together with elements of magic, romance and mystery!

Reviewed by Maggie L.

Baby Review:

So, my first thought when I reached page 6 of this book was ‘Why didn’t I pick this up sooner?’ And that feeling stayed with me through the entire novel. A melancholy mystery, both thrilling and sticky as molasses, Bone Gap is as good a novel as I have ever read. I’ll admit that it was hard at times, when I was halfway through the book and I still couldn’t describe it to anyone who asked me what it was about better than ‘A girl went missing and there’s bees.’ And yet I still give this book 5 out of 5 stars for the way it wrapped around me like a warm blanket and made me feel like I was drowning in honey. In a good way- a great way.

THE PLOT:

One of the most confusing books I’ve ever read, Bone Gap is the kind of book that doesn’t release any of the answers to your many questions until far, far into the novel. If you’re a reader who likes to have a piece every few pages, you’re out of luck. All through the novel you’re left with question after question, building and building until you can hardly stand the anticipation and the wondering. Finn is a peculiar sort, Petey is wild and open, Sean is dark and brooding (also my favorite), Roza is beautiful and earthy, and you never know more than that when you’re reading. The plot has a sort of melancholy feel about it, and the music playing in my head was the theme of shows like Eureka and Granite Flats. Slow lazy, with the feeling that you don’t really know what’s lurking beneath the surface of the sleepy little town you find yourself in. Bone Gap is like that, delightfully creepy, nerve-wracking in the best sort of way because the danger could come from any direction, from any of these happy town people working away at their respective jobs.

Anyway, if I’m being honest with you all, I’ll tell you that you probably will have no clue what’s going on for most of the book. If you’re like me, you won’t care, and you’ll adore it for the rich, vibrant writing and the promise of a thrilling conclusion. Peppered with POV changes and flashbacks, this novel made me swoon with all the detailed history, the well-placed humor just when you think you’re going to drown in the honey molasses melancholy that surrounds the characters.

When there’s finally an answer to your questions, when you finally understand what the heck is going on, you still feel a little confused. I wish it had happened slower, but then if it was slower, it wouldn’t have been as (for lack of a better word) magical. Because it was magical, the way every tiny detail you’ve been learning about the town and its residents twine together and finally, finally you can see the whole story woven out like a tapestry and you understand. That final moment of clarity (which I’m still getting more glimpses of) make you truly aware of just how amazing this book is. So go read it. Now.

THE CHARACTERS:

I love pretty much everyone in this book, and the way their relationships grow and change. Take, for instance, Finn and Petey (Priscilla). At the start of the book, Finn and Petey are the outcasts- strange, avoided, pitied. But as they grow into themselves and start to see each other (and others) for who they really are, they change. And the town changes with them, changing opinions and acting on them almost as one entity (a hivemind, if you will). Finn learns about himself with the help of Petey, and his determination and intensity is hard to balance- but Laura Ruby destroys it. She makes Finn into someone relatable even with the corn whispering to him, she makes Petey wild and fierce and lovable even with her insecurities and inner demons (figuratively, of course). No one gets annoying in this book (except the Rude boys) which is a miracle in itself. It seems like at some point in most books the main character becomes so frustrating and irritating that you can’t help shaking the book as if you can knock some sense into them, but not Bone Gap. There was never a moment when I wanted to skip over dialogue or inner feelings, and I’m so, so happy about that.

Even the villain in this story is so amazingly crafted- a mystery inside an enigma, blurred to the point of terrifying normalcy, never quite in view but always there, invading homes and lives and worlds. He crosses the line between fantasy and reality, jumps between worlds to enter your waking nightmares. And that’s all I’m going to say about him, because any more would make it less fun for you.

Sean and Roza, though. The most beautifully understated love story of all time. I ached for their POVs, because when they happened, it was such a soft, easy love story to fall into. Told in bits and pieces marked by the pain of separation and loss, their story winds into something beautiful, almost as if they didn’t know they were falling in love and you get to watch this new discovery of feelings. But Sean- how can I describe him? You’ll just have to go read the book. He’s so quietly heroic, and everyone sees him as the hero, but when you catch glimpses of the sadness in him, you can’t help but feel heartbroken. And you can never hate him for not going to find Roza because you can just feel that even living is almost too much for him,, let alone facing that despair of not finding her day after day after day. Roza, for her part, is wonderfully brave and bold, fresh like the dew and beautiful as the dawn, opening the world of Sean and Finn and then ripping that away when she’s stolen. A powerful sense of loss followers her story, but never so much that she gives up. She always keeps going, always looks for a way out, never forgets her home even when it seems impossible to get back. I could write 1000 more words about how much I love them, but I think you all should just pick up Bone Gap and find out for yourselves.

OVERALL:

I feel like I shouldn’t talk about this book any more, lest I give something away. All I can emphasize is how much I loved . It easily jumps to the top of my favorite books so far this year, and that’s saying something. I’ve read a lot of books so far. 10 of 5 stars, okay? Bone Gap is what every person should read to understand what the YA genre is about- it’s raw, it’s real, it’s magic in a place where magic doesn’t seem to exist, with unforgettable characters that reach in and grab your heart before you can put up any walls. It’s seeing the same world from different eyes, and that’s something we should all be aware of. We all belong to this world, and we shouldn’t step on anyone else because they see it differently than we do. Maybe the way they see it is going to save someone someday.

The writing itself was wonderful. But, the story just didn't do it for me. There was no explaination for anything. Nothing connected well for me at all. I stuck it out hoping the end would reveal it all and everything would be tied up in a nice sensible bow. That never happened. The ending left me feeling as confused as the rest of the book. It did not do it for me. I was hopeful based on the great reviews but, I would not be able to recommend this to friends.

Finn O'Sullivan lives a hard scrapple life with his brother, Sean in rural Illinois. Their father is dead and their mother left them years ago. Life improves when a strange runaway, Rosa, appears. Just as suddenly, however, Rosa is kidnapped. Only Finn witnesses the abduction and he cannot describe the man who took her. Finn, himself implicated in her disappearance, sets out to find Rosa. What he doesn't know --or won't admit to himself-- is that he suffers from face blindness (Prosopagnosia): an inability to recognize and remember faces. How will he ever recover Rosa? This is a wondrous book: beautifully written, with magical touches (Rosa's journey is mystical) and poignant. Parts mystery, suspense, romance and fable: it all adds up to a great read. Highly recommended.

BONE GAP was an adjustment read for me. I love Laura Ruby's other books (which are funny and a bit lighter) and BONE GAP is dark and haunting and beautiful. If you loved Francesca Lia Block's works in the 90s, I think you'll enjoy this one. BONE GAP's setting is like another character. It isn't just Finn and Roza's story being told, but the town of Bone Gap, Illinois. I loved the way Ruby combined Greek mythology, feminism/women's issues, "odd duck" characters like Petey, and these two unseemingly have-nothing-to-do-with-each-other characters of Finn and Roza, all together to make this wonderful, important book. It would be PERFECT for fans of Sara Zarr and Nova Ren Suma. Ruby's latest novel is different from her others, yet not less than…it may be even better. Pick this one up today.

I've been trying to get ahold of this book for weeks and finally grabbed it in ebook form from my library, and it was utterly amazing!

It had four or so characters, and my favorites were the women, Roza and Petey, each have to deal with the downside of being beautiful and ugly.

I was shocked to learn who the author was of this novel, I read her contemporary novels, Bad Apple and Play Me ages ago (in high school). I enjoyed those books, but this one is amazing compared to those.

I wasn't expecting it to contain magical realism, but I think it made the story even better. It was confusing in the beginning but by the end I was caught up the characters and story.

I recommend checking this out just for the writing style it was beautiful. I cannot wait until this author writes more novels like this one.

I loved this book like crazy! In fact, I started rereading it as soon as I finished it, which I never do. It's one of those books in which something is revealed that makes you want to go back and read it again with that in mind, but I also just wanted to reread it because it was fun and gorgeous. I think it's best not to know too much going in, but basically: it's the story of a boy who witnesses the abduction of his brother's girlfriend, only...no one believes him. They think she just left. Why don't they believe him? What really happened to her? You can't even imagine. The pay-off is so original, and I loved the characters so much--Finn and Sean and Petey and Roza and the magic horse and the tiny pregnant cat and the goat who says "Meh!"

There's unexpected magic, just the right amount, and there's also a thing (I can't say what) that I've been fascinated with since reading an article about it years ago, and which I've never seen done in fiction. The thing makes the premise genius, and the complicated relationships too. Just read it and see.

Before I go on and on about how much I LOVED this book, I have one thing negative to say...I'm not a fan of the cover. If I saw this cover while shopping the shelves of my local Barnes and Noble...I would've passed and kept on walking. So I thank God that I didn't get this from the bookstore because it was a FABULOUS book!!

The first thing I noticed was how awesome the writing was. "...two months after his life had burst like a thunderhead." and "...the plants twitching their green fingers." The book was full of satiating similes, magnificent metaphors, and perfect personification. Usually books that are jam packed with figurative language turns me off because it feels forced or placed in the wrong spots. Not with this book. The writing just flowed so nicely and the descriptions were spot on. My eyes were in delight as I read each page.

Not only was the writing spot on, but the characters, plot, and setting were too. Finn reminded me so much of the characters Lennie from Of Mice and Men and Todd from The Knife of Never Letting Go. There's just something different about him and people don't see him as anything else but the town weirdo, someone that they don't see as one of them. Throughout the whole book I felt like I was Finn and people were mistreating me, not him. I could feel his emotions and we shared the same thoughts. It takes a lot of work for a character to take over me like that and it takes a really great author to get me there. I also liked reading from Roza's point of view. She's the girl that had been kidnapped in the story, even though nobody believed Finn. I thought her point of view helped the story along and gave an insight into the main plot of the story.

If you can't tell how much I LOVED this book...then you're crazy. Just kidding! Overall, the characters, the plot, the setting, and the writing were engaging from page one. The town Bone Gap reminds me of some creepy Stephen King kind of town where if I stopped to ask for directions, I might never leave. Like, I would be tied up in the back of some grocery store closet or something. I will definitely share this book with my eighth graders and look forward to reading more from Laura Ruby.

Roza arrived in the small town of Bone Gap almost as quickly as she disappeared. Only she didn't run off like the residents believe. Finn saw the man take her away in a black SUV. The trouble is, Finn cannot remember his face to save his or Roza's life and no one will believe him.
Bone Gap is a fantastic clash of fantasy, love and life! This feels and reads like magical realism at its finest. Strong leading characters full of sincerity and a familiar small town setting come to life as Laura Ruby spins a tale of high emotion and full of beautiful symbolism. Recommended read for all fans of YA and Fantasy.

Last night I blurted out a series of tweets on this topic - a typically shrewd move, Tweeting on a late Saturday night - but I felt like, oh, I don’t know, expounding a bit, so here we are. Here I am, at any rate. It’s uncertain how much of a WE is happening here, but anyway.

I am so envious of Laura Ruby right now.

“But why?” you might say. “Upon what base was fixt the envy wherein, Mike?” My first answer would be “Please don’t use poetry as the basis of a question, it’ll reveal my ignorance about poetry.” My second answer would be BECAUSE I JUST READ BONE GAP, DUH.

Have you read Bone Gap yet? It just hit the shelves, with what seems to me like something less than the global fireworks display of acclaim and excitement it deserves. Holy flying spaghetti monster, it’s good. It’s one of those books that makes me think AW GEE WHIZ, I WILL NEVER WRITE A BOOK THIS GOOD AND THAT’S IT, GAME OVER. Thick, soupy, ocean-size envy is what I’m wading through right now, and I’m glad.

I might not have been glad about this 10 years ago, and in truth, I might not be glad about this with every author’s work even now, because I was not and am not something more (or less) than human. I didn’t use to accept envy as a normal, understandably human experience - I used to think it was bad, bad, bad, ba-a-a-a-ad and damn, now I have that stupid song from the horrible movie version of the Lorax in my head, GAH.

Point being, I used to think envy was a negative experience, but I no longer do. I think it’s still hard, complicated, even painful, but I don’t equate those qualities with negative or bad anymore. I have separated my experience of envy from my capacity for judgment, huzzah! Please join me in humbly celebrating the majestically enlightened state of myself!

Er, anyway, this still fairly recent benign view of envy has been very helpful while reading Bone Gap, because it truly is one of those books that make me fervently wish I had written it, or could write something like it. It is astonishing. The quality of the prose is delectable and lush; the characters are shot through with beauty and complexity; and the way the story spills over from one world to the next and back again is dizzying in its mystery and dexterity. Best of all, reading Bone Gap proved to be an emotional experience of such power that I was knocked absolutely ass over teakettle. I felt, as they say, all the feels.

Because I’m a writer, and every bit as human as the next writer, my thoughts in the moment were akin to “oh well, I could never write a book like this. Laura Ruby’s magical cabinet of writing skills has the goods, and mine has an open bag of stale potato chips and a three year old can of off-brand cream soda. She’s awesome and I suck.”

I know, it’s quite the silly-ass line of thinking, albeit a forgivably human one. I’m not Laura Ruby, and Laura Ruby’s not me. We’re different people and different writers, and trying to make an apples-to-apples comparison between my books and hers is an exercise in absurdity. Why, it’d be like arguing about which is better, Star Wars or Star Trek! (We’ll talk about that later, when I have 48 consecutive free hours to set aside - I have many thoughts.)

But, BUT, I am now this stunningly evolved specimen of humanity who experiences a genuinely unhealthy or destructive reaction to envy no more than 78% of the time, which has allowed me to understand my envy of Laura Ruby’s new book for what it truly is: admiration; respect; wonder.

I would not feel so envious of Laura if I didn’t at least partly comprehend the spectacular degree of difficulty she confronted in writing this book. I would not feel this much envy if I didn’t understand how much discipline, skill, focus, and sheer force of will it takes to create art of this magnitude. I would not be managing this much envy if it wasn’t clear to me that some of us are farther along on the path to creative greatness than others, and that while I feel pretty good about the way my skills are developing, Laura is on an altogether different playing field. I think it’s fair to say that when it comes to Laura Ruby and the magnificence of her accomplishment in writing Bone Gap, I feel envy because I know I’m seeing someone do the calamitously hard work of giving concrete shape to her creativity at something like peak capacity.

It helps that I already had so much respect for the way Laura conducts herself in the public arena. She’s obviously intelligent as hell, and stands up and uses her voice in ways I admire and feel inspired by. I have many heroes in the world of children’s publishing, and she’s one of them.

it’s good to feel this okay with envy, you know? I’m not saying I enjoy it. It’s not exactly fun. But it’s not a negative thing, because it stems from something good. From something great, in fact. Experiencing the greatness of a book like Bone Gap and being able to support someone I admire in exchange for coping with some envy? I’ll make that trade every time.

Brilliant, magical, and so compelling, BONE GAP tells the story of a town where fissures open into another world and where seeing someone truly is the strongest kind of magic.
Brothers Finn and Sean are left on their own when their mother runs off. Sean stays to take care of Finn, but at the cost of giving up his own dreams. Then Roza arrives, a beautiful woman who appears out of nowhere and changes everything twice over.
Filled with magical beasts in many forms and characters so vibrantly real they shake the pages, this is a story that makes the world bigger in its wake. Highly recommend! This is magical realism at its best.

The best book I've read so far this year. I'd heard that this novel is fantastical and sort of bizarre, but that's all I knew going in, and I'm so glad I started reading blindly. Because how do you describe a book like this...? It's about two sad brothers, a ballsy beekeeper, and a lovely, missing girl. There are summer jobs and whispering cornfields and first kisses; there is a fascinating small-town dynamic, a twisted fairy tale, and a magical horse. Bone Gap is so beautifully written, so evocative and powerful, it's the sort of book that makes me want to work harder on my own writing. It's a haunting, lyrical story about love and perception and feminism, and reading it is an enchanting experience -- one I didn't want to end. Highly recommend.

Part way through I became a bit confused, was this a fairy tale or a coming of age story. It was not until nearly the end of the book I accepted that it was mostly realistic with just a bit of the fairy tale type supernatural blended in. Once I had that answer the whole thing worked for me. Four very likeable and rootable main characters. Sweet fun story with just a touch of mysticism.

I enjoyed this story though at times I found some of the continual time shifts confusing. There is a strong paranormal element without the usual witch, vampire, zombies, etc., which have flooded the market. The characters are unique and interesting including one with prosopagnosia, face blindess, which I hadn't heard of before. It encourages acceptance and understanding of people who are different from the reader.

We all know that "issue" books exist. Some of us love to read them, and some of us do not. Usually, these issue books take up a good part of the contemporary market. But what of the other genres? Where are the fantasy issue books? Where are the sci-fi issue books? Have you ever actually read a book about vampires fighting The Man for vampire rights? Did you answer "no" to all of the above? Well throw off your girdles, girls, because Bone Gap by Laura Ruby is one genre-bending issue book that will have people talking in 2015.

On the surface, Bone Gap is a solid contemporary story about the issues that many women face on a day-to-day basis, especially women of foreign or mixed ethnicity. Although I am as white - fair skinned, light hair, blue eyes - as a Caucasian female can get, I can only imagine how difficult it would be for a dark-skinned or foreign woman to transplant herself from her home country to rural Midwest America and try to get by. Add the fact that, in Bone Gap, the female character's looks cause her to be identified by society as "exotically" beautiful... She's just "asking" for trouble, right? Right?! ...WRONG. While I agree that this is *not* the way that it should be, Bone Gap dares to address such the problem that beautiful women face in our society today. Wel,, really the problems that ALL of us face. But more on that later...

First, let's talk about Bone Gap's main male character, Finn. Finn is a most delightful character. He is odd, yes, but he is a young man that readers can get behind. I compare the way I feel about Finn to the way that I felt about Noah in I'll Give You the Sun (minus the fact that Finn is not homosexual like Noah). They are both unique and creative minds. They are both innocent, yet not unaffected by the sadness in their world. In a book about the many dangers that women face, I am very grateful that the male lead is a keeper.

Bone Gap and I'll Give You the Sun are actually quite familiar, since both books are interwoven with magical realism. Where Bone Gap differs is that it takes the magical elements to much darker places - almost to Stephen King-esque levels. In Bone Gap, the boogeyman is real and evil takes a horrifying form. Even though Bone Gap deals with many of the same issues that we have seen before in "standard" contemporary fiction, where it stands apart is that it reaches into the deepest, darkest nature of humanity, dares to blur our preconceived notions about good and evil and dances the line between real and unreal. The fact that Bone Gap dares to becomes more than just "contemporary fiction" - while still keeping its most troubling (and important) story elements ingrained in reality - is what I love most about the book. That moment that you no longer know what is real and what is not real is a very WOAH moment. Wait for it...

So what didn't work?

It's not that the following items "didn't work" in the book, rather it's that these items will likely divide the readers of Bone Gap... Bone Gap is, at its core, a very feminist book. Roza is a character that very few, yet at the same time all woman, can identify with. She is drop dead beautiful (that's the "very few" part I was just talking about) and the various men that she meets tent to treat her more like an object than an actual person (and that's the "all woman" part). BUT... I did find it a bit of a stretch that the only people who ever treat Roza decently are Finn and Sean. We learn a lot about Roza's past, and it really does come across as though all the men she meets in her travels really do treat her like their own little play thing. Ugh, poor Roza... Ugh, pardon me as I suspend my disbelief for just a bit.

Let me put this straight: I do believe that all women face the same concerns that Roza has had to deal with in her life, but I do not believe that all men are such extreme jerks as those within Bone Gap. I just don't. BUT... for the sake of the story, the extremes that Roza must face do fit within the book's "magical-realism" nature. It is just that: extreme. These extreme feminist issues are at the very core of the story in Bone Gap.

If you have problems with - or strongly dislike - the topics of sexual harassment and assault, you may want to think twice about this book. But if feminist issues are of even the slightest bit of interest to you, Bone Gap is a MUST READ. Want my opinion? Bone Gap is a very important book that I believe *all* people should read.

Bone Gap is a book that is so chilling, so surreal, so unlike most other stories... ABSOLUTELY, WITHOUT ANY DOUBT, one of my favorite reads this year. It'll be one to talk about - in 2015.

I implore you, add Bone Gap to your wish list. Pronto. Or better yet, add it to your cart. Now.

Finn and Sean have been raising themselves in a rundown farmhouse on the outskirts of a small town in the middle of nowhere for years. Their father died long ago and their mother left with another man, nursing her broken and vagabond heart. Sean, the older brother, is one of those strong, silent, sturdy types who everyone relies on. Finn is seen as dreamy and not quite with it.

Their lives started to look up when Finn found Roza one morning in their barn. The young woman had been hurt and was more skittish than a wounded animal. But the boys gave her sanctuary, Sean tended to her physical wounds and the chance to pay them back with her cooking and gardening gave her a chance to begin healing.

One day she disappeared. Finn can’t describe the man she left with and people aren’t even sure if they can believe the scanty details he provides. But he’s not going to quit looking for her. Even Petey, the beekeeper’s daughter who is more comfortable with the hives than with people, except for Finn, isn’t sure what to think.

Laura Ruby takes this premise and these characters, going back and forth between viewpoints, time and place to create a stunning novel of devotion. She delves into the ways people look at each other, literally and figuratively. The characters are resilient and spend more time thinking about others instead of themselves. The novel works on so many levels. There is a realistic depiction of a very small town where everyone knows everything about everyone else. There is magic realism and a fable-like aspect to the story. There is a princess who has been spirited away but who works to rescue herself; she doesn't just sit there and wait for a hero. There is the kind of deep friendship that can lead to something more. There is overcoming hardship and heartache.

Bone Gap is thoughtful, entertaining and a tour de force of storytelling

Their mother abandoned Finn and his big brother Sean when she fell in love and moved out of state after their father’s death. In the two years since she left, Sean gave up his dream of becoming a doctor so he could take care of Finn. Everyone in the town of Bone Gap loves Sean and his quiet ways of doctoring as an EMT, while Finn suffers name-calling and abuse because of being unable to look anyone in the eye. He’s different, and the town doesn’t like someone to be different.

Beautiful Roza left Poland to study in America, never expecting to find herself kidnapped by an insane stranger on her final day of classes. She managed to escape and find a good home with Sean and Finn, but it didn’t take long for the stranger to find her. The only witness to her abduction was Finn but, because he didn’t get a clear view of her abductor, no one believes him. Finn and Sean feel abandoned once again.

Through alternating chapters from Roza, Finn, Sean and others in the small town of Bone Gap, Ruby weaves a tale of love, intrigue, fantasy and magic. Her meandering tale reveals that sometimes what we see with our eyes isn’t really there, while what we don’t see with our eyes is really there – or something like that.

Though this book won the 2016 YALSA Printz Award, I couldn’t get into it. I was confused half the time, as I prefer books to be more realistic than magical. I will leave it up to you to decide if you want to read it or not.

This book is something else. It's fascinatingly strange. A story of magical realism exploring topics such as beauty, the treatment of women, attraction, and various relationships between both families and lovers. This book reads like a dream, filled with poetic prose and powerful ideas but also ephemeral and challenging to piece together every aspect on the first try. It's beautiful, unique, and highly recommended!

Overall it was good but the fantasy portion was so minimal it almost didn't make sense. The people in the story and the plot was otherwise so good though that it made up for it for the most part. Worth reading.

At first I didn’t realize this book was magical realism even though that what it said on the dust cover. It seemed more a family story and mystery. I think the first real indication was when the horse appeared in the barn and Finn rode with the beekeeper’s daughter and they went impossible places. Also Roza’s taking and the many places she resides expands it. Reminiscent of the Night Circus if you like magical-realism you will enjoy this story.

This book. I don't know how to explain it in the best, or, formal way. I guess you can call it. Not sure. Anyways, I was so into this book and the introductory of the characters were explained perfectly and timed perfectly. Nothing was thrown in there, nothing was kept out. This book, I couldn't put it down. It was one of those books where once you start reading it, you're thinking "alright, this is interesting", not much of a wow. Then the details kick in more, the suspense picks up, you begin to put yourself in the book so deeply you lose track of what time it is (at least for me). I spent most, if not all, of my time at work reading this book. Mind you, I am not much of a reader, but this book was so good it brought back my love for reading. Highly recommended.

Hopefully this review wasn't confusing.

This book was very interesting to say the least. I liked it's idea, and what was going on, and the possible metaphor for the main character dealing with the condition that he is living with, but I gave it four stars because at times it could be confusing, you not knowing when or where or who of a situation, and I also wished it had expanded more on the magical realism parts of it. It was still good though, and had a lot of potential.

It was pretty good...until the end. Just plain WEIRD! It made no sense whatsoever. I was very disappointed in the last part of the book....particularly the conclusion. It just went sci fi/vampire/huh ?? weird on me and it completely ruined my somewhat happy feelings for the book.

Dreamy and magical.

Its like a crazy dream that you wake up from and you're dissapointed there's no more.

Some fairytale books are stuffed with stupid conversation and too-good-to-be-true events.
This novel is surprising and deep. It starts off slow but the magical happenings keep you wondering and I encourage you to satisfy that wonder.

..I read this in 2.5 days...

Such a weird book -in a good way! Unlike anything else I've ever read. Supernatural and science fiction do not interest me, and I don't consider this either of those genres. Reality and the mystical were interwoven seamlessly, the characters held my interest, and the prose was gorgeous. Highly recommend if you're in the mood for something different!

Magical, mysterious, and realistic all at the same time. Don't ask my how Ruby does it, but she does. A horse, several fights, two mysterious and worthy women, a cat, a monster and a supernatural creep populate the captivating pages of this surprising novel. A must-read, and I never, ever say that!

Incredible example of how magical realism can be woven in so subtly and bluntly all at once. Very reminiscent to old Appalachian tall tales and yet so unique by itself. I loved the main characters so much, and I loved the setting even more.

An eerie, impeccably crafted meditation on love, small towns, secrets, and the nature of beauty--how we perceive it, why we want it, how important it really is, and what we'll do to get it. Magical realism that weaves an unforgettable spell and packs a powerful punch.

I loved Bone Gap. I thought it was enchanting and mysterious and breathless. My favorite feature, or perhaps one of my favorites, is how this community is rendered. It feels so authentic and real, and I think readers will connect to the main characters feeling of not-quite-fitting-in. Futher, I think the story - beyond these wonderful characters - is so compelling with several mysteries to be solves and questions to be answered. I was totally captivated by this one.

An eerie, impeccably crafted meditation on love, small towns, secrets, and the nature of beauty--how we perceive it, why we want it, how important it really is, and what we'll do to get it. Magical realism that weaves an unforgettable spell and packs a powerful punch.

I am surprised at the number of positive reviews here. I found it a difficult read, slow in the beginning and completely unhinged in the end. I am still unclear as to "what happened", but maybe the reader is supposed to be confused. Certainly many of the characters spent a good portion of the novel confused themselves! The first part of the "magical realism" with the horse works, but wow, the rest of it, as Finn goes off to save Roza, does not. We end up at the end knowing less about Roza and what happened to her than we did at the beginning.

I loved Bone Gap. I thought it was enchanting and mysterious and breathless. My favorite feature, or perhaps one of my favorites, is how this community is rendered. It feels so authentic and real, and I think readers will connect to the main characters feeling of not-quite-fitting-in. Futher, I think the story - beyond these wonderful characters - is so compelling with several mysteries to be solves and questions to be answered. I was totally captivated by this one.

This book was really slow and then quickly wrapped up everything at the end. Felt rushed and unfinished. It wasn't a world i could get into and its definitely an acquired taste kind of book. Personally it was not for me.

The book itself is well written, and interesting to read. It keeps you reading, keeping you in suspense. The character of Rosa is Polish (this is not a spoiler). HOWEVER, every time there are Polish words (in Rosa's parts) they are COMPLETELY INACCURATE!!! Incredibly poor translation, as if the author looked into a translating dictionary, did not conjugate anything and no grammar or proper speech WHAT SO EVER. Also, in the audiobook, she is given a RUSSIAN accent! Needs so much more research, such poor quality, cheap work.

Bone Gap is a well written book that kept me wanting more. The story was intriguing and made me feel like I was there watching it unfold. I would have given 5 stars but I did have some unanswered questions in my mind when I finished reading it.

Bone Gap isn't a place you stay in, it's a place you leave, which is why when young, beautiful, mysterious Roza goes missing no one believes that she was taken, they think she ran off, moved on to the next city, forgetting all about Bone Gap and it's inhabitants before she even crossed the state line.

However Finn know's the truth, Roza would never leave him or his brother, Sean. Not without a goodbye, an explanation, something. So he sets out to find her, following the smallest clues and the tiniest of hunches, never giving up hope.

Bone Gap is a beautiful, strange, wonderous book that haunts the reader long after they've finished it.

the store - Barnes and Noble - Book Depository

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I knew from the second I picked up this book that it was going to be so hard to review it.

It was hard enough to decide how many stars to give it let alone talk about my opinions towards it and how I liked/disliked certain aspects.

First off, this is the weirdest book I have ever read, it has these moments of pure clarity and realization and understanding and before you have time to acknowledge those moments or contemplate them they are suddenly overcome with these unexplainable events or odd, perplexing scenes that leave you wondering if you're reading the same book you were two minutes ago.

I'm not going to lie I had a love hate relationship with most of this book.

It instantly reminded me of "Lovely Bones" which I don't even think I finished because I despised ever second of it (including the movie) but for some reason I really enjoyed "Bone Gap".

I wouldn't recommend this book to everyone but if you're okay with unusual characters and somewhat paranormal undertones I'd check it out.

Until next time,
Ginger

In compliance with FTC guidelines I am disclosing that this book was given to me for free to review.

My review is my honest opinion.

Wow. wow. wow.
This book has everything you'd ever want out of a book. It's beautiful and scary and real and lyrical and magical and true and bold and funny and...well, everything.
It's dripping with yum.
Order it. Today. Dive in. It's ok, you're safe. You'll be in the hands of a master.

I read this book in 2 days. I couldn't put it down. The characters were incredibly life like. Somehow a sad and scary story was portrayed in a way that made you think of love and comfort. The part of the book that was fantasy was intriguing and made sense in the context of the story. It made me wonder how much we build up our own fantasies to protect ourselves. It would be a great book to talk about in a book group.

I really liked this story but I only gave it 3 stars because I felt it dragged in parts. It picked up at the end when Finn finally accepts his "condition" and uses it to help find Roza. That part was good. Definitely worth the read though.

This is easily the best book I've read this year. It is so difficult to describe, but it's gorgeous and dark and twisted and hopeful and the characters will stay with me for a long time. I am off to read the rest of this incredibly talented author's books.

I enjoyed listening to the audio version of this story. The reader was very good presenting different voices and narration. There was an unexpected magical aspect which fit nicely. This was a good, thoughtful, story.

This Young Adult novel had a strong beginning, but then started to jump around. I found the fantasy part of the book distracting and it took away from the "real" storyline. Not a must read in my book!

After all the glowing reviews I have to say to myself. Did I read the same book as everyone else? I just plain 'ole didn't like it. I found it boring, Like Finn we all see things differently and that's just my perspective..