The Bone People - Rambling Readers

Hardcover, 450 pages

English language

Published April 1, 2005 by Louisiana State University Press.

ISBN:: 978-0-8071-3072-8

(1 review)

Integrating both Maori myth and New Zealand reality, The Bone People became the most successful novel in New Zealand publishing history when it appeared in 1984. Set on the South Island beaches of New Zealand, a harsh environment, the novel chronicles the complicated relationships between three emotional outcasts of mixed European and Maori heritage. Kerewin Holmes is a painter and a loner, convinced that "to care for anything is to invite disaster." Her isolation is disrupted one day when a six-year-old mute boy, Simon, breaks into her house. The sole survivor of a mysterious shipwreck, Simon has been adopted by a widower Maori factory worker, Joe Gillayley, who is both tender and horribly brutal toward the boy. Through shifting points of view, the novel reveals each character's thoughts and feelings as they struggle with the desire to connect and the fear of attachment.

Compared to the works of James Joyce …

Integrating both Maori myth and New Zealand reality, The Bone People became the most successful novel in New Zealand publishing history when it appeared in 1984. Set on the South Island beaches of New Zealand, a harsh environment, the novel chronicles the complicated relationships between three emotional outcasts of mixed European and Maori heritage. Kerewin Holmes is a painter and a loner, convinced that "to care for anything is to invite disaster." Her isolation is disrupted one day when a six-year-old mute boy, Simon, breaks into her house. The sole survivor of a mysterious shipwreck, Simon has been adopted by a widower Maori factory worker, Joe Gillayley, who is both tender and horribly brutal toward the boy. Through shifting points of view, the novel reveals each character's thoughts and feelings as they struggle with the desire to connect and the fear of attachment.

Compared to the works of James Joyce in its use of indigenous language and portrayal of consciousness, The Bone People captures the soul of New Zealand. After twenty years, it continues to astonish and enrich readers around the world.

10 editions

crabbygirl reviewed The Bone People. by Keri Hulme

Review of 'The bone people' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

what an odd duck of a book - no grammar or spelling rules, stream-of-conscious rants, deeply flawed people and mystical turn of events.
but nope, I didn't like it. in fact, I only finished it b/c it was my choice for bookclub.
there's no much to cringe at: a young kid smoking, a drunk and abusive father, dead bunnies, dreams of rivers flowing from vaginas..... I get that I am reacting in a 'western' way and, consequently, judging another's culture but I can't help who I am, even if what I am is a colonial master.
one thing I did appreciate was the delicate dance back and forth of Kerewin discovering the child abuse, her trying to rectify it with what she's seen of the relationship, and her simmering anger. the abuse/violence is viewed from all 3 main characters and their reflections take a significant portion of the novel. it …

what an odd duck of a book - no grammar or spelling rules, stream-of-conscious rants, deeply flawed people and mystical turn of events.
but nope, I didn't like it. in fact, I only finished it b/c it was my choice for bookclub.
there's no much to cringe at: a young kid smoking, a drunk and abusive father, dead bunnies, dreams of rivers flowing from vaginas..... I get that I am reacting in a 'western' way and, consequently, judging another's culture but I can't help who I am, even if what I am is a colonial master.
one thing I did appreciate was the delicate dance back and forth of Kerewin discovering the child abuse, her trying to rectify it with what she's seen of the relationship, and her simmering anger. the abuse/violence is viewed from all 3 main characters and their reflections take a significant portion of the novel. it shapes them and defines the story.

Subjects

Maori (New Zealand people) -- Fiction
Commitment (Psychology) -- Fiction
Racially mixed people -- Fiction
Social isolation -- Fiction
Women painters -- Fiction
Mute persons -- Fiction
Shipwrecks -- Fiction
Widowers -- Fiction
Boys -- Fiction
New Zealand -- Fiction