Bone Gap by Laura Ruby

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. After all, it wasn’t the first time that someone had slipped away and left Finn and Sean O’Sullivan on their own. Just a few years before, their mother had high-tailed it to Oregon for a brand new guy, a brand new life. That’s just how things go, the people said. Who are you going to blame?

Finn knows that’s not what happened with Roza. He knows she was kidnapped, ripped from the cornfields by a dangerous man whose face he cannot remember. But the searches turned up nothing, and no one believes him anymore. Not even Sean, who has more reason to find Roza than anyone, and every reason to blame Finn for letting her go.

As we follow the stories of Finn, Roza, and the people of Bone Gap—their melancholy pasts, their terrifying presents, their uncertain futures—acclaimed author Laura Ruby weaves a heartbreaking tale of love and loss, magic and mystery, regret and forgiveness—a story about how the face the world sees is never the sum of who we are.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Me: *Getting into the car*

Mom: So, how was your day? Still no internet?

Me: Nope, it might be fixed next week but we still don’t know for sure.

Mom: So what did you do today, any patients?

Me: No, I started reading a book. The one with the bee, got to the half of it.

Mom: *curious* Really? What is it about?

Me: I’ve got no fucking idea.

Mom: What do you mean? What did you read?

Me: I’m not sure, there was a girl that was missing, maybe kidnapped, but nobody believes the kid that saw it happening. Apparently she’s living in some kind of fantasy land with some creep, but I’m still not sure she’s even real.

There was also a magical horse that appeared out of nowhere and can kind of fly… I think, I’m not sure either.

Mom: Sooooo… what’s happening now?

Me: Well, I think the kidnapped girl, Roza, is in a castle and the guy who took her keeps asking whether she loves him or not. Oh, and the horse is now friends with a goat that also came out of nowhere.

Mom: 

                               

As you can see, Bone Gap was a very confusing reading, but I did get to enjoy it about 70% into it once I got to see more of the characters and the fantastic elements began to make some sense.

This is definitely one of those books that I’ll enjoy a lot more on my second reading because, even though I did love the story in the end, the beginning was so confusing and boring I just wanted to drop it. Many fantastical elements are introduced into the story and tied with the plot in a way that (at first) was confusing since I didn’t have enough information to understand its meaning. Things improved when the characters got to be more established and I could begin to see where the story was heading, but before it was too messy to follow.

In the end it’s a good reading, but certainly confusing and probably not for everybody!