Book Review: Bone Gap

Bone Gap

by Laura Ruby

"Printz Award"

Summary

Finn O'Sullivan lives in the rural town of Bone Gap, Illinois surrounded by farm land and corn. There has never been anything special about Finn, often give nicknames about how spacey he can be and how he doesn't pay attention or look anyone in the eyes. Finn is a good looking boy, but has a reputation for being a little weird. Finn is a fifteen year old junior in high school whose mother left him and his older brother, Sean, for an orthodontist and rarely speaks to them. Didi, their good looking mom who Finn gets his looks from, moved to Oregon, and their father, Hugh, is never heard from either. Hugh was rarely there as a father anyways, as a trucker due to war injuries, he had to make his money somewhere. Sean took over responsibility of the house and Finn when their mom left. Sean is twenty-one years old and started working with the EMT crew when he was just eighteen. He used to want to go to medical school, but his plans changed when his mom left him to fend for him and Finn.

Miguel Cordero is Finn's best friend. A large, strong boy whose house is deemed haunted. Finn and Miguel are inseparable and agree to help Mrs. L, their old elementary teacher, rebuild her fence that borders the Rude family farm. The Rude family consists of just that: five rude, bowlegged boys who bully the entire town.

One day, Finn was in the barn and came upon a young, beautiful girl about his age. Badly injured and afraid, he ran to get his brother to help aid her. At first, Roza, the young girl, did not want anyone but Finn to touch or look at her. Her long, dark hair, beautiful face, and perfect body have been a curse to her since she was young. Men treated Roza poorly because all they focused on was her looks.

Roza had come from a small town in Poland, so small that it didn't have a name. She lived with her Babcia, grandmother, and was well mannered and helpful. Roza grew tired of the small town and goblockis, men with bad intentions and attitudes, and begged her grandmother for more. Her grandmother had cash put away for her, and Roza headed to Chicago to fulfill her dreams of becoming a botanist. She soon realized the evil girl from the bus ride was her new roommate, one not afraid to have boys use her for sex instead of brains. Roza continued to study hard and was offered a job by her botany teacher to clean the greenhouse at night and on the weekends. With poor English speaking abilities, Roza agreed reluctantly and began working despite her fears. He gave her little gifts, but she didn't think much of it because he was married and had an eight year old son.

When the time came for Roza to go back to Poland for a visit, the teacher offered to drive her to the train station. Instead of the station, he kidnapped her and drover her to captivity. Once she was able to escape, and came upon Miguel's house where she stole food. He directed her in the area of the O'Sullivan house where she took refuge in their barn. When Sean and Finn found her, the looked her over, asked her to go to the hospital, and she refused. Instead, she took up residence in their small apartment out back from the house. As she got stronger and stronger, she began to help around the house and become more social. She cooked traditional Polish foods, cleaned, visited with Petey, and started to fall in love with Sean and he with her.

One day, at the fair, Finn is separated from Sean and Roza, and begins to scan the fairgrounds. He finds Roza being taken away by a man who claims to be her husband. Finn cannot believe she lied and knew he needed to let her go. He figured out something was wrong when he was kicked in the chest, warned about following, and saw Roza hit the back of the car window in a panic. The cops and his brother did not believe him because he could not tell them what the kidnapper looked like.

Two months pass, and the story starts back up in modern time, switching from one character to the next in each chapter.

Priscilla Willis, Petey, is an ugly girl who tends to the bees that her mother, Mel, and her keep. They own a company, selling honey, to the locals and live off of the money for the two of them since her father left when she was young. Petey rides her moped around, being bullied by the Rude boys, and looked at in disgust by the townspeople. Because of all of this, she has built up a hard outer shell and doesn't like to let people in, much like Sean.

Finn hears noises in the barn one night, while studying, and goes to check it out. A large, black mare was found with ten bails of hay. The house immediately took to Finn, and he began riding her bareback every night. As the days turned to nights, he would visit Petey, first by accident, then by choice, as they began to fall in love as well. Petey and Finn grew inseparable and talk around town started up. Petey had a bad reputation from a party, and everyone was going to let Finn know she was bad news.

Finn visited Petey every night, becoming closer and closer, until she explains to him that he has a vision disorder where he cannot recognize faces. Finn is face blind, and that is why he recognizes people by the way they move and not their faces. Finn is face blind, and that is why he could not see the kidnapper. Finn is blind, and that is why he cannot see how ugly Petey really is.

Since Roza was abducted, Finn never gave up hope. After two months, Sean, still somber and hurt, decided to clean out the apartment and try to move on with his life. Roza, in the meantime, is being moved from one house to the next, to castles with moats, and fields with gardens for her to plow. Her kidnapper, her teacher, continues to ask her the same question, "do you love me now?" Her response is always the same, as she is a strong girl, and continues to fight him and eventually try to escape.

Finn notices that he has run into the kidnapper time and time again, not knowing who he actually was by his face, but rather by his movements and the sneaky scare crow-like maneuvers. Roza clings to Rus, the malicious dog that first tried to kill her for escaping, as Finn tries to figure out what is going on. Finn is nervous and upset that no one believes his story. He finally comes upon the neighbors house, Charlie Valentine, an old man with a fake name who tells stories of the past and the woman he has dated. No one believes Charlie, and he is known for being a bit crazy because he keeps chickens in the house. Charlie leads Finn to some clues, some in Polish, being his native heritage as well.

Finn is told there are "gaps" in the town, magical in a way, and being a dreamy and spacey kind of boy, he was more susceptible to the gaps. Finn, initially, has no idea what Charlie is talking about, and begins to run to the cornfields that seemed to "talk" to him over the years. After following a stream that ends up as high as his chin, he finds a carnival full of people in the middle of nowhere. Finn is trapped in a house of mirrors, not even able to recognize himself, and after knocking the mirrors over, grabbing a glass shard, and continues to run. Finn thinks the entire world he is in is fake, a dream, or death itself, he cannot decide. Charlie warned Finn that the kidnapped likes to bet, and Finn kept that in the back of his mind.

The are hoards of people, but Finn is determined to see past his loss of sight and find Roza. Referencing his ability to find the queen bee earlier in the story with Mel, Finn is able to detect Roza and sets her feet free from the upside down world that the kidnapper created. The kidnapper allows Roza to go, only if Finn takes her place. The kidnapper has admired Roza's beauty since the beginning, claiming that is the reason why he wants her in the first place. Roza sees the shard of glass in Finn's back pocket, takes it, and slashes her face from one ear to her mouth, leaving a gushing, bloody mess. The kidnapper is taken aback and he deems her no longer beautiful, no longer worth keeping, and the world begins to fall apart as Finn, Rus, and Roza escape.

When Roza returns with Finn, Sean is forgiven by her for not looking harder. They continue their love affair even though she wants to return to Poland to see her Babcia. Petey and Finn continue to date, despite that her face is not as beautiful as Roza's.

Finn and Roza never explain how they escaped, or even where Roza was when kidnapped. A costume party occurs, Finn being able to pick everyone out by their means of movement and limbs instead of their faces. Roza tells Finn that the black mare that he became so close to was her grandmother's horse from Poland, and a sign that Roza and the O'Sullivan story is not finished yet.

Book Trailer

In all honesty, I would love to see this as a movie. The trailers did not do enough for me! Instead of watching her Printz Award acceptance speech, I chose to read it. The trailer I did watch, and found the most interesting, was this one. A very well made video with pictures I thought represented the characters and setting well. I also enjoyed this one because of the words matching well with the videos and pictures, despite being a bit more student made than the first one.

Themes

Bravery, Family, Friends, Kidnapping, Love, Beauty, Overcoming the Odds, Death, and Suffering.

Similar Themed Books

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero, and The Transall Saga by Gary Paulsen.

Other Books by Laura Ruby

Only one other book, York, was found. A brand new book that will become a part of a series.

Teaching Ideas

Pose the question: what is beauty? or the idea: beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Students will answer with what is beautiful to them, everyone different, everyone arguing about if they agree or disagree. After the storm calms, pose another question.

Is there a true definition for beauty?

Again, they will answer yes because of the dictionary. So, ask again, but in a different way.

Is beauty the same to everyone?

Have students discuss what beauty means to them and how each one is different. Let them know that it is okay to think something is beautiful, even if others do not think so. Give examples of what one might find beautiful, and what one may find hideous. Mention Petey and how Finn, despite the fact he couldn't see her face, still thought she was beautiful because of what was on the inside.

Have students make a list of controversial things, people, ideas that they think are beautiful. Have a group session to share and discuss why others find it beautiful. Make a list on the board and have students write down their top five things that they didn't realize could be beautiful.

Have students create a written piece of work about the item, idea, person they chose in the following forms (some coming straight from the novel):
1. Only in adverbs
2. As an essay for entrance to a college in fifty words or less
3. Explain the item in only recipe format
4. In a fortune cookie form
5. Write a haiku or short poem