March Monthly Review

Bastard out of Carolina is one of Dorothy Allison's older books about a young girl living with her mom's newly wedded husband. In the book, Bone grows up to be a Boatwright woman, with the abuse of her step-dad. Bone was a gracious girl who could make stories that everybody enjoyed to hear. When her mother gets married, Glen, the step-dad, isn't so great as he seems. He appears very nice, but after a death, he becomes very different. He treats Bone very abusively, and changes her life forever. She is not the sweet girl who could tell great stories, but becomes moody. She doesn't get along with her sister Reese, and ultimately ends up breaking her coccyx from her step-dad's abuse. Bone, however becomes very sad in the end for a certain reason. I have mixed feelings about the book. However, I would recommend this book to an adult audience, as there is lots of cursing, and people can not understand what the author is writing if they are not old enough.

2) For what audience(s) is this book intended, and how can you tell? (In other words, for whom would you recommend this book?)

I would recommend this book to a person who has lived a life in luxury or a rich family to show that everybody does not have a good life. People struggle throughout life constantly. People in Alameda are fortunate to have generally a good life. Virtually, I would recommend this book at anybody to learn about the hardships of Bone. She has endured sexual assault and abuse from her father, saw a girl die in flames, and her mother leaving with her husband to California. Bone has to now live with her Aunt Raylene, because Bone's mother is afraid of Bone hating her. Almost nobody has ever had this experience, and people should know what it's like to be in Bone's situation.

This book is generally focused for young adults. It's a book about a poor family's life, and their daily routines, and their "special" events. Bone's family is not any ordinary family. Bone faces abuse from her step-dad, Reese is a tomboy, and her family is constantly being called poor. This book also contains raping, racism, and a daughter's love for her mother. The book is quite slow in the beginning, but it gets better after the first few chapters. It's sort of like Harry Potter books, slow in the beginning, and gets better when he goes to Hogwarts. Dorothy Allison shows affection, courage, and love in the book Bastard out of Carolina.

One person I would recommend this book to is my dad. He enjoys reading, and collects many books. Reading is one of my family's favorite hobby to do. I don't get why my family likes to read, I hate reading. I recommend this only to my dad because this book contains many sex scenes. (Most of my relatives are girls, and I don't think they'd read it.) Bastard Out of Carolina is a national bestseller, and has been out for over ten years.

3) What are the weaknesses of this book, in your opinion?

One weakness is going back from family, to Glen. A major part of the books is about Glen, a new member to the family that marries Anney, Bone and Reese's mother. Allison repeatedly goes back and forth between family and Glen. It gets confusing and hard to understand. First, they start out talking about family, then Glen raping Bone, family, Glen raped Bone again, family, and then Glen raped Bone for the third time. Finally, Anney (Bone's mother) runs away with Glen. I think it's sort of a bad story line.

Although, some parts of the book were enjoyable. Allison can write a fascinating description of a suicide, Shannon's suicide. She played with a flammable liquid, and basically burned herself alive. She didn't' scream, didn't run, she just stayed in one spot, and died.

Another weakness was just trying to read the book. Usually, when I read a good book, I can read for hours. This book to me was a struggle to get through. Reading about Bone's family isn't as exciting as it seems. The only interesting part I learned about her family was that Auth Ruth dies. I like characters dying, it makes the book better. Aunt Ruth however was not a main character. It was just like "Oh, Aunt Ruth died.", no big deal. She was mentioned, but I just didn't feel sad for the family.

This book had too many characters in it. In the beginning of the book, I got very confused, with the story plot. I had to read it over several times to remember. Only five characters only stood out to me. They were Bone, Reese, Anney, Glen, and Aunt Raylene. There had to be over ten characters in this book. It made me bored of the book, and not want to read it. (I read the book up to the paperclip right before the Lit Circles was due.) If the book had less characters, I might have been more interested. Too many characters just ruins the book, and makes the book hard to read.

8) Pick a character that interested you and write about them in depth.

Glen Waddell, is Anney's second husband. They met in a diner, and have been in love ever since. After two years, Glen and Anney decide to get married. All of a sudden, Anney finds out she is pregnant. When Anney is in labor, the baby comes out stilborn. She is no longer able to have kids. They name the dead baby Glen Junior. Right before Anney gave birth, Glen raped Bone. Right now, she is only about eleven or so. She doesn't even know what's going on, and tells Glen to stop, but he keeps going. Glen appears to be bipolar. He is nice at first, but then ends up raping Bone. When Anney finds out, Glen asks for her forgiveness, saying he loves Bone, and he would never do it again...

Glen sort of disappears for a while until he rapes Bone for the second time. This time, he broke Bone's coccyx. Glen asks for Anney's forgiveness once again, after she finds out that Bone has a broken bone. Glen starts saying things like "Don't trust your grandma." to Bone and Reese. Glen disappears yet again, and Bone go to her relatives.

Glen appears for the last time when he rapes Bone again. This time, Anney walks in while they're doing it. Glen tells them to shoot him, he can't live without Anney. Anney decideds to take back Glen again. But this time, she runs away with him to California or Florida. Anney leaves behind Bone and Reese to their Aunt Raylene.

Glen to my opinion, is bipolar. He acts mean when Anney isn't around, and when Anney catches him having sex with Bone, he asks for her forgiveness. Glen is a horrible man, and I don't get how Anney forgives him. If I were her, I would run away with Bone and Reese and move to a different country. Glen was never the same man after his stillborn child.