Rule of the Bone: A Novel

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Summary: Amazing results!
Review: I'm a an innovative teacher with lots of K-college experience, but I recently switched to an "alternative high school." Until I got this book NOTHING worked. This book is "about my students," because they can identify. Their ability is often quite high, but their scope is VERY narrow, and I needed something like this to get their attention. Rule of the Bone features a (very) modern Huck Finn. I would strongly recommend it to any high school teacher, although I think it might cause an altercation between the presenting teacher and the school board at a conventional high school.

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Summary: Emperor Banks has no clothes!
Review: Yes, Russell Banks is a great writer, but let's give the man back his humanity. Let's assume, just for a moment, that he is capable of writing a stinker. "Rule of the Bone" is probably Bank's once-in-a-lifetime awful book. It's a struggle just to move your eyes across the pages of this book due to Bank's intentionally awful sentence structure. Here is a sample: "In the beginning and all winter I was only dealing small-load weed to the bikers which was cool becaue A, lots of kids in Au Sable were dealing then mostly in school where I never went near anyhow but everywhere around town too so we were like a swarm of flies and it was low-risk to be one of them what with so few swatters." Yes, I fully understand that Banks wrote the book as if a 14 year old had written it, but this same technique was done a century ago by Mark Twain. And Twain did it better. And he used punctuation consistantly. Now, try to imagine getting through 390 pages of this mess without going blind. Simply put, "Rule of Bone" is a gimmick novel for the trendy who like to pretend it's some kind of great work of art. Don't be fooled. Emperor Banks has no clothes. "Rule of the Bone" is a terrible novel.

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Summary: This is the best book I have ever read
Review: One of the many wonderful things about this book is that Russell Banks can write about children and their rebellious acts and what they are thinking. I am saying this because Banks is in his 50's. The slang he is familiar with, and the no-holding-back in his novels combine with an interesting and catchy story to make this at the least, the most important novel since "CATCHER IN THE RYE". Buy this book, it's a great read.

Rating:
Summary: Great Story---Incredible writing
Review: You can't really describe this book well enough in a review, but it is excellent. Captures a generation very well. And ANYONE who says the writing is "without skill or style" should do themselves a favor and stop reading. Banks, who writes all of his books in the first person, has done a truly amazing job taking on the rambling, slang-infused language of a teenage punk. So good---READ IT.

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Summary: After picking up this book I learned alot.
Review: This story was about a young middle class teenager named Chappie who is trying yo find his identity. It is about his experiences after he leaves home to make a life of his own. it is about a quest to find someone who cares. He is faced with sex, drugs, and lies. In the end he learns more from three people then he could in a life time because he found hisself.

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Summary: A modern day classic!
Review: Rule of the Bone was a brilliant symbolic novel of the twentieth century. At times you'll love Bone, at times you'll hate him, but you'll always wonder what he is going to do next. Russel Banks has done a remarkable job at blending characters and using regional dialect that makes the story very realistic. Bone's struggles are an excellent example of how life can change. I reccommend this book to all people particulary the youth of America.

Rating:
Summary: My favorite book
Review: I'm not what you would call an "avid reader". But once I picked up Rule of the Bone I couldn't put it down. I instantly became obsessed with Bone's travels, the lessons he learned, and every experience he had, no matter how strange, frightening, or surprising it was. Since I first read Rule of the Bone in February, I have read it at least 6 more times since then. I recommend it to any reader, even the ones like me, who can't seem to get into reading.

Rating:
Summary: an astounding piece of literature
Review: I must say, I've never been much of a 'bookworm' -- but Rule of the Bone had me hooked. I couldn't put it down: my math teacher even scolded me... The coming of age story of Bone was surprisingly captivating and truthful -- Bank's skill to capture human behaviour is spellbinding. The main character, Bone, who is troubled teen who escapes in the 'wrong ways' is truly a role model for young people everywhere. Adult critics of this book have labelled him as a bad example, but they have failed to look past the literal level of Bone's actions. Bank's paints a truthful, and somewhat frightening picture of what happens to a person under pressure; a boy who has a goodness in him, he's just been through some hard times. Rule of the Bone is a definate read, and I would reccomend it to anyone who would like a taste of literature that is uniquely different. Bank's book challenges the more conservative literary techniques with an amazingly truthful and contemporary tale of humanity.

Rating:
Summary: The Rule
Review: Rule of the Bone by Russel Banks is an instant classic. Banks weaves a beautiful tale of redemption and the sins committed against a lost boy named Bone in an unforgiving world. Bone's criminal attitude towards all property and ethics does not hinder the attachment you gain with him. You can not believe what hell Bone goes through as you turn the pages. Throughout the entire book Bone is rejected from the people who we take for granted loving. His Mom, Dad, Step Dad and entire family look at him as an exile. This book is a eye opener. So many people today need to read about the injustice inherent in modern society. The book is the story of a Punk, Bone, who starts his journey around the Adirondack mountains. Bone chooses to live with a friend rather than live with his alcoholic mother and perverted father. He leaves the pain of his home to live with his friend Russ. Russ lives with Adirondack Iron, a biker gang and when the house burns down Bruce, Bone's only friend runs into the house to save Bone not knowing Bone has already escaped and burns up with the house. Throughout the entire book I don't think there are any commas used except for lists or quotation marks and the story is a first person book. Bank's ear is perfectly tuned into the modern anti-culture and Bank's Bone is the quintessential member of this insurrection. Bone's character arcs throughout the entire book and while his principles (or rather lack of them) don't change he changes his lifestyle from a homeless dropout to a Rastafarian when he meets another homeless man from Jamaica and helps him get back home. They save a little girl who was raped for porn films and Bone and the Jamaican, I-man, grow to love her. Eventually they scrounge enough money to send her to her mom. They find out later that she was killed because of neglect from her mom. Bone meets his long lost Dad and while at first likes him until he realizes what a horrible person he is and then his Dad kills the last person Bone ever cared for. Rule of the Bone is the story of the worst of the worst reclaiming his soul and harmony. You really feel for Bone and wish you could help him badly but you have to trust in his judgment that will eventually find the peace that so many people get for free. You can only hope that his vision, however fogged, will finally see the light. In conclusion I say "Bravo Mr. Banks!" because he wove a romance of the underdog which is definitely more inspiring and thought provoking than any coming-of-age book I have ever read.

Rating:
Summary: Ahhh Jamaica
Review: "Rule of the Bone" was my first introduction to Mr. Banks. What an adventure. He writes with spirit and so intelligently, once you read fine lit as this you see the rest of popular fiction for what it is. eck. Pick it up. It's smart, funny, If I still had my copy I share some of my favorite lines, I highlighted a bunch for his wit and insight. One of my favorites Russell Banks.