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Summary: This is entertainment?????
Review: This book was very well written, but very, very depressing. I wonder if it was autobiographical -- surely someone who had not experienced such a horrible upbringing could have imagined living the life this author describes. Guaranteed to make you feel bad!
Rating: 
Summary: A moving book
Review: This book was engrossing, sad and well worth the reading time. I had to sit quietly for a moment after finishing this book because it was hard to let go of Bone and the sad truth that sometimes the people that should look out for you the most in the world - your parent, doesn't always live up to that expectation. Despite the sadness of the story, it also showed how a strong family can help you up despite it feeling like the world is against you from almost the moment you were born.
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Summary: Speak The Truth
Review: Amazingly written. A touching tale of a young girl growing up in the South. This story is written so well that you will cry because you would swear you were there. Let your heart free and read this book.
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Summary: here comes another one.......
Review: Here's another book about some white trash kid being abused and leading a sad life. Is allison for real? Does she expect us to sympathize with characters so stereo-typed that they become unreal to the reader? The men in this book were all a bunch of drunks and if it were real life, they would have died of alcohol poisoning by chapter 3. Also, the book could shed a hundred of pages or so. There were many paragraphs that had to do with nothing. I would finish a whole paragraph and wonder what did it have to do with anything!?!?! And the masturbating bit got a little old. Sure she was abused, but did the author really have to describe Bone and her sister masturbating every other chapter? The author told how Bone shut herself off to the world. Well, the author shut Bone off to us as well. We don't get to see a lot of Bone's deepest feelings so we can relate to her. In other words, I don't think she was developed enough as a character.
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Summary: this book will open your eyes
Review: This book was so bittersweet and painful. Dorothy Allison took a good, honest look at the dynamics of an abusive family and hit the nail on the head. All Bone ever wanted was to be accepted, but her home town, her mother and stepfather, and even her friends reject her. My heart broke over how daddy Glen treated her. It is a shame to see a man jealous over a child.For those of you that think that child abuse does not happen, think again. And this book proves that a man will be more likely to abuse your kids if he is not their natural father.
Rating:
Summary: I thought my heart would break
Review: In the character of Bone, Dorothy Allison gives us a hero who is at once strong and vulnerable, compassionate and angry, and who has every right to be angry. It is bad enough that her stepfather abuses her, but her mother's betrayal and abandonment is just too much to bear. How could any mother choose such a man over her own child? Thank God Bone ends up with supportive uncles and aunts; she will end up better in the long run if she never sees her mother again. In addition, Allison does a superb job of drawing out her other characters, especially the Pearl family, whose daughter suffers abandonment of a different sort.
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Summary: A Raw Life
Review: On the surface, this is the story of a near-destitute adolescent girl and her mixed-up family. There are actually many layers here, from a detailed study of white trash society to an exploration of the strength of women. Reading this book is a meaningful, painful, raw experience. Yet it is never hopeless and depressing. I could not put it down once I started it. The characters are all fully developed, and that is a rare treat. Certain things come to light in a slow progression with a sudden blaze of realization, like the physical traits of the protagonist's grandmother (I won't give them away). I just read the amazon interview with the author, and I find it significant that Ms. Allison is half-blind. This novel fully and beautifully exploits the power of words versus appearances (text over sight)... an awesome bit of writers' craft. If you liked Liars Club, you'll love this.
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Summary: Anger, fury, sadness and relief - what a great book
Review: It's amazing what women can do to each other and for each other. Mothers can betray daughters. Aunts can rescue nieces. Sisters can protect sisters. This book drove home for me the pitiful realization that women continue to sacrifice other women for men.
Rating: 
Summary: An intense reading experience
Review: I have recently finished "Bastard Out of Carolina" and the most fitting word for my reading experience seems to be an inadequate word: 'disturbing'. Disturbing - the word is not large enough, not descriptive enough, not competent enough, to explain the emotions stirred within oneself when one, innocently enough, chooses to read this book. I have read many novels based on the same subjects of poverty, abuse, alcoholism and its ability to destroy lives and this book is all of those but with an unforeseen twist. I was impressed with the storytelling, no matter its sheer ugliness. The book was hard to put down, however painful it was to continue reading. This is a story based on a mother's love (or lack) and devotion (or disregard) for her children. This is also a story based on a child's love and devotion, to a person whom, by no choice of their own, they call "mother".
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Summary: An absolutely wonderful read!
Review: This book was just another required read for my degree. Though I was not looking forward to reading this book, after I started I could hardly put it down. Great! Well written. The courage of a young child . . . This book opened my eyes to the vast differences in people, thought, culture and life. I have recommended this book to my children (teenagers) and our many exchange students, as a means of enlightening them to the hardships some must face and the many differences in the American people and cultures.
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