Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Rule of the Bone: A Novel
    Rule of the Bone: A Novel
    Rule of the Bone: A Novel
    Audiobook11 hours

    Rule of the Bone: A Novel

    Written by Russell Banks

    Narrated by Kirby Heyborne

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    In the tradition Huckleberry Finn and The Catcher in the Rye, Russell Banks’s quintessential novel of a disaffected homeless youth living on the edge of society “redefines the young modern anti-hero. . . . Rule of the Bone has its own culture and language, and Bone is sure to become a beloved character for generations” (San Francisco Chronicle).

    When we first meet him, Chappie is a punked-out teenager living with his mother and abusive stepfather in an upstate New York trailer park. During this time, he slips into drugs and petty crime. Rejected by his parents, out of school and in trouble with the police, he claims for himself a new identity as a permanent outsider; he gets a crossed-bones tattoo on his arm, and takes the name ""Bone.""

    He finds dangerous refuge with a group of biker-thieves, and then hides in the boarded-up summer house of a professor and his wife. He finally settles in an abandoned school bus with Rose, a child he rescues from a fast-talking pedophile. There Bone meets I-Man, an exiled Rastafarian, and together they begin a second adventure that takes the reader from Middle America to the ganja-growing mountains of Jamaica. It is an amazing journey of self-discovery through a world of magic, violence, betrayal and redemption.

    With a compelling, off-beat protagonist evocative of Holden Caulfield and Quentin Coldwater, and a narrative voice that masterfully and naturally captures the nuances of a modern vernacular, Banks’s haunting and powerful novel is an indisputable—and unforgettable—modern classic.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateNov 12, 2013
    ISBN9780062315595
    Author

    Russell Banks

    Russell Banks, twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, was one of America’s most prestigious fiction writers, a past president of the International Parliament of Writers, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His work has been translated into twenty languages and he received numerous prizes and awards, including the Common Wealth Award for Literature. He died in January 2023 at the age of eighty-two.  

    More audiobooks from Russell Banks

    Related to Rule of the Bone

    Related audiobooks

    General Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    Related categories

    Reviews for Rule of the Bone

    4/5

    360 ratings18 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      This book is pitch perfect from start to finish. A great coming of age novel that managed to deal with weighty issues with a light touch.
    • 4/5
      I found this book on the side of the road a few years ago and had no idea what to expect - I was more than pleasantly surprised by the originality of the writing, the topic and the character development. Its gritty edge and fast paced action make it a compelling read while immersing the reader in a deeper conversation about self and personal growth.I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking to expand their reading list in an unconventional way.
    • 5/5
      Rule of the Bone is the story of a teenage boy who's confused about life. He's got his mohawk, his loser friends, and he's got a couch to sleep on at the den of a local motorcycle gang. A whole lot of things get out of hand - a drug deal gone bad and fatal fire among them - and our boy is sent off wandering the country - and then the world - as he slowly grows up and comes to term with his life. This book is heartbreaking and funny and has such a unique voice. I really enjoyed the slow, convincing character development and the subtle humor. Two thumbs up from this gal.
    • 4/5
      Rule of the Bone is certainly a book worth reading. Its about a teen that really hasn’t been a teen very long. His home life leaves a lot to be desired, as many are. He goes through many ups and downs and they are serious downs. A normal kid, mixed up, tries the boundaries because the home life pushes him to look outside for love, comfort and who he is and could be. The ending not perfect but it does give hope for other teens that are going through on or all of the things he does.
    • 4/5
      This books was a serendipitous find. Having picked the book up off the counter of my parents house about 12 years ago (I believe my father was reading it) and reading a page or two, I made a mental note to read the book one day. All I could remember about it was a yellow cover and the word "bone" in the title, so I have been passively looking for the book for over a decade. Then one day while at work (I'm a librarian), it was returned by a patron. And so began my journey with Bone.Bone's story is that of a lost teenage boy of fourteen who leaves his broken and dysfunctional home after enduring years of abuse at the hands of his Stepfather. He drifts and gets by as well as possible, selling weed to a group of unruly and violent Bikers with whom he and his friend crash with in a rundown apartment. As he drifts through his homelessness, spending his days in a mall the next town over, he begins to question what it means to live as a criminal, all the while trying to maintain a sense of right from wrong. As time passes, he finds himself in a position to rescue a young girl around six-years-old who was sold by her mother to a sceevy and dangerous pedophile. The two find refuge in an abondoned bus in the middle a field, inhabited by I-Man, a Jamaican Rastafarian and illegal immigrant homesick for his own country. And so begins the second stage in Bone's journey to himself, which takes him to Jamaica and onward.This book was incredibly hard to put down, and I found myself reading well past my bedtime. Bone's narrative is authentic and at times soars. His voice was well developed, as were the characters he described. It was an honor to watch Bone evolve from a scared fourteen-year-old boy unsure of himself and the future, into a young man who was ready to embrace his true self and the journey that lies ahead of him. Highly recommended.
    • 2/5
      A gift from my Uncle Jack, I found this an enjoyable read. I would not necessarily read it again, but I was left with a good enough of an opinion that I have picked up Russell Banks again.
    • 3/5
      Rule of the Bone is the story of a young boy from Au Sable in New York State trying to sort himself out in spite of being hindered by every adult around him. When we first meet Chappie, he's the ultimate lost boy. At just fourteen years old, he is on the verge of being disowned by his mother and abusive stepfather. Chappie is already well on the way to trouble (presumably we know this because he has a mohawk and a nose piercing), and for the first few chapters he certainly finds it. So far, so stereotypical.After fleeing a burning squat, he and his friend Russ part ways for a while. Chappie finds himself returning to an abandoned school bus on some waste ground where he'd sought refuge once before. Only this time, the bus has a new inhabitant - a middle-aged Jamaican who goes by the name of I-Man, and who becomes a huge influence on Chappie's transition to Bone, his new persona.While the first few chapters of the book may not elicit much sympathy from the reader, it soon becomes apparent that this could be the author's intention. Punk Chappie appears to be a selfish and thoughtless boy, though what we're really seeing is naivete and immaturity from a kind enough but rudderless child. As Chappie grows into Bone - the man he wants to become - we see evidence of his innate kindness as well as learning more about the complete unreliability of the adults in his life. I-Man is an anchor for him, a moral and spiritual guide if that doesn't sound too cheesy, and Bone latches on to him as one of the few positive influences he's had in his life.Bone is ultimately a young, naive and misguided soul, but he's had very little help, to be fair, and the turn of events in the middle of the book take his life in a very new direction that is just as challenging as everything he's faced so far.This was quite a sweet book really, even if it makes you feel sad about the inadequacies of people who have children then treat them as nuisances for the rest of their lives. Bone becomes a survivor, and you have to give him credit for that.
    • 3/5
      It took a while to like this 14 year old kid who was out of control - pot, parties, thievery, but after awhile I wanted to read more. The scene in Jamaica is wild but rasta life and philosophy of I Man saves the day. Is this autobiographical?
    • 3/5
      I was surprised to find myself liking this book. At first the only reason I thought I would enjoy it was because of the familiarity of the setting in northern New York. It didn’t take long before I was wondering what was going to happen next the main character, how was he going to get out of the trouble he was getting himself into, how was he going to explain some of the things he had done. The book surprised me by taking Bone out of the setting he had grown up in, and sent him down to Jamaica for a reunion with his father. Rule of the Bone is at times a bit too fantastic to be believable, but it does a good job at illustrating the life of a troubled youth as he grows up and has to find a way to live in the world.
    • 5/5
      Bone is a grade eight drop-out, runaway, small-time thief, drug user and dealer. He is a product of a poor family that doesn’t give him love and support, and is in denial about past sexual abuse. Bone escapes to find himself with other “families”, like a group of bikers, an older teen age run away, drug addicted college - aged brothers, a creepy man, who he suspects is a pedophile, with a little girl who is not his own child. Bone rescues the little girl and they end up sharing an abandoned school bus with Jamaican Rastafarian, I-Man. I-Man gives him the stability and guidance he needs to navigate his own way in the world. The characters in this often harsh and touching story stayed with me long after I’d finished the book.There are some interesting details about Rastafarian life-style, Jamaican history and the slave trade, and modern Jamaica. It had me pulling out my old Reggae music.A caution that some readers may find the passages describing marijuana use somewhat romanticized. Recommended for older-teen to adult readers, due to passages describing drug use, violence and sex.
    • 4/5
      This book moved in directions I didn't think were possible when I started it. It follows the first-person narrative of Bone, a rebellious stoner teenager in a small American town. Bone's story moves through a series of the depressing and predictable situations, as he leaves his mother and sexually abusive stepfather, escapes possible murder by his biker roommates, lives in a schoolbus with two college dropouts (characters from The Sweet Hereafter, I think), to his attempted reconciliation with his mother who rejects him when he asks her to choose between himself and his stepfather. While this might be the climax of the novel if written by less imaginative authors, Banks takes Bone into more fantastic scenarios, that push the character beyond what a reader might think he would be "capable" of. Bone rescues Rose, a little girl he suspects of being held captive by a child pornographer, and returns to the schoolbus to meet I-Man, a Jamaican Rastafarian who is growing pot and vegetables in and around the bus. I-Man and Rose become Bone's new family, and Bone tries to make Rose's life right by finding her mother and sending her back. He then follows I-Man to Jamaica, meeting his father (Doc) by accident, and living the life of the idle rich with Doc and Doc's girlfriend, Evening Star. But the novel doesn't rest here either; Bone surprises I-Man having sex with Evening Star, and confesses the scene to Doc, who is high on speedballs and swears to kill I-Man. Bone and I-Man flee, returning to I-Man's village and harvesting a crop of pot for smuggling out of Jamaica. When I-Man is shot by drug runners, Bone is spared, being Doc's (white) son; he returns to Evening Star's home, wreaks havoc on Doc, and then flees to serve as part of a private yacht's crew to Dominica. It's not just the plot that's unpredictable -- it's Bone's own emotional growth that is a surprise. He realizes the importance of love and responsibility, the implications of race, and the reality that trying to do the 'right thing' does not make things right. In many ways, the book is all about accountability; Bone repeatedly comes face to face with the people affected by his actions. His mother, whom he knows loves him intensely, rejects him for her husband, and his father, whom he doesn't know, accepts him without taking parental responsibility for his son. Bone has a series of realizations about race and class privilege, about how we affect one another, and about the unthinking way many people live. There is no great redemption and no justice in this book; but by the end, I had a strong sense of optimism for Bone's future, and felt sure he would continue to learn and be able to find his way towards living a responsible, moral life.
    • 4/5
      Insane book. Even insaner plot. Still, the book makes you hooked, until you are finished. The lessons you have to learn. This is how life can go. Bone will stick with me for a while, thats for sure.
    • 5/5
      Loved the way this book was written from the perspective of a homeless young person. It was non-judgemental and questions societal norms. I thought the author did a brilliant job of creating this character; especially the language use of this young character. Reminded me of Catcher in the Rye.
    • 4/5
      Rule of the Bone is yet another coming of age novel generally compared to others such as Huck Finn and The Catcher in the Rye. Personally, this one reminded me much more of Huck Finn than The Catcher in the Rye. It's told by a first person narrator, Bone, a 14 year old homeless boy who struggles with conventional society and occasionally likes to assure the reader of his honesty, which says Huck Finn all over to me. The first half at least also spends some time contemplating what it means to be American- homelessness and abuse issues, racism, religion, relationships to history, among other things. Instead of Jim, who Huck Finn patronizes, Rule of the Bone has I-Man, who Bone idolizes.The second half of the novel consists of Bone's adventures with I-Man in Jamaica. Questions of racism and hierarchy are looked at from a different angle. While the plot kind of meanders as Bone drifts from one thing to another, there are definite moments when Bone will come out with something that just strikes me as completely true. Like toward the end when he talks about crime versus sin. Bone is on a quest for personal meaning and out to do the "true" thing , even though it very well may not be what most people would consider the "right" thing. On the one hand, you want for Bone to be saved, but on the other, you think that maybe he really is saving himself by living his life in such an unstructured way. The lack of cohesion in the novel kind of bothered me, but then, I think that the structure suits the narrator- for me, this novel was about breaking artificial boundaries- such as the way I expect a novel to be structured.
    • 3/5
      I thought the lead character was a bit of a snot, and his going off to jamaica to live made me dislike him even more.
    • 3/5
      Early Banks, appealing but not up to the quality of his later works.
    • 4/5
      "Rule of the Bone" by Russell Banks is for anyone who has ever felt the anguish of being a teenager. In other words, it's for anyone who ever passed through the valley of the shadow of those awkward years between 13 and 19.Russell Banks has made a living going straight to the heart of characters in his novels, set mainly in upper New York state ("The Sweet Hereafter," "Cloudsplitter," "Affliction"). "Rule of the Bone" cuts right to the bone. Banks, a middle-aged writer, has dared to capture the voice of a modern teenager, Chapman, aka "Chappie," aka "Bone." Bone is a self-proclaimed mall rat, complete with punk mohawk and tattoos who always seems to find himself on the wrong end of the law. Bone is a runner, one step ahead of the law, his mother, his dead-end pot-smoking friends, death itself. Bone literally goes through fire and comes out smelling like smoke, but still he's unable to pull himself out of his downward spiral of a life on the streets. Bone is constantly on the move, on a quest to find peace and happiness--two things he thinks his deadbeat dad will give him. When Bone finally catches up with his father in Jamaica, the result is less than satisfying, both for Bone and the reader.Herein lies part of the book's problem. The first half of the novel--before Bone hooks up with a spliff-smoking Rastafarian named I-Man and they take off for Jamaica--is absolutely riveting. You watch with increasing dread and despair as Bone tries to make a life for himself on the streets. Banks uses no quotation marks; his prose style is intoxicating and dizzying, as if Bone has no time for the delay of punctuation marks. There is an urgency in Bone's narrative voice that will get right under your skin. One particularly gut-wrenching scene has Bone hiding out from security guards in the back corridors of a shopping mall. If those five pages don't break your heart, you've got granite in your veins.But then, Bone descends into a haze of marijuana and Rastafarian rap as he and I-Man trip on down to Jamaica. I still cared about Bone as his heart was once again broken by his father, but my compassion started to dwindle a little and I found myself getting impatient with Banks. It's like his sharp-focused portrait of an American teenager had suddenly gone soft and blurry.Still, it's hard to fault Banks for even this because Bone is, without a doubt, one of the best American teens in our nation's literature--right up there with Huck Finn, Holden Caulfield and company.
    • 5/5
      Russell Banks wowed me with his story, "Sarah Cole: A Kind of Love Story", which he read on NPR's "This American Life". I immediately went out in search of his newest book, and found this instead. The story doesn't seem likely to please: a ne'er-do-well teenage boy, smoking pot, and somehow trying to figure out who he is, or why life is worth living. The narrator's voice drew me in, being honest, and utterly revealing. I felt I could see inside the head of a person quite different than myself. And what is a good book for, if not to take the reader away on the journey of different identity? The story travels to Jamaica, and through successive trials of morality. With each test, the narrator finds out more about what goodness and integrity are, and how these virtues contribute to his satisfaction as a person. It is a story of transformation, and as the narrator evolves, so does the writing, leaving me with the impression that Russel Banks is a genius flying somehow just under the radar of fame.