Top and skinnies were thrifted; Necklace was won in a giveaway
It’s a Rebecca Reads day! I haven’t figured out what day of the week I want to do these posts, so basically they’re just going to pop up when I have nothing else to talk about.
Today, I’m going to talk about The Bone People by Keri Hulme. This book hails from New Zealand and is centered around the Maori culture. One of the three main characters, Kerewin, is part Maori and is pulled back and forth between her Maori side and her English side. One night, a mysterious visitor descends upon her life. The visitor turns out to be a troubled young child named Simon. Simon and his stepfather, Joe, come into her life and turn it upside down. There is an underlying theme of Kerewin, Simon, and Joe corresponding to the trinity, and each character has their own emotional battles to conquer before they can all reconnect at the end of their journeys. Each character struggles with their cultural identity and their painful memories of their pasts.
If you enjoy books that have interesting word play, you will definitely like this one. Also, if you enjoy picking apart story lines and characters, this is also for you. You can’t read this book without analyzing every character and situation throughout the story. This is another book I would read again, because it’s so complex that I probably missed things when I was reading it through the first time. I’m actually not sure what category to place this book in — I don’t feel like I can say “Hey! If you like mysteries, grab this one,” because it’s more than one thing. It’s a love story, a religious/spiritual/cultural journey, and it’s a journey into the Maori culture. The Maori culture turned out to be one of the most interesting peoples that I learned about, so this book definitely makes it into my top 5 books from grad school.
Is there a culture that interests you? What is it?
Rebecca has been writing about style, beauty, and lifestyle topics since 2011. Thank you so much for reading this post! Feel free to leave any questions or comments below. I love hearing from you!
