Rule of the Bone

"You'll probably think I'm making a lot of this up just to make me sound better than I really am or smarter or even luckier but I'm not." Russell Banks's Rule of the Bone, written in 1995, is a 390 page fictitious autobiographical novel. I like this book because it's written in first person, from the point of view of the main character, Chappie. Chappie, later known as Bone, goes through a lot of bad times with family, friends, and strangers. Oddly enough, by the end of the story, it's family, friends, and strangers who end up helping him the most. Chappie is a young kid who runs away from home because of some serious dysfunction and abuse. Working his way south, he hangs out with a biker gang, becomes a petty thief, turns into a caretaker for someone he rescues, and ends up getting into drugs, all on his way from upstate New York to Jamaica. Banks's style is similar to Jack Kerouac's On The Road and J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. Readers 14-20 and into music or with a slightly less-than-perfect family life will enjoy this book.