A young teenager, named Chappie (later becoming Bone), who never has a great family life and is hard into drugs; he runs away and lives in everything from a school bus to a mansion in Jamaica or a crummy apartment in upstate New York. He meets several people on his journey; some good, some bad, but all teach him something about himself and his life. On top of learning from the people around him, he also learns from his experiences.

The adventures. They could be very sad, and nobody ever really likes sad endings to anything. However, these sad experiences helped Chappie/Bone in different ways throughout the rest of the book. This book explores many ideas that Mark Twain did in "Huckleberry Finn", like race, authority, and government. This is always a plus in any story. It is also told in the first person; vernacular and everything, which was sometimes hard to follow (bad grammar, spelling), but still a nice touch and brings the reader closer to the story.

Read a sequel. The author leaves the story open-ended; there is no definite conclusion; thus, I would like there to be a sequel...or a continuation of the story. I want to see what happens to Bone...

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, "Banks' ear is perfectly attuned to the teenage vernacular..." which is very true, and made the book ten times better. Banks is very talented, and I like how he is not afraid to write about what really happens in reality. Although the setting of the book changes often, Banks uses excellent description of place and environment, just as Twain did.

It is a modern version of "The Adevntures of Huckleberry Finn" and teenagers can easily relate to issues Bone faces.

The story can get very graphic; there are explicit scenes involving sex and drugs as well as explicit narratives about Bone's feelings. If you don't like that, don't read the book-the story without those parts would not be the same.

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Created Jan 22, 2003 at 9:28am • Submit your own review...