Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Bone Gap by Laura Ruby

I'd give this one to those who enjoyed Morgenstern's Night Circus.  There is actually two magical romances going on here with a nod to the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast.  There is a small rural town somewhere in Illinois where the corn grows strong and seems to talk to some folks, where there is a school with bullies, where lives Petey aka Priscilla who believes she is the ugliest beast around, where lives Finn who loves her.  Finn is face blind and has come to know Petey behind the face that only a mother could love. They are high school seniors. Also here is Sean who is Finn's older brother and an emt.  On the day Roza slips through a magical gap in the corn and winds up injured in The brother's barn Sean is there to help her as is Finn.  They grow to love her truly until one day a stranger slips through the corn and kidnaps her.  Finn is witness but cannot describe the man except in terms of the way he moved.  Sean is devastated.  A night horse and then a goat appear in the barn after.  Petey tells Finn why folks see him as spacey and believes he only loves her because she is so distinctive looking and leaves him devastated as well.  Desperate to get Sean back now that he has lost Petey Finn searches his memories of the stranger kidnapper and comes to know he came through the corn that speaks.  And so it is that he journey's through a gap in the corn to the land where Roza is held captive by the man who asks her each day if she loves him yet.  I will leave you all here with Finn trying to get Roza back for  Sean, with discovering what how independent and determined Roza, with Petey learning to see Finn differently and loving him truly.  Face Blindness has not been mentioned in teen fiction before making this a good choice for diversity lists.  Face Blindness can be very severe and disabling and less so.  Finn appears to be somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.  Ok, complex likable characters, lyrical writing, magical realism what a wonderful story.  Give us more Laura Ruby. jdw 12/30 15

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