Bastard Out of Carolina Bastard Out of Carolina

Bastard Out of Carolina

A Novel

    • 4.4 • 379 Ratings
    • $1.99
    • $1.99

Publisher Description

A profound portrait of family dynamics in the rural South and “an essential novel” (The New Yorker)
 
“As close to flawless as any reader could ask for . . . The living language [Allison] has created is as exact and innovative as the language of To Kill a Mockingbird and The Catcher in the Rye. —The New York Times Book Review

The publication of Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina was a landmark event that won the author a National Book Award nomination and launched her into the literary spotlight. Critics have likened Allison to Harper Lee, naming her the first writer of her generation to dramatize the lives and language of poor whites in the South. Since its appearance, the novel has inspired an award-winning film and has been banned from libraries and classrooms, championed by fans, and defended by critics.
 
Greenville County, South Carolina, is a wild, lush place that is home to the Boatwright family—a tight-knit clan of rough-hewn, hard-drinking men who shoot up each other’s trucks, and indomitable women who get married young and age too quickly. At the heart of this story is Ruth Anne Boatwright, known simply as Bone, a bastard child who observes the world around her with a mercilessly keen perspective. When her stepfather Daddy Glen, “cold as death, mean as a snake,” becomes increasingly more vicious toward her, Bone finds herself caught in a family triangle that tests the loyalty of her mother, Anney—and leads to a final, harrowing encounter from which there can be no turning back.

GENRE
Fiction & Literature
RELEASED
1992
April 30
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
320
Pages
PUBLISHER
Penguin Publishing Group
SELLER
PENGUIN GROUP USA, INC.
SIZE
2.9
MB

Customer Reviews

Minnie K ,

Powerful book

I picked this book up at about 9 AM Saturday morning and finished it at 10 AM Sunday morning. I just couldn’t put it down.

lsmarquez ,

Heartbreakingly Good

I loved this book in all it’s innocence, pain and violence. It’s not a story untold but it is so well written it’s worth reading. This is not a happy story but the main character is resilient and brave, each emotion easily relatable. The author truly took care to make each character feel real, so much so I really felt I was slowly growing up with the characters as they navigated the hardships of life.

Fladaddy ,

Great Book

I’ve waited years to read this don’t quite know why but it hit me with full impact. When you’re considered white trash and looked down on it sticks with you. When you have alcohol and violence it’s lethal.
Great writing.

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More Books by Dorothy Allison

Two or Three Things I Know for Sure Two or Three Things I Know for Sure
1995
Trash Trash
2002
Cavedweller Cavedweller
1998
Skin Skin
2013
Trash Trash
2021
Walking the Edge Walking the Edge
2016

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