Rule of the Bone

<p><strong>In the tradition <em>Huckleberry Finn </em>and <em>The Catcher in the Rye</em> Russell Banks's quintessential novel of a disaffected homeless youth living on the edge of society redefines the young modern anti-hero. . . . <em>Rule of the Bone</em> has its own culture and language and Bone is sure to become a beloved character for generations (<em>San Francisco Chronicle</em>). </strong></p><p>When we first meet him Chappie is a punked-out teenager living with his mother and abusive stepfather in an upstate New York trailer park. During this time he slips into drugs and petty crime. Rejected by his parents out of school and in trouble with the police he claims for himself a new identity as a permanent outsider; he gets a crossed-bones tattoo on his arm and takes the name Bone.</p><p>He finds dangerous refuge with a group of biker-thieves and then hides in the boarded-up summer house of a professor and his wife. He finally settles in an abandoned school bus with Rose a child he rescues from a fast-talking pedophile. There Bone meets I-Man an exiled Rastafarian and together they begin a second adventure that takes the reader from Middle America to the ganja-growing mountains of Jamaica. It is an amazing journey of self-discovery through a world of magic violence betrayal and redemption.</p><p>With a compelling off-beat protagonist evocative of Holden Caulfield and Quentin Coldwater and a narrative voice that masterfully and naturally captures the nuances of a modern vernacular Banks's haunting and powerful novel is an indisputable--and unforgettable--modern classic.</p>