Booklist only publishes reviews on books they recommend. Here’s what they have to say about Flesh and Bone by William Alton.
“Alton’s brief, nuanced vignettes set a steady pace… Bill is lonely, sad, shallow, and detached, but his redeeming characteristic is that he refuses to intellectualize his misery. Mature, empathetic readers will cling to the hope that Bill’s salvation might come eventually with self-acceptance.” ~ Booklist
Go to the Luminis page to purchase or learn more about Flesh and Bone.
Here’s the full review ~
Bill’s story begins with the end of his parents’ marriage and his move, with his mother, to his grandparents’ farmhouse in rural Oregon. He falls in with a group of detached and forlorn teens who live from cigarette to cigarette, devoid of purpose and motivation. Sometimes the cigarettes are interspersed with OxyContin, pot, heroin, moonshine, Vicodin, and whatever else is available. Alton’s brief, nuanced vignettes set a steady pace as Bill unemotionally explores his sexuality in a variety of raw, openly depicted trysts, one of which finds him accepting money for a consensual encounter with a friend’s uncle. “Going Nowhere,” the title of one entry, defines Bill’s existence. His only relationship of note is with his mother, who lives trapped within the confines of her own desperation. Bill is lonely, sad, shallow, and detached, but his redeeming characteristic is that he refuses to intellectualize his misery. Mature, empathetic readers will cling to the hope that Bill’s salvation might come eventually with self-acceptance.
Luminis Books 