Bone Gap

“Corn can add inches in a single day; if you listened, you could hear it grow. Finn caught the familiar whisper—here, here, here—and wished it would shut up.”

Finn’s ability to hear the corn raises a question about his sanity, while also hinting that the corn has magical properties. Ruby is only just orienting readers to the world of Bone Gap and its many characters. Therefore, this description raises both the prospect that Finn isn’t all there and that the town is actually magical. As Ruby describes Roza’s disappearance more, she turns the spotlight on Finn and his eccentricity. She aims to make readers concerned about Finn’s “spaciness” the way the people of Bone Gap are. Later we learn that Finn has a disability called face blindness, and that people can lose themselves in the town’s gaps if they believe they can. However, without knowing this, Ruby creates tension: The audience has to work to unravel the truth of what’s going on.

“Sometime in the night, God knew when, Finn’s brother had cleaned things out, scrubbed things down, as if a girl could be washed from memory just by washing the floors.”

The smell of Pine Sol, which recurs several times in the novel, acts as a red herring. The reader thinks that something may have happened to Roza in the house, and that Sean is trying to cover it up. It’s unclear if Finn did something to Roza and Sean has to clean up after him, which would explain his attitude toward Finn. However, this is a misleading description. Sean in fact wants to erase Roza because he loves her and finds it painful to remember her.

“Charlie Valentine had ordered his chickens thinking they were a special breed that laid blue eggs. The chickens had laid blue eggs, but they also laid pink and green and brown eggs, too, like every day was Easter.”

Charlie’s eggs underscore the magical realism in the novel. The color of his eggs, not seen in reality, is presented matter-of-factly. This makes the reader wonder what other magical things are possible in Bone Gap.

“All around her, dozens of honeybees whirled like tiny moons in orbit, anchored only by her gravity. Finn thought, I don’t know what that is, but it’s not ugly.”

Finn sees Petey as a force to behold. He sees her for who she is: brave and strong. She mesmerizes him with the bees, and we see how much reverence Finn has for her. He values her strength and bravery and charisma. He can never imagine how anyone else could find her ugly.

“Okay? You’re not a normal human.” 

Miguel reacts to Finn dismissing Amber’s hotness, He says this in a flippant way, but can’t believe Finn wouldn’t find her attractive. Finn is focused on Petey. Miguel’s comment also underscores how other’s see him: The whole town has always believed him to be weird and spacey. Being seen this way makes Finn feel misunderstood. His struggles parallel Roza’s: No one but Roza or Petey listen to him or bother to get to know what’s beneath the surface.

“He was tired of everyone believing they knew everything there was to know about him, as if a person never grew, a person never changed, a person was born a weird and dreamy little kid with too-red lips and stayed that way forever just to keep things simple for everyone else”

Finn sees himself through others’ eyes. He is frustrated especially when Petey adopts the same attitudes of the town. She assumes that Finn is in love with Roza because Roza is beautiful. While Finn acknowledges he loves Roza, it’s not romantic. He loves her because they share a special bond; they see each other for who they are and experience the same misunderstandings and issues—albeit for different reasons. He wants Petey to see that he is a multifaceted person with so much more to him than his dreamy exterior.

“Would he call Finn once a month, and send a ten-dollar check on his birthday? Would he talk about what a relief it was to be out of Illinois?”

When Sean mentions Finn will be going to college soon, Finn fears why Sean wants him out of the house and whether Sean will go on to finally fulfill his dreams of becoming a doctor. Sean thinks Finn doesn’t understand the sacrifices he has made, but Finn clearly does and worries that he’s a burden. He thinks Sean will end up treating him like his mother did, happy to be far away from him.

“Far below, the gray ocean defined the word ‘forever.’ Everything felt both huge and small, as if the plane were hanging from a string held by the hands of gods.”

Roza’s trip abroad is a markedly life-changing experience. She takes a bet on herself. She feels so small and in awe of the airplane as she moves from Poland to Chicago. Ruby uses a simile, comparing the flight of the plane to being suspended by the gods. This shows how impactful this moment is for Roza.

“Roza was better. They were better, even angry Honorata. Roza could have been any of them, every one of them. The story hadn’t changed. Only the costumes. Only the players.”

Roza doesn’t think she’s better than other women because she is so beautiful, the way that Honorata assumes. Rather, Roza believes all people deserve to be treated fairly. All women are above the likes of Bob, Honorata’s sleazy boyfriend. Roza knows this because she has seen it many times. She has lived with the wisdom of her grandmother. Men like him will always exist and try to diminish women. Women deserve better than being objectified and used, even if they aren't the prettiest and even if they are angry.

A feminist undercurrent runs throughout Roza’s storyline. She enters her power as a person with agency, capable of shaping her own future.

“[H]e had to kiss her right away and keep kissing her to prove to himself she wouldn’t disappear like so many other things had.”

Finn is in love with Petey; his way of approaching their first kiss shows how deeply wounded he is. Roza disappeared, his mother left, and his father died. Finn is used to people going away, but he doesn’t want to let Petey go. This moment is something he has wanted and dreamed of for a long time; physical contact keeps it a reality.

“The sour-milk-and-manure smell of the cows came and went with the breeze. Pollen tickled his nose. The grass crunched beneath his feet. The plants could use some rain. The frogs, too. The whole town.”

This description of the town uses the senses—smell, touch, sound, and sight. Ruby uses farm smells and nature to create a rural atmosphere, as if the reader is walking with Finn at night. Ruby avoids glorifying nature by giving realistic descriptions, such as with the manure smell.

“‘I’m sorry,’ Finn mumbled, a global apology for everything he was, and everything he was not, and all the ways he couldn’t let it go. Instead, they let him go, watching as he gathered up his paper bag full of honey and stumbled like a drunk toward home, to the brother he hoped might believe him.”

Finn, once again, wants others to believe in him, to see him as more than some spacey weird kid, to understand he is trying to do the right thing. He feels like a burden to others. His apology reflects his low self-esteem, the way he feels about himself for not being able to save Roza.

“Her schoolwork suffered, her professors wanted to know if anything was wrong, and Roza said no, everything was great, except her roommate was sleeping with a boy who hated girls, which only made her hate herself, and Roza even more.”

Although Honorata gives Roza no reason to be sympathetic, Roza still takes the time to understand her roommate and see her situation with compassion. Roza doesn’t blame Honorata. Instead, she sees Bob’s influence on her, and how much Honorata has internalized a low sense of worth based on her relationships with men. Roza lies about how she feels, saying “everything was great.” This foreshadows Roza’s tendency to put others ahead of herself, like she does when she goes with her kidnapper rather than putting Finn in harm’s way.

“Petey stepped into the diner, blondish hair wild as a thicket, wearing a short white dress that shone like moonlight against her skin. They gaped when she sat on the other side of Finn and gave his arm a squeeze. And such a buzz arose, a murmuring and whispering like the incessant yapping of the corn, that Finn wished he had never asked her here, wished he had never been so stupid as to think the people of Bone Gap would see her, see him, see the two of them the way Finn himself did.”

The buzz in the diner alludes to the buzzing of bees. It also illustrates the theme of Appearance Versus. Identity. The town assumes Finn is taking advantage of Petey and fail to see what they have together. Although Finn has face blindness, the town is also blinded by rumors and speculation. Their buzzing, so unrelenting, reminds him of the corn, the way it talks to him.

“The man let out a long and heavy sigh, as if he’d been in this situation many times before and couldn’t believe it was happening again. He put a heavy hand on Finn’s shoulder. ‘You are young, but you will learn. Beautiful women lie, just because they can. It’s a sickness, really.’”

Roza’s kidnapper claims to be her husband and says he’s tired of tracking her down. Finn figures out that Roza doesn’t want to go once she’s in the car, and this moment haunts him. He can picture the way the man moved and remember what he said. However, Finn can’t give an accurate physical description, and the police don’t take him seriously.

“I look like a giant bee. And that’s why you can tell it’s me. And that’s why you’re here.” 

Petey incorrectly assumes that Finn cares for her because, unlike with other people, he can recognize her face. This negates Finn’s agency and makes it seem like his disability dictates his feelings. Petey’s beliefs don’t come from a malicious place; they stem from her insecurities. She thinks the only way someone could love her is if there is something “wrong” with them. While Finn has face blindness, there is nothing wrong with him or his feelings for Petey. It doesn’t make his love for her any less legitimate, and this is what frustrates Finn. Petey must learn this lesson—that she is a person worth loving and that no one is defined by their disability.

“But wasn’t that love? Seeing what no one else could? And yet if it wasn’t enough for her that she was beautiful to him, if she couldn’t believe him…and who would?”

Finn has an emotional awareness that no one, including Petey in this moment, gives him credit for. Petey assumes he doesn’t know his own feelings, which hurts Finn. Ever since Roza disappeared, Finn has suffered from people not believing him, and Petey reopens an old wound. These lines explore the theme of Appearance Versus Identity—to love someone is to really see them for who they are inside. Finn’s understanding of love mirrors Roza’s; both want someone to listen to them and see them for who they are.

“If he tried, if he really tried, could he remember his own face?” 

Finn grapples with the prospect that he’s not spacey—he actually may have a condition, face blindness. He challenges himself to memorize his own face in the mirror, an incredible task for him. Finn’s condition doesn’t just make it tricky for him to tell people apart; he also has difficulty with people he knows very well, including himself.

“[H]e then took his newly mangled hand and recently mangled leg and limped stiffly from the kitchen, expecting to be followed, expecting to be seized, expecting to be tackled to the dirt, expecting to be beaten within an inch of his life, wanting all of that. But neither he nor Sean would get what they wanted. Sean didn’t believe in Finn, either; Sean let him go.”

Finn wants someone to beat the sense back into him. His hunger for self-harm stems from the guilt he feels for not being able to save Roza, and for feeling like a burden. He also feels like Sean has stopped caring. Fighting takes passion, and he wants his brother to feel for him. Finn knows he’s got to bring Roza back to get his brother back too. This gives him the final push to investigate and put himself in danger.

“Because we don’t have your typical gaps around here. Not gaps made of rocks or mountains. We have gaps in the world. In the space of things. So many places to lose yourself if you believe they’re here.”

Charlie’s explanation of Bone Gap’s magic veers away from the scientific and into magical realism. Charlie doesn’t lean into an almost spiritual truth that people who want to get lost in Bone Gap can. His description appeals to Finn’s sensibilities, as he has been able to hear the corn whispering. He can imagine what Charlie tells him, even though others don’t believe him.

“The color red: why or why not? Not. Her eyes are black as stingers.”

Finn and Petey flirt through college essay prompts. Finn uses this format to convey his romantic feelings for her. He uses humor in crafting a ridiculous prompt, but his meaning is clear: He only has eyes for her. He also uses a simile, comparing her eyes to those of bee stingers.

“She hadn’t allowed herself to think of him too much, because thinking of him made her sigh and the man would ask her about it, and he would touch her and she would remember the way she had touched Sean, and the sadness would grip her throat the way the icy-eyed man gripped her throat, and the touching would get mixed up in her head until the thought of anyone touching her ever again would make her want to rip off her own skin.”

Even in dire circumstances, Roza holds onto hope for Sean. She still loves him but has to mask her feelings. The kidnapper refuses to see what she really wants and who she is, forcing his wants upon her. The man traumatizes Roza; her feeling of wanting to rip her own skin off shows how uncomfortable she is in her body. This foreshadows her willingness to disfigure herself and cut her skin.

“Or something like that.”

This refrain repeats in the final chapter, showing how rumors fly in Bone Gap as people weave stories about events they didn’t witness. This repetition has a folk-like quality to it, mirroring the way stories get spun.