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There are currently 23 member reviews
for Bone River
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Lillian D. (Apache Junction, AZ)
Bone River by Megan Chance: A Review
This book is set in the Pacific Northwest. Lea is the central character. She was trained as an ethnologist by her father. Her father who, at the end of his life, arranged a marriage for her with an older man, Junius, who is also a collector.
I found this book very absorbing and, after I finished it, I wished that the story had continued. Throughout the novel, the reader learns more and more about Lea. I found my frustration with her being tempered by her circumstances. This is a wonderful story about a strong and resilient woman. I would recommend this book to my friends.
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Mark O. (Wenatchee, WA)
Bone River (Megan Chance)
Bone River will be hard to contain, leaping fences from one genre to another. Is it historical fiction? paranormal romance? a novel of ideas? The setting is late frontier on the Pacific Northwest coast, Native American cultures giving way to small settlements. The main cast is small (three men and a woman) but the bays, tides, rivers, oyster beds and rain make place a fifth character. The plot broods, becoming atmospheric and closed in, distant kin to Wuthering Heights. Fortunately, while the plot is slow simmering, there are themes to noodle: right-brain/left-brain sensibilities, gender roles, the morality of objective science. We see the story through Leonie and Leonie sees deeply by drawing in her journal. It would be nice to have these drawings, in some future illustrated edition of this book. Water carries the several plot lines along nicely, first revealing, then threatening, and finally washing away.
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Esther L. (Newtown, PA)
Good Historical Fiction
The main character of Bone River, Leonie, is well crafted and I was drawn into discovering her story and her future. When Leonie discovers an Indian mummy she starts having recurring dreams that invade her daily life. While I enjoyed these dreams, I believe that my book club ladies will not feel the same way.
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Helen M. (Petaluma, CA)
Unfolding
Bone River is a very well constructed historical novel which I found fascinating. The author left me wanting to know more about life in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1800's. Life was very hard for Leonie Russell and her family. The unfolding of truth which is central to this book, even harder. What I feel is one of the strongest messages.......listen to your inner truth. Listen. The freedom will be worth it. To watch truth out over the length of the novel was a moving experience. I can also still feel the bite of the rain, the churning of the waves. It was a really good read.
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Marion T. (Palatine, IL)
Bone River
I became lost in this book right from the start. Though slightly dark, it is a good mix of romance and history with a suspenseful twist. The characters were well written and real and the description of the landscape they lived in was so real that I was cold all the way through the book. This will make a wonderful read for a book discussion group, hopefully there will be a discussion guide.
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Mary D. (New johnsonville, Tn)
True escape
Thanks for this opportunity to give my first impression. I always read to escape. My work has enough realism. I love to read a book and forget everything around me. I couldn't wait to get back to reading each time my responsibilities made me stop. There was just the right mix of suspense, romance and history. I look forward to reading more novels by Megan Chance. Sometimes I find myself rushing the ending of a book in order to get to the next one. I always want to be in a story not ending one. That was not possible with this novel. I didn't want to miss anything. Great read.
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Marta T. (Lafayette, CA)
Storyline not quite as satisfying as its promise
Part historical romance set in the second half of the 1800s, part supernatural mystery, Bone River brings to life an isolated, starkly beautiful area of Shoalwater Bay, Washington Territory from the viewpoint of a woman who loves the area and its dying-out native traditions. Leonie seeks, in her father's footsteps, to preserve what remains through the science of the times, ethnography, though she is also caught between reverence for traditional cultures, wanting to meet the expectations for a scientific career despite the handicap of being a woman, the desire for children that would jeopardize that career, and the inability to conceive. The story revolves around her discovery of a mummified body and her husband's insistence on sending it to a collector. Strangely drawn to the mummy, Leonie wants to be the one to discover its secrets, but she is warned off by dreams and conflicting warnings from two natives. Then her husband's long-lost son shows up. The setting and mood are strongly established, though the supernatural messages were repetitious and the mystery predictable.
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