CW: This novel contains scenes depicting the sexual assault and abuse of a child.

If you grew up in the Deep South, the sound of cicadas and the rustling of Spanish moss in the afternoon wind will be as familiar to you as the air you breathe. If you’re not from the South, and you have no idea what I’m talking about, then pick up Bastard Out of Carolina and you will feel like you’ve spent your entire life in the South Carolina backcountry. Dorothy Allison’s 1992 novel absorbs traditional Southern gothic tropes and repurposes them to create a haunting, bittersweet story that will stick in your brain long after you’ve reached the back cover. The novel focuses on Bone, a young girl who grows up in an impoverished, tight-knit family near Greensboro, South Carolina. Allison creates a world at the beginning of the novel that enfolds you in the smell of Bone’s grandmother’s cooking, the playful screams of her cousins running rampant through the front yard, and the boisterous banter of her many aunts and uncles. In beautifully vivid prose, Dorothy Allison makes you count yourself among the members of Bone’s family after the first few chapters. Her ability to build this world and create characters that feel so real is the strong point of the novel. Continue reading “Dorothy Allison, Bastard Out of Carolina (1992)” →