Rule of the Bone

Rule Of The Bone is a 1995 novel by Russell Banks. It is a bildungsroman about the 14-year-old American narrator, Chappie, later dubbed Bone , who, after having dropped out of school, turns to the guidance of a Rastafarian Jamaican migrant worker. The novel is split into two halves, the first of which concerns his family struggles in America, and the second takes place in Jamaica. Some critics, such as Michiko Kakutani for the New York Times, describe the book as descending from other novels about rebellious teens, such as J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye and Mark Twain's Adventures of... Huckleberry Finn [New York Times review, May 19, 1995]. The book contains frank descriptions of drug use such as marijuana and methamphetamine and sexual abuse by the narrator's stepfather, which, coupled with the young age of the narrator, has contributed to the book's controversy. Chapman Dorset is the protagonist of the book. He is a 14-year-old drug dealer living in upstate New York with his mother and his abusive stepfather. He runs away from home to live with his best friend and a biker gang.
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