Bone Dance

May 31, 1999
In what PW called an "elegantly wrought tale" that combines fragments of Native American culture, myth and ceremony, two teenagers, strangers to one another, are drawn to an ancient burial ground. Ages 12-up.

September 29, 1997
Fragments of Native American culture, myth and ceremony enhance this evocative tale. The narrative, revolving around an ancient burial ground, alternates between the points of view of two teens on the brink of adulthood: Alexandra Sinclair, who inherits a plot of land from the father she never met; and Lonny LaFreniere, whose memory of the site haunts him. Although the characters remain strangers for most of the novel, the author draws them together through illuminating visions: Alexandra is "visited" by her recently departed grandfather and his companion, old Raven Man, while Lonny has nightmares about the sacred burial mound he desecrated as a child. Directed by the ghosts of their ancestors, the two high schoolers embark on separate spiritual journeys leading them to the same destination. Here, with the help of nature's healing force, they let go of their loneliness and grief. As in her Paradise Cafe and Other Stories, Brooks hints of the existence of predestination and mythical forces, but the philosophical aspects of her book do not overpower her poetic language and sensual imagery ("Sounds of lapping waves on stone, sound of beetle legs on crispy leaf, sound of blood pulsing in ear, sound past silence, sound past sunlight, smell past sunlight, taste past sunlight, taste of ecstasy"). If the plot is slightly drawn out, this eloquently wrought tale still offers much to savor for those who desire a pensive read. Ages 12-up.