Bone & Bread Pages 1 - 139 (Did I really pick the saddest book of all time?)

Hello everyone! It's your favorite blogger back again recapping another one of the books I have read this year. This time around we're gonna be talking about Bone & Bread. A very intense novel, it most certainly isn't for the casual reader. I've only started reading, but so far I literally cannot remember a section of the reading that entailed the slightest bit of happiness. However, books are not rated based on their grade of happiness but rather how well they are written (otherwise this book would be like -10 out of 5 stars).

Very sad book right here

The book opens to a sentence that hints towards the type of mood the novel would follow, it reads "If you listen, you can almost hear the sound of my son's heart breaking" (Nawaz 1). The narrator at this time (Beena) says this in describing the sound of the dull clanking of the lawnmower. I immediately began to pity Beena as I've known people who struggle with depression (it becomes very evident Beena does as well throughout the chapter) and I can understand how hard it is to separate yourself from the mindset that comes with the illness. A few pages later the gloomy mood continues as Nawaz writes "What we could see from our balcony was bounded by the roofs of other buildings .... to a grey glow in every distance" (15-16). It is not often the word glow is described grey (usually very bright happy color) but this merely emphasizes the glumness of the novel by this point, you know what you're in for, a novel I've begun to call "the onion chopper" definition: a strongly sentimental novel that causes tears. We're in for a sad one ladies and gents.

Soooooo many tears ;((((

In terms of the content of the novel it opens with Beena, one of the two sisters in the novel. She begins to recite many depressing things that she believes to be partially or entirely her fault she writes things such as "That's the sound of him blaming me" (Nawaz 2) and "But we both knew that I hadn't been invited" (4). These writings from Beena along with the readers realization during one of her flashbacks that Sadhana (her sister) passes away begin to shape Beena as a very self blame type person. This means that if there is not an exact person of thing to blame a situation on Beena often blames herself. As one could believe, this is very unhealthy and seems to be leading Beena to a dangerous state of Depression, if she hasn't already reached it.

Even more sadness

The book then fades into more tragedy as we learn of the passing of Papa (their father) to sudden heart failure. This makes me even sadder as if anything symbolized happiness in this novel it was the sisters Papa, who maybe symbolically suddenly dies in tragic fashion. Not long after this Beena's mother becomes more and more worn down by the day and Beena ponders "I wondered if she was afraid something else bad was going to happen" (Nawaz 31). This is then immediately confirmed in the burning of the childhood home. Described as "The fire came in like a stray dog, slinking up the stairs as we slept, dragging its empty belly along the floor and blackening the walls with its grey dirty hide" (32). At first, I thought the fire was meant to symbolize a new beginning in the form of cleansing the family of all their past tragedies (burning away the past, if you get what I mean). This was short live however as the reader then learns about the passing of Mama (the sister's mother). It simply seems as though the tragedy never ends. Something I could all too well relate to was Sadhana's nervousness around a fire. Never letting Beena light candles and always checking the oven to assure it is off. I too was terrified of fire as a kid and would hate having candles during dinner in fear of them lighting the house on fire. I share this fear of fire as two of my neighboring houses have caught on fire recently and although no one has been hurt the thought of being that scared or panicked in a house engulfed in flames terrifies me similarly to the way it terrifies Sadhana.

Oh my God

That's all for this week guys. Hopefully, stuff starts to brighten up but I have a feeling it won't. Most likely will be a tough read but I'll keep you guys in the loop. Have a good day!

#sadness #BoneandBread