The Bone Sparrow

by Zana Fraillon

[nannah]

I had gone into The Bone Sparrow thinking it was based on a true story (I was convinced, in fact, before I started it. But though it’s pure fiction, it really is impactful in its own right. And there are elements of magical realism, which I really loved, and lifted the book out of some of its more harsh moments (especially since it’s middle grade).

Content warnings:
- lots and lots of abuse
- lt’s also hinted that boys are sometimes raped when housed with the older single men (in 1-2 scenes this is mentioned, but the word “rape” is never used)
- disturbing imagery (aka sewing mouths shut)
- some intense violence
- age-difference (pedophilia) romance in one of the stories in Jimmie's mother's book

Representation:
- Subhi and his family are Rohingya (Muslims from Burma/what’s now Myanmar, people who are - from what I learned in the afterward - the most persecuted people on Earth) --> also, Goodreads summary, really? "his mother and sister fled the violence of a distant homeland"? Really??

Subhi is a Rohingya refugee born in an Australian detention center, where he lives with his mother and sister, and awaits his father’s arrival. Though Subhi has only known what’s inside the fences, at night his father sends gifts from the outside to him through what Subhi calls the “Night Sea”, a storm of magic and whales the size of countries. As long as he has the Night Sea, he has a connection to his father. But when Subhi’s best friend joins a hunger strike, and when a girl intrudes on both the detention center and Subhi’s life, Subhi’s world becomes uncomfortably bigger. He’ll have to confront what’s going on in the center, his fears, and truths he’s buried too deep.

Right away, I was surprised at the beautiful writing; it wasn’t what I expected for a middle grade book (not that all middle grade writing is poor! This is just based on my recent experience with the genre in the past year). Middle grade fiction can still be beautiful and lyrical! Case in point: The Bone Sparrow.

It also tells the story from an interesting PoV: as Subhi's sister and friend are trying to get people to notice what’s going on in the detention center (strikes, contacting newspapers secretly), his own storyline itself doesn’t. The plot is involved with it because Subhi's connected to the people who are, but his plotline is a lot more personal, dealing with family, friends, and how his own life changes directly due to everything else going on inside the center. It’s a very childlike view of something enormous like that -- and it also helps to connect the dots for the book’s most impactful (but most awful) scene. It’s very difficult to say everything without spoiling too much …

While this all was beautiful, I wasn’t as fond of the girl who came to the detention center (and changed everything), Jimmie. Though she presented the story with a lot of magical realism, it was way too tough to suspend my disbelief. Even when they rebuilt the fences around the detention center (like ... even layers of fences), she would be able to find a way through them? Her character wasn’t particularly likable either, and she didn’t really seem to care much about other people. I don’t know … she kind of soured my reading experience.

But! All in all a beautiful middle grade novel, and definitely an important one (especially the bit about how all those guards, no matter how they seem nice, are pretty much all either rotten people or cowards who will do nothing when push comes to shove. Sorry! Had to say it. The book did, too).