Bones and All: A Movie and Book Review by Lily Rowell

 In this week's article I will be discussing the book and movie adaptation of Bones and All by Camille DeAneglis. 

TRIGGER WARNING!!

THIS REVIEW IS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC GOING INTO THE DETAILS OF THIS BOOK IN DEPTH, IF YOU ARE DISTURBED BY CANNIBALISM, DEATH, AND OVERALL GORY CONTENT PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW :)

Bones and All while being the most graphic book I’ve ever read, taught me life lessons that no other book has. The book mentions a sense of community and love, stating over and over again that no matter how much of a monster you think you are there's always going to be someone else like you out there. The main premise of both of these stories plots is of a girl named Maren, she grew up “differently” with her mom/dad*. Maren is a cannibal. The story digs deep into this, showing what she feels and thinks and articulating an experience no normal teen would have. The book and movie are two very different plots considering the difference between which parental figure she lives with and how she meets some of the characters in her life.

*In the book she lives with her mom, in the movie she lives with her dad

The book creepily describes Marens thoughts and feelings, keeping you hooked, wondering what she will do/think next whilst the movie portrays these statements. To first understand Maren as a character I must dig deeper into some of her past experiences leading up to the main plot. When Maren was 3 she killed and ate her first person, her babysitter. The description of this scene is different in the movie and book, not making it any less disturbing so I will leave it out for now.  Another one of the biggest scenes that help us readers/watchers get to know Maren is when she meets Sully. Sully is another “eater” yet he's different from the others. Sully doesn’t eat people alive, he eats fresh corpses. After meeting him,  Maren somewhat liked him but at the same time was terrified of him (which I would be too if an old man told me that he could smell me miles away). When Sully invites Maren to eat with him she accepts but somewhat feels guilty for the person she watched die and could have saved. Because of this there is evidence that Maren still cares for the people she kills, she wants to be different but she can’t. Another part of her identity is the fact that her mother/father* is gone from her life, so she tries to find them after her mom/dad leaves her at 16/18*. She feels that they could be an eater like her, wanting to see if her theory is true she sets out on her adventure and tries to find them. This is how she meets Sully and Lee. 

*Her age is also different in the book (16) and in the movie (18)

To conclude, Bones and All is a very interesting and perspective changing book. Without spoiling it I tried to give as much detail as I could to help us readers/watchers maybe understand her character more because it is hard to relate to a human-eating murderer. This book gave me insights on the impact a community can have on you and the familial relationships you bgave in your life can impact your entire future. Overall, this book is a 9/10 and I would highly recommend it for the people that like horror and gore (especially if you want to watch the movie, I had to skip through the ending).