Bastard Out of Carolina

by Dorothy Allison

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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5,175	119	2,072	(4.02)	179
Bone, an illegitimate child in a family of social outcasts, sees her mother's happiness with her new husband and will not tell when the stepfather begins abusing her in the 1950s.

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▾Lists

Southern Fiction (9)

Best Lesbian Fiction (And Narrative Non-Fiction) (11)

500 Great Books by Women (46)

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▾Member reviews

English (118) Swedish (1) All languages (119)

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Showing 1-5 of 118 (next | show all)

Extraordinary. This book peeled me like a fruit. (

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localgayangel | Mar 5, 2024 |

Just seemed too depressing

ritaer | Jan 30, 2024 |

great depiction of fucked up families, the South and much more, will rattle one's own memories of childhood (

)

betty_s | Nov 27, 2023 |

Devastating. There is no happy ending here, despite the hard won knowledge that comes from trauma. The juxtaposed characterization of Aunt Raylene with Mama points towards some hope, or at least wisdom. Mama thinks she can "fix" Daddy Glen through her love. This is false hope, as the cycles of violence and abuse are not stopped by her care for him. Raylene lives alone, a life of her choosing, but takes in the "strays" of the Boatwright family. She loves herself enough to be able to love others. Self-hatred leads only to codependency. There are so many finely wrought details here of what a life of poverty in the South looks like. (

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jonbrammer | Jul 1, 2023 |

Very very good but hard to read because it was so intense and bad things happen (

)

Ermonty | Dec 19, 2022 |

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▾Other authors

» Add other authors (4 possible)

Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Allison, Dorothy	Author	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Kaye, Michael Ian	Cover designer	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Lange, Dorothea	Photographer	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Stathakis, Steven N.	Designer	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Contains

Two or Three Things I Know for Sure by Dorothy Allison

Has the adaptation

Bastard Out of Carolina [1996 film] by Anjelica Huston

Has as a student's study guide

A Study Guide for Dorothy Allison's "Bastard Out of Carolina" by Elizabeth Thomason

▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Bay Area Reviewers Award (Fiction)

National Book Award (Longlist – Fiction – 1992)

Publishing Triangle Awards (Winner – Ferro–Grumley Award for Lesbian Fiction – 1993)

Notable Lists

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▾Common Knowledge

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Canonical title

Original title

Bastard out of Carolina

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1992-04-10

People/Characters

Ruth Anne Boatwright (Bone)

Important places

Greenville, South Carolina, USA

South Carolina, USA

Important events

Related movies

Bastard Out of Carolina (1996 | IMDb)

Epigraph

People pay for what they do, and still more, for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay for it simply: by the lives they lead.

—James Baldwin

Dedication

For Mama
Ruth Gibson Allison
1935–1990

First words

I've been called Bone all my life, but my name's Ruth Anne.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Kingsolver, Barbara

McCrary Boyd, Blanche

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (3)

Bastard out of Carolina

Chifforobe

File:Bastard Out of Carolina movie.jpg

▾Book descriptions

Bone, an illegitimate child in a family of social outcasts, sees her mother's happiness with her new husband and will not tell when the stepfather begins abusing her in the 1950s.

▾Library descriptions

No library descriptions found.

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

This book is fiction, but it comes so real with the feeling of an amateur autobiography. The author is so descriptive, she takes you to the time and place and puts you right there watching it all happen. It was a very captivating, but sad story.

Removed from the Mt. Abram High School English classes in Salem, Maine (1996) because the language and subject matter (incest and rape) were inappropriate for fifteen-year-olds.

Haiku summary