Rule of the Bone cover

Rule of the Bone

by Russell Banks

Chappie, the precociously wise narrator of Rule of the Bone, is a punked-out teenager living in an upstate New York trailer park with his mother and abusive stepfather. Almost accidentally he slips into drugs and petty crime. Rejected by his parents, out of school and in trouble with the police, he drifts through crash pads, doper squats, and malls. With his best friend, Russ, he gets a crossed-bone tattoo on his arm and takes the name "Bone," inventing and claiming for himself a new identity as a permanent outsider.

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Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?