Crisped Summary of Heart Bones:
Heart Bones is a Contemporary romance novel. The story covers the life of two young characters Beyah and Samson. The two meet on the beach where Beyah has come to stay with her father. Samson, (she gets from her step-sister) is just another rich boy staying in the neighborhood.
The two fall in love but as with most romances, it gets complicated. Beyah soon realizes that Samson is holding back a lot of information about his family and origin. Hoover injects a twist and reverses the status of Samson from being extremely rich to pathetically poor. He has been concealing the truth about his background all summer from Beyah and his friends. He is more of an intruder who breaks into the homes of different people and takes refuge.
By the end of Heart Bones, police arrests Samson for his crimes and Beyah leaves for college. They finally meet when Samson gets out. There is a very convincing happily ever after which Hoover creates for her characters.
Plot Analysis of Heart Bones:
The story starts when 19 years old Beyah’s drug addict mother dies and she has to move with her father who is pretty rich now. He takes her to a beach house and on the way she meets 21 years old Samson. Once she reaches the beach house, she meets her adorable 20 years old step-sister Sara, his boyfriend Marcos, and the mysterious rich neighbor – Samson.
As the plot unfolds, Hoover throws in details about Samson; a sudden encounter with his friend who calls him Shawn, his affection for a random man Rake, and his emphasis on Darya who broke his heart.
Beyah soon realizes that Darya is not the girl but the sea itself. The sea is a living character in the novel. It is like a friend, a consoler, and even a place called home. When Beyah discovers Samson’s diary, she reads a poem by Rake Bennet that says,
‘when a man says I’m going home,
he should be heading for the sea.’
She also realizes that Rake is not a random person but Samson’s father and Samson is not a rich kid, but a poor helpless child.
Samson suffers the consequences of his actions and goes to jail for arson and breaking in. However, Beyah never loses faith in him. When Samson gets out of jail, they start a newly reformed life together.
The storyline is a typical romance but the plot is quite well-knitted and beautifully composed together to make it all appear exquisite. The typical love story turns out to be quite epic.
Art of Characterization in Heart Bones:
Hoover’s characters are always beautiful in a different way. In Heart Bones, the characters are beautiful because they are damaged. Their tragedies make them exquisite.
Beyah, the protagonist is a strong 19 years old girl who is a victim of poor parenting. She wonders,
‘what kind of upbringing is worse for humans. The kind where you’re sheltered and loved to the point that you aren’t aware of how cruel the world can be until it’s too late to acquire the necessary coping skills or the kind of household I grew up in. The ugliest version of a family, where coping is the only thing you learn.’
She is the strongest and undoubtedly the most mature character in the novel. The reader mostly gets her perspective of things which is very profound.
The second leading character is Samson who has come from a loving but poor family. His experiences are not much different from Beyah’s. He is a strong character as well but he is not as developed as Beyah. Samson mostly contradicts his character which is a turn-off. He is a poor kid but he criticizes wealth so easily that it makes his character unreal. Beyah on the other hand openly accepts the importance of money, love, and every other thing she lacks in life. Samson behaves as if nothing really matters to him much which is weird and contradictory since he is trying to copy the lifestyle of his rich friends.
The minor characters are Beyah’s parents Brian and Janean, her stepmother Alana, her step-sister Sara and his boyfriend Marcos. Samson’s father Rake and few more from Beyah’s hometown. Hoover does not develop these characters much but they surely support the leading characters in different ways.
Themes in Heart Bones:
Theme of Parenthood:
Heart Bones covers multiple themes but the most striking one is the theme of parenthood. Hoover deals with parenthood in a very unique manner. She explores the weaknesses and frailties of parents which is very unusual since parents are often admirable and justified. Beyah says,
‘Most kids get the kind of parents that’ll be missed after they die. The rest of us get the kind of parents who make better parents after they’re dead. The nicest thing my mother has ever done for me is die.’
Hoover does not make her characters simply pass such harsh comments, she justifies every such comment through her plot-line. The theme of good vs bad parents is very much apparent in the novel and so are its effects on the personalities of characters.
Theme of Darkness:
Hoover also discusses the theme of darkness (in terms of character) in Heart Bones. She reveals that sometimes the darkness consumes the human mind in such a way that he can simply not get out of it. It does not make him a bad person but it surely makes him wrong for people in his life in so many different ways. She also acknowledges that it is not possible for everybody to get rid of this darkness. She says,
‘when you’re worst of people, finding the worst in others becomes a survival tactic of sorts. You focus heavily on the darkness in people in hopes of masking the true shades of your own darkness.’
However, few characters like Beyah and Samson learn to get up from the same darkness. Hoover is realistic in acknowledging that sometimes leading a positive life is possible for a few and sometimes it’s simply not as in the case of Beyah’s mother.
Other Themes:
Heart Bones also deals with the theme of first love, heart breaks, and human emotions which is a cliché when it comes to contemporary romance.
Symbolism in the Title:
The title hides an entirely different thematic perspective in it. Hoover suggests that some people grow heart bones which makes their hearts vulnerable. Beyah asks Samson at one point,
‘If there’s nothing inside a heart that can break, why does it feel like mine is going to snap in half when it’s time for me to move next month? Does your heart not feel like that?‘
To this, he says,
‘It does. Maybe we both grew heart bones.’
The title, therefore, deals with the conventional theme of heartbreak in an unconventional way. It acts as a symbol for the hearts that have the audacity to get broken in an actual sense of the word. The paradox of the title adds extra beauty to it, the bones refer to strength and the reader may presume from the title that it is about people with strong hearts. But, in fact, it refers to those who have broken hearts.
Concluding Remarks:
Heart Bones is a beautiful read on a summer day. It is not something you can look up to for deep and profound knowledge but it surely makes you remember your first love. The beauty, the innocence, the honesty, and the truthfulness of that first experience will flash upon your mind while reading this book.
Who should grab Heart Bones!
The book is a must-read for someone who intends to explore contemporary English Literature. It gives you an easy and comprehensible view of it. Heart Bones is not something you can use to evaluate contemporary literature but it surely gives you a slight glimpse. It should especially be read by beginners because it has easy language and a feasible plot. It is also recommended if you are looking for something which is linguistically simple but beautiful.
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If you are into non-fiction, check out my review of a Non-fiction book Tuesdays with Morrie.