Thank you Text Publishing for this book in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:

A wild ride for young adults through the small-town agonies of adolescence, packed with sex, drugs, love and hip hop.

Bones Carter spends much of his time trying to avoid germs and the school bully Chase Barnes. Then he meets Naya Kajang, a new exchange student. Naya is brilliant, black and beautiful—and wants to free the world of prejudice.

She thinks Bones is a well of untapped potential. Bones thinks she’s a bit lame. But she makes him feel something he didn’t think he could.

A hilarious and touching debut full of oddball humour and incredible heart.

Review:

Again, I stick to my theory that blue books are amazing. I finished the hilarious and fun book, Bones Land by Brendan Lawley and it did not disappoint. It was actually a breath of fresh air and one of my favourite reads this year. And before I get carried away telling you why this book needs to be on your bookshelf, read, loved and reread; I just want to point out that Lawley is an Australian author. It is honestly wonderful picking up a book, falling in love page after page and then finding out that this book was writing by an Australian. If you do not already know, I am a massive support of Australian writers and I cannot wait to see what else Lawley creates.

This is book is based around a high school student Bones who suffers from anxiety, crazy levels of OCD when it comes to hygiene and the quiet guy out of his group of friends. Other than that Bones seems to be the typical aussie lad, hanging out in Melbourne and seeing a rapper in a dingy bar and thinking that his group he friends would one rap be a rap sensation taking the world by storm. That is until Bones meets Naya, an exchange student who has similar interests as our main character and you get to watch their young, lustful and vibrant interaction. This would have to be one of the first contemporary books that I could relate to, could be the fact that I grew up in Australia and would catch the train to the city on a school night to see a concert. I found the characters so powerful, true to themselves and creative, they took me on an adventure down memory lane.

However, I have to admit what I loved about the book and Lawley’s brilliant writing style is purely the fact that these teenage boys, speak and act like teenage boys. It was honestly refreshing; you usually get contemporary high school drama from a girl’s perspective where all you get is P’s and Q’s, but the boys in Bones Land hold nothing back. They talk about girls they want to get with, they swear over the small stuff and they build themselves up and portray themselves as the tough big dogs. Not many authors dare to let their characters get this relaxed, let loose and behave like actual teenage boys. I love how genuine it is, there is no sugar coating on how these young men talk. Bravo Lawley, that takes guts and you should get credit where credit is due, you get an applause from me.

Overall I loved all the characters, they were bright, realistic and pretty darn aussie (if you ask me). Thought I have to admit the main bully, who fondly enough was named Shitty (and yes that was his name!) was not one of my favourites, he was the typically brown nose bully who I constantly had the urge to punch throughout the whole book. The whole bully persona really edged into my skin and I could not stop hating him! However, that would come down to how brilliantly he was written.

I found the pace of the book consistent and there was never any parts that were greater than others and I didn’t find myself bored at all. Lawley’s writing style was perfect and captivating and he really captured the small town feel for country Victoria, which took me back to all the times I used to spend in the country. Small, comforting but with nothing to do but talk shit. Lawley, I believe, is also on the mark on how young men/teenage boys should be written. I find it unbelievably frustrating when young male characters are constantly betrayed as sweet innocent guys when they truly aren’t. Ever heard the saying, ‘boys will be boys?’ That’s because young boys will muck around, get into fights, break the limit and talk a lot of crap. It’s what young boys do. Always have and always will, again it’s great to finally see it captured.

Overall, I can understand why this book has been shortlisted for the Text Prize, it is brilliant, realistic and one of my favourite contemporaries I have ever read and probably will ever read. I am already waiting to see what Lawley comes up with next!!

Rating: 4.5/5

Publisher: Text Publishing

ISBN: 9781925603585