Bones & All by Camille DeAngelis- book and film review
By Hannah Dwyer
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*** Spoiler Alerts***
Duh.
Bones & All novel by Camille DeAngelis is one of the best coming of age horrors in the 21st century that will leave you haunted and hungry for more. The story follows Maren who discovered that she is an eater- someone who likes the taste of human flesh-at a young age. Spending most of her life on the run with her mother, Maren wakes up one day to find that her mother has abandoned her as she feels that now Maren is 16, she should take care of herself, but Maren’s mother is unable to carry the secret burden of Maren’s dietary requirements and be a mother to a cannibalistic daughter anymore. In response to this, Maren goes out to look for her father through rural America to find her estranged father to get answer on who (or what) she is.
At the core of this cannibalistic story, is symbolic journey of becoming a woman and finding her identity. On her travels she encounters other cannibals, including a young man named Lee. Lee helps Maren to navigate her desires and find a sense of belonging but also helps her with the psychological implications of cannibalism and the idea of what ‘family’ really means. Maren does find her dad, who has purposely locked himself away in a mental asylum to protect anyone from what he is, and she is left feeling like she is destined to remain alone and unable to satisfy her need to consume. On her travels, Maren meets an older eater called Sully. His dark, mysterious and ominous presence is a potential mirror image for Maren impending loneliness if she doesn’t find a sense of belonging in her life. In a shocking twist we find out that Sully is Maren’s grandfather, who purposing produces offspring so that he can one day eat them which explains why Maren feels a connection towards Sully from the beginning. As Maren’s father is locked away, Sully settles to consume Maren instead before he is defeated by Lee. In the end, Maren must confront her desires for human flesh and the consequences of her actions. Maren seals her fate by consuming Lee on the only night that they shared a bed with each other, representing that Maren cannot overcome her desires of human flesh but she has accepted this part of her.
However, the film adaptation that stars Taylor Russell (Maren) Timothée Chalamet (Lee), major changes were made. Instead of Maren being abandoned by her mother when she turns 16, she is left by her father (played by André Holland) and she goes in search of her mother (played by Chloe Sevigny). This gender swap is extremely significant when we consider that cannibalism is a metaphor for female puberty and sexual desire; it therefore blames Maren’s unquenchable desire on the mother and/ or lack of a motherly presence in her upbringing. Furthermore, the second biggest change made in the film adaptation was how Lee died. In the book, Lee and Maren spend their first (and consequently last) last wrapped in each other’s arms before Maren is overcome by his scent and she eats him. However, in the film Lee is fatally injured when saving Maren from Sully. Lee asks for Maren to eat him ‘bones and all’ so they can be connected forever. I believe this change of ending was just a ploy to appease to the audience who would have flocked to the cinema to see Mr Chalamet in action. Lee becomes a hero for Maren in the film instead of a symbolic tool for Maren to use to find acceptance for what she is. I truly think the producers couldn’t just allow Mr Chalamet to be eaten without a heroic reason, which is sad because the film ends with Maren grieving a great lost when the book ending was highlighting that Maren has actually found her identity.
I give the book 7/10 and the film 6/10 (the ending p*** me off.
