Bones & All

Janelle, Maren’s mother, leaves when Maren is 16 years old and leaves a note telling Maren that she loves her but can no longer protect her. This abandonment causes new, intense grief for Maren. Does Janelle love her daughter? In what ways is Janelle a sympathetic character?

Despite her intentions and desires, Maren is locked into a continual cycle of killing, eating, hiding, and a life on the move. Does Maren have free will, or is she doomed to spend her life in the cycle of violence and disconnection? Can she ever change? Why or why not?

After her mother abandons her, Maren finds her father, Frank, in the hopes that he will provide answers, stability, and proof that someone in her family can value her. Instead, Frank is hospitalized and medicated beyond coherence. How do Maren’s father, mother, and grandfather, Sully, affect her future and her self-image?

Why does Maren identify so strongly with fairy tales, even though she does not believe she can have—or that she deserves—a happy ending?

Maren and Lee commit monstrous acts, but they are driven by instinct and appetite, not cruelty, indifference to others, or sadism. However, characters like Barry, Travis, and Lee’s mother’s abusive boyfriends are depicted as horrible people. Why does Camille DeAngelis choose to make the cannibals the novel’s most sympathetic characters? Is the story pessimistic about humanity in general? Why or why not?

When the novel concludes, Maren has evaded capture. If Bones & All was a fairy tale, what would the moral of the story be? Is it possible that there is no moral? Explain your reasoning.

Discuss the significance that Lee plays in Maren’s life during their brief time together. In what ways are they similar? How are they different? Why does he let her kill him?

Why does Travis, Frank’s orderly, fixate on Frank and Maren? What does he want from her, and why does she refuse?

Maren usually eats young men who attempt to seduce her. How does Maren’s experience with boys reflect the sexual progression found in many coming-of-age novels? Considering the novel’s cliffhanger ending, is Maren capable of physical intimacy without killing? Why or why not?