Allison's gift is to craft a story with the acutely sensitive eye of a child. Bone sees everything, and tells everything, which is why this is an extraordinary portrait of coming of age, full of the complexities of mother-child relations, growing bewilderment with one's body, sexual awakening, self-doubt, and all this in the context of southern poverty, which also makes this a remarkable example of regional writing.

The sexual abuse of Bone at the hands of her stepfather presents a portrait of this phenomenon that is contextual, culturally situated, and uncensored via Bone's own lived experience, which makes it a particularly important perspective for a fuller understanding of the experience. It also raises difficult questions about the relationship between the mother, the abuser, and the abused child that is much more fully developed and nuanced than psychologized accounts. The novel was a National Book Award finalist.