Milkman is a darkly funny experimental novel set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. No Bones at first glance reads like more of the same; we follow Amelia Lovett as she grows up from a young girl in the 1960s to an adult in the 1990s. Living in Northern Ireland, during the Troubles. But the overlap stops there.
No Bones is very much a first novel; experimental in parts, but pretty conventional in style and plot. The characters have names, there is proper dialogue, the story moves continuously forward through chapters which have descriptive titles and timestamps. There are smatterings of experimentalism; each chapter reads like a short story in itself, with changing perspectives and subject matter, some of which are only six pages long while another deals with the ravings of a madman for more than 40 pages. The author clearly hadn't found her voice yet, but the bones (yes) were starting to show. Speaking of bones, there is a reference to bones in every novel, always in a different context. Apart from Amelia, it is one of the few things that really binds these chapters together.
So how did I like it, this long awaited pearl? I'm in two minds about it. I really liked some parts, such as the haunting chapter with young Catholics having to walk home from the pub through a Protestant area, continuously looking over their shoulders, not sure when or where trouble will strike, with some not making it to the other end. I thought that chapter beautifully written, with the suspense but also the acceptance of life being like that in that area during those days. But then the descriptions of the crazed out Lovett family members, stark exaggerations of people who have been living through this madness, went a touch too far sometimes. Trauma theory would probably explain a lot of it, but during those parts I sort of zoned out, as there was no way to connect with these characters as they were going through their unrealistic (self) destructive motions. This includes Amelia herself, sadly. The chapters of her as a child are great, depicting the wonderment with which she looks at the world, hides her 'treasures' from her siblings, and accepts the violence she is growing up with. But as soon as she is old enough, she too falls into the aggressive, destructive behaviour everyone around her has. Again, given the circumstances this is probably to be expected, but it doesn't make for a great bond with the character. So some chapters, especially in the first half of the novel, were great. The rest not so much. No character really stuck by me, as none of them really develop into something you can relate to. No plot twists, nothing is resolved in the end. It sort of sputters out.
Like Milkman, it is one of the few depictions of life during the Troubles I've read, and as such it has value in itself. But as a novel, as a literary work, I prefer the later novel, which is so much better written. I'm glad to have read it though, for it shows the development of Anna Burns as a writer. Earlier novels are usually disappointing after first reading the novel that won a big prize. If you have the chance, read them in the right order around and be amazed at how much progress she made.
