Reading Response 09/29

In the book Outside the Bones by Lyn Di Lorio who just like the main character Fina, is of Puerto Rican decent. The story is a first person narrative point of view that takes place in New York City where Di Lorio also resides; this further empowers the description in the novel because she’s been in the settings firsthand. One of the techniques I have noticed throughout the book is that Di Lorio spelled out sounds to describe what is being heard. “Rapapap. It was coming from next to me, but I couldn’t see what was making the sound. Instead of running, my hips swayed, one leg stepped forward and I started to dance, Rapa my hip, Papap, my breast, Papap, my legs. Rapapapapap curling in my body. Rapapapapapap”(72). The word Rapapap was used to describe the rattling sound being made that Fina hears. Another example of this was “Taca, taca, taca”(65). To describe the squeaking noise heard upstairs.

Throughout the book, it could be noticed that there are less focus on the description of the settings, but it’s focused more on the people who are in the environment, despite that, the description of the people are able to give the readers some insight on what the place might look like. When coming to Isis’ birthday party, Fina observed the place, she narrated:

At the spot Chico had set up for Isis’ birthday party, I noticed an old lady, maybe Jewish, with cropped hair and cat-eye glasses reading a book on one of the park benches, next to a raisin haired mulatto listening to his iPod. If the old lady had been passing through the projects, she would have bolted from the mulatto, his five heavy chains and his hands beringed in turquoise, coral and lapis. In the projects, this mean look on his face would’ve been a threat. (56)

This is one example where Di Lorio described the place by describing the people, she described the two completely different people sitting down in harmony, which the readers could interpret the neighborhood as nice and peaceful.

            One of the favorite things that I love in Di Lorio’s book was the constant flashback of Fina’s past to slowly reveal what has happened to his father throughout the book. This built up some mystery and suspense going through the book.