Reading Response 09/29

Outside the bones by Lyn Di Iorio is a novel set mostly in the upper west side of Manhattan and Spanish Harlem. The author uses a first person narrative point of view. My first reaction to the book was that it was going to be scary and only about the dead. As I began to read it, I realized that it was more than that. It is a really interesting and descriptive novel that grabs the reader’s attention and makes us want to keep reading. Di Iorio explores the topics of voodoo, witchcraft, and power. I never knew how voodoo and magic worked but reading this book allowed me to envision how it all happens which is quite interesting.

The main character Fina Mata, who lives in the upper west side is the neighborhood spirit worker. I was able to visualize everything that was going on in the novel like when Fina was angry at her husband Gus for cheating on her. They had a physical encounter where it states, “I grabbed him by both shoulders and tried to lift him up against the wall. I couldn’t do it, but it was, as they say, a brave effort” (Di Iorio 3). After the first chapter, Finas husband does not show up in the story. Di Iorio uses more descriptive scenes where she describes Isis Sandín and states, “No lie. The chick’s face didn’t look any older than when she’d won Miss Universe fifteen years ago. Green eyes, perfect little model’s nose, pulpy lips with just a little touch of gloss on them……and there was a looseness in her arms" (Di Iorio 42). I was able to visualize exactly what she looked like based on her description.

A literary device that Di Iorio also used was the metaphor. An example of this is when Fina states, “The paper grocery bag I was carrying jumped, and I almost dropped it” (Di Iorio 23). I was able to see a picture of that scene happening which helped me understand the text much better.

The author’s style of writing is very easy to understand and that is one of the reasons why I enjoyed reading her novel. The language used amongst the characters was similar to the language we use in today's society. Di Iorio is also from Puerto Rico and lives in the city. It was interesting to see how she used her experiences and her nationality and incorporated it into her novel. She also does a great job using the past and the present together so the reader can understand the characters better. Di Iorio uses flashbacks from Puerto Rico of Fina and Chicos past. We were able to see what they went through before they came to New York. Their past seems to keep resurfacing, especially when voodoo is being done and they can't hide from it.