STARRED Book Review: Bones Picked Clean

Reviewed by Samantha Hui

An Appalachian love story that explores the truth of cryptids and complexity of the human spirit

Jen Poteet’s Bones Picked Clean is a love letter to nature and Appalachia. The story interweaves idiomatic expressions and superstitions into fresh, new characters who feel familiar to the reader yet completely, charmingly unique. The book offers a sympathetic look at the brutality of nature that also gives back in return and, similarly, the disappointment of some people who ultimately serve a meaningful purpose in our lives. 

“‘Just because your heart was meant for something other than what someone else planned for you, did not make you useless.’”

In the woods of Appalachia, this story begins and ends with Chicory living in Granny’s house on Dark Holler Lane. Chicory is whip smart, kind, and fusses over the ones she loves in the same way her Gran did for her.

Chicory wards off evil in the ways passed down to her from Gran: pouring salt in doorways, burying hair, nailing railroad spikes on the corners of properties. Her peculiarities draw her to her equally unique friends: Hawk, a boy from the Cherokee tribe who loves as hard as he fights; bookish Loretta who was forced to be a caretaker too early in her life; and Emory, who is fascinated by cryptids and fiercely loyal to nature and his loved ones. 

“‘But just take care, and listen what I tell you. These woods, they are a tricky sort, and for all their bounty, there is just as much around here can make you sick. So, you learn what not to take and what not to eat as well.’”

At one point, Chicory is described as feeling as empty as a skeleton with its “bones picked clean.” The image is despairingly violent, but there is also a sense of natural reciprocity. Though the body has died, it has returned back to nature, having fed its wild animals.

This book deals with cycles and returns. The evil that has been wronged will seek revenge in turn; life moves to death back to life and so on; the summation of all the successes and failures in life will bring Chicory exactly where she needs to be at that time. 

“Akin to the cycle of life and death, time moved in a cyclical nature with the seasons.”

Each chapter is titled with a different idiom or catchphrase such as “There’s a Fox in the Henhouse,” “Beggars Can’t Be Choosers,” and “Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire.” In the way that Gran passed down sayings, superstitions, and practices to Chicory, with each chapter, it feels as if the reader also learns a new message.

Additionally, the characters have chance encounters with cryptids that the characters refer to as “Moon-Eyed People” or “Not Deer.” Though these dangerous creatures attack the characters and recur throughout the story, they are regarded as another kind of wild animal as opposed to major threats in the plot. I enjoyed this detail, because it suggested that even these dangers have a place in the world. 

“Most of those creatures followed the Trail of Tears feeding off the pain and sadness of the People. What had been done to them was so awful, that no matter where one’s feet were planted, that ground had been stolen, and those who came to understand that, felt deeply the pain and sadness.”

Bones Picked Clean is a tenderly written ode to Appalachian life that can be enjoyed in a single sitting. The chapters are poetic in their brevity, and the characters are charming and sympathetic. Together, Chicory and her friends navigate a tumultuous world that guarantees nothing but hardship, but ultimately offers the hope of connection and love. 

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