cover image Places in the Bone: A Memoir

Places in the Bone: A Memoir

Carol Dine, . . Rutgers Univ., $22.95 (192pp) ISBN 978-0-8135-3658-3

Poet Dine (Naming the Sky ) traces her history as an abused child and a cancer survivor in this intense but uneven memoir. Writing in journal form, Dine reveals the emotional and physical scars caused by her father's abuse when she was a young child in the 1950s. The weight of his beatings, known to her sister and mother yet not acknowledged by either of them, follows Dine into adulthood as she relinquishes custody of her own child for fear of continuing the cycle of violence. Her struggles persist as she is diagnosed with breast cancer, which, after a mastectomy and period of remission, spreads, increasing Dine's fear as she recalls her dying aunt's warning about her family's history with cancer, telling Dine that "this is how the girls in our family end up." Despite abusive boyfriends, extensive operations and treatments for her cancer, and a strained relationship with her son, Dine pursues her writing career, from studying with Anne Sexton to fellowships at Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony. While her message of strength and survival is clear, Dine's use of flashbacks fails as a narrative thread by creating confusion instead of clarity, and weakens an otherwise powerful chronicle. (Oct.)