Summary Of Bones By Peter Webster

Peter Webster is an EMT who is single handedly raising his teenage daughter, Rowan, after they were abandoned by her alcoholic mother, Sheila. The pretense of the novel is that Rowan is veering off course, drinking with her friends and experimenting with cigarettes, believing that she has a genetic disposition to alcohol because of her mother, and Webster is left to try to put back the pieces of their broken family. Although the idea behind the novel is attractive, the overall product was lacking in execution. The events that occur would never have happened in real life and all of the characters remain relatively the same, with no development throughout the entirety of the book. Webster has spent his entire career rescuing people from his small

town in Vermont; however, I believe that this storyline is what could really use some saving.
The events that take place are highly unlikely, despite the book being categorized as realistic fiction. For example, Rowan is only seventeen years old, and she has already been through numerous life-threatening situations. At one party she attends, there is underage drinking and she ends up cliff jumping as a part of a dare with her friends. “‘Seventeen-year-old unresponsive female needs airlift to Burlington,’ [...] Suspected fractured dislocated right shoulder. Pupils equal and reactive. ETOH. Respirations ten. BP one ten over sixty-four. Not responsive to pain.’” (pg. 238) And later, she is ejected from a car during an accident caused by a drunk driver. “The part of him that still worked as a medic noted the contusions, the facial lacerations, a possible broken wrist from the way it lay. He thought his daughter was in shock. He didn’t like the glassy state. Blood covered her face.” (pg. 146). I believe that the author included so many intense medical situations because they didn’t know how else to maintain the reader’s attention. The book started off very strong and was instantly captivating; however, it fizzled out towards the middle except for the occasional medical crisis thrown in here and there, simply to prevent the reader from abandoning the book.
Secondly, this book is meant to describe the complicated relationships between both strangers and family members; however, the author does not do it very realistically.

The author seemed to force certain interactions in order to advance the plot, although the likelihood of them happening in real life is rare. For example, Webster claims that he never does an “after” call on patients after they have been admitted into the hospital. However, he changes his entire philosophy after saving Sheila. “‘I found something at the site that belongs to the woman,’ he said. ‘I’ll take it,’ the nurse offered. Ordinarily, Webster would have left it at that. ‘I’d like to see her if you don’t mind.’” (pg. 21-22) Because Webster and Sheila come from completely different backgrounds, the author needed a way for them to meet that seemed plausible. However, the chances that a newbie EMT would disregard all rules and procedures just to return an arrested and hospitalized woman her keys, which would eventually cause them to fall in love and start a family, is not completely believable. As a result, it is hard to relate to the characters. If they don’t have authentic interactions with each other and aren’t put into realistic situations, I am not able to put myself in their shoes and understand their

motives.
Finally, the characters do not undergo much development throughout the entirety of the novel.

Webster starts off as a naive probie at Rescue who is completely oblivious about the reality of the world. He somehow comes into contact with Sheila and falls in love with her, although their relationship is short lived. Webster lets his emotions prevent him from seeing clearly, which is one of his main flaws as a character. After Sheila leaves him, you would think that he would have developed as a character and wouldn’t have been so clueless about people and their interests or motives. Personally, I think it was a great opportunity for character growth to show that he has learned his lesson and has matured over the years. However, he continues to make the same mistakes while parenting Rowan by being unable to control his emotions and misjudging her intentions. Webster is faced with similar situations throughout the book, but he responds to each of them in the same manner, resulting in a very flat character without any dynamics. I believe that this lack of development is partially because it is difficult to achieve growth when the characters’ own emotions and actions aren’t genuine. Therefore, the characters’ lack of development, coupled with the unrealistic situations they are placed in, contributed to the lackluster execution of the

novel.
In this novel, the author meant well, but she was unable to execute it the way she intended. I believe that Webster’s profession as an EMT was only included to add some drama to the storyline. Without it, the plot would be just as flat as the characters. I think that there were plenty of opportunities for character development that the author missed, specifically for the protagonist, Webster. Also, the interactions between characters were a bit of a stretch towards being unrealistic, which prevented the reader from relating to them. The idea behind the novel was quality, but the author struggled to consistently maintain the reader’s attention, which resulted in a scattered plot line and remote characters. Despite the good intentions of the author, I believe that the novel was poorly executed due to improbable events, unrealistic interactions and relationships, and lack of character development.