Dorothy Allison had published collections of poems (The Women Who Hate . . . Me), short stories (Trash), and essays (Skin). In 1992, she published her first novel, Bastard Out of Carolina. The book, set in Greenville County, South Carolina, in the 1950's, is the hard-hitting, often downright brutal story of the teenaged narrator, Ruth Anne "Bone" Boatwright, the illegitimate daughter of Anney, who was poor, fifteen, and unmarried when Bone was born. The greatest shame in Anney's life was the stark red "ILLEGITIMATE" stamped across the bottom of Bone's birth certificate; she tries several times--and fails--to have the stamp removed from the record. Finally she marries a sweet young man, Lyle, and has a second daughter, Reese. Though they are poor, they are happy, and so when Lyle is suddenly killed in a one-car accident, the happiness in Anney's life disappears. In desperation, she marries Glen Waddell, the shiftless son of an otherwise upstanding family. "Daddy Glen" is cruel and vicious; he brutally abuses and terrorizes Bone, driving her to a life of petty crime. Bastard Out of Carolina was a finalist for a 1992 National Book Award and received very positive reviews upon publication. This research will synthesize several reviews of Bastard Out of Carolina and compare and contrast them. In addition, it will also examine autobiographical details of the life of Dorothy Allison as revealed in published interviews in order to contextualize the novel.
Although several reviewers point out flaws in the book, all of the reviewers agree that Bastard Out of Carolina is an exceptionally well-written first novel. Ogorek says that it is an "exceptional first novel," and comments that "this stunning, fluid, sad, and courageous story would be outstanding even if it were the author's tenth [novel]" (Ogorek 1334). Wear comments that it is:
An extraordinary portrait of coming of age, full of the complexities of mother-child relation...