Book Title:  Remembering the Bones

Author: Frances Itani

Publishing Company:  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

Year:  2007

# of Pages: 283

ISBN #:  13:  978-0-00-200540-1

ISBN #:  10: 0-00-200540-9 

$29.95

5 Stars

Reviewer:  Deborah Ground Buckner

Frances Itani's Remembering the Bones is a celebration of life.  Georgina "Georgie" Danforth Witley is 80 years old, on her way to fly to London to a birthday luncheon with Queen Elizabeth II.  In honor of Her Majesty's 80^th birthday, 99 subjects have been chosen to share in this honor.  Fiercely independent, Georgie insists on driving herself to the airport.  Just seconds from home, her car slips through guardrails and plunges down into a ravine.

There, fighting for survival, Georgie reviews her life, set up within the context of her grandfather's copy of Grey's Anatomy that she had loved to look at as a child.  The bones that connect the human body also connect the human life.  Through her recollections, the reader comes to know Georgie's grandparents, her parents and sister, her husband and children.  Hers is a family of strong women, and each is celebrated as Georgie's memories reveal their life stories.

At one point, Georgie finds herself wondering what her life is worth as she struggles to reach her car, hoping to honk the horn and summon rescuers.  After reading her story, one can see that a simple life of an ordinary person can be rich indeed.

Itani artfully weaves the story back and forth from Georgie's perilous status in the ravine to the times she relates through memory.  There is never any confusion about where the story is or how Georgie goes from one point to another.  Vivid description brings each character and each setting clearly to life.

Frances Itani is the author if Deafening, which won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book (Canada and Caribbean region) and the Drummer General's Award for Fiction.  It was a finalist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and for Canada Reads 2006 (English and French).  Her most recent work, Poached Egg on Toast, won the Ottawa Book Award for Fiction and the Canadian Authors' Association Jubilee Award for Short Stories.  She has won three CBC Literary Awards and has also published five short story collections, three books of poetry and a children's book.  A recent recipient of the Order of Canada, Frances Itani Lives in Ottawa.