Very Old Bones Summary / Study Guide

Very Old Bones | Characters

As narrator of the family saga fleshed out in Very Old Bones, Orson Purcell functions as both the focus of the narrative action and as the fictional recreator of the family history. Orson's relationships to his parents, particularly his father, his family (the Phelans), his wife, and his writing comprise about half the narrative and parallel similar relationships and behavior seen in other characters. As a particularly pertinent example, Orson's sexual drive and his premarital and later marital relations with the promiscuous Giselle result in two alcoholically driven nervous...

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