Bones & All

Content Warning: This section contains graphic depictions of cannibalism and violence.

Maren is the novel’s main character and protagonist. One of her primary characteristics is her sense that her future has been predetermined for her. As an infant, Maren eats her babysitter, Penny Wilson. The hunger for human flesh was in her long before she had anything like autonomy. When she kills Luke at summer camp at age eight, it is clear that hunger will rule her life, regardless of what she wants for herself.

Outside of her cannibalism, Maren is a curious bookworm who enjoys escaping into stories. She gravitates to stories and fairy tales that inevitably lead her to identify with the monsters, not the humans or heroes: “I only found people like me in storybooks I read in the library. Giants. Trolls. Witches. Ghouls. The Minotaur” (31). Maren thinks that she is evil and that there is no reason to hope for a better life. Her experience at school has done nothing to strengthen her self-image, because she is frequently mocked by other girls. Her luck with boys is no better. Awkward, insecure boys are drawn to her, and when they make sexual advances, they become her primary victims.