Because of her mom’s spirit of adventure, Molly Teng has moved eight times in her 13 years of life. Now, she just wants normalcy, consistency, and a place to call home. By the time her mom, Dot, drags her to Buckeye Creek, Texas, Molly has reached the end of her rope. Bell Harbor, Maine, just had a more comfortable vibe; it was a place where life was peaceful and simple. Now, she’s in a new place, forced to make new friends, and trying to avoid “the zaps.” For Dot Teng, everything is an opportunity, but for Molly, “everything is something to be navigated” (23).
When Molly walks into a room, she sees things that other people don’t notice, and her attention is pulled to objects that call out to her. If she responds to this pull, the object shows her its history, its feelings, and its memories. Molly calls the experience “the zaps” because the overwhelming sensations can make her nauseous, disoriented, and mentally drained.
In their new home on Charlotte Street, Molly encounters Jade, a spectral being who is starving for nourishment and memory. Jade wants Molly’s help to discover who she was and what she did to deserve the punishment of being a monster, a hungry ghost that can’t escape the walls of the house in which she is trapped without any memory of how she came to be in this predicament. At first Molly refuses, but once she realizes that we all want to be remembered, that we all want to matter to someone or to be acknowledged, she consents.
The plot of Louise Hung’s novel Hungry Bones revolves around Molly’s efforts to solve Jade’s mystery. In the process, Molly learns a good deal about the history of Asian people in the United States. From the Chinese Exclusion Act to the Transcontinental Railroad’s construction, Molly discovers how ancestors give us context. In that way, a dead girl makes Molly feel like she belongs.
- Donna