Sing, Unburied, Sing

Posted on 16 March 2017 by Jesmyn Ward

An intimate portrait of a family and an epic tale of hope and struggle, Sing, Unburied, Sing examines the ugly truths at the heart of the American story and the power and limitations of family bonds Jojo is thirteen years old and trying to understand what it means to be a man His mother, Leonie, is in constant conflict with herself and those around her She is black and her children s father is white Embattled in ways that reflect the brutal reality of her circumstances, she wants to be a better mother, but can t put her children above her own needs, especially her drug use When the children s father is released from prison, Leonie packs her kids and a friend into her car and drives north to the heart of Mississippi and Parchman Farm, the State Penitentiary At Parchman, there is another boy, the ghost of a dead inmate who carries all of the ugly history of the South with him in his wandering He too has something to teach Jojo about fathers and sons, about legacies, about violence, about love Rich with Ward s distinctive, lyrical language, Sing, Unburied, Sing brings the archetypal road novel into rural twenty first century America It is a majestic new work from an extraordinary and singular author. Best Read Sing, Unburied, Sing [ author ] Jesmyn Ward [ Kindle ePUB or eBook ] – kino-fada.fr I washed my hands every day, Jojo But that damn blood ain t never come outSuch a stunning book.Sing, Unburied, Sing captivated me almost instantly THIS is how character driven family dramas should be, and there s nothing quite like a nice bit of dysfunctional family drama to keep me turning pages But I don t want to diminish the strength of this novel It is a character study of a contemporary African American family in Mississippi, but it is also a darkly beautiful story about ghosts II washed my hands every day, Jojo But that damn blood ain t never come outSuch a stunning book.Sing, Unburied, Sing...oooh, goodreads choice awards semifinalist for best fiction what will happen Sometimes, the world don t give you what you need, no matter how hard you look Sometimes, it withholds.so, i ve been meaning to review this for a couple of weeks now, and it s a real challenge, because there is no universe in which i feel qualified to convey how damn good this book is up there it s compared to morrison and faulkner, the odyssey and the old testament, and that s probably true, but i m no autho...2 stars blame it on the ghostsIt was the ghosts, folks It was the ghosts that made me do it They made me change my mind and go with 2 stars instead of my original 3 It s just that they were such a big part of this book If they had been smaller and kept their mouths shut, I would be handing you 3 stars I wanted to be closer in stars to my gushing friends, but that just didn t happen I didn t like this book, period And of course, I have a Complaint Board to prove it I did like a few thing 2 stars blame it on the ghostsIt was the ghosts, folks It was the ghosts that made me do it They made me change my mind and go with 2 stars instead of my original 3 It s just that they were such a big part of this book If they had been smaller and kept their mouths shut, I would be handing you 3 stars I wanted to be closer in stars to my gushing friends, but that just didn t happen I didn t like this book, period And of course, I have a Complaint Board to prove it I did like a few things about the book, so let me start with the Joy Jar Mesmerizing language For a while, it took me to a cool place and created a strong mood Intense family I was interested in the family It s biracial, with a junkie mom, nice kids, kind grandparents, and a dad who just got out of prison They...This is a profoundly moving novel that tears your heart apart from the hugely gifted Jesmyn Ward It is Southern Gothic at its most impressive, set in the burning heat of the Mississippi Gulf coast It speaks of neglectful parents, ill equipped to bring up their mixed race children The black Leonie is a drug addict and troubled woman, moving in and out of 13 year old JoJo and his toddler sister, Kayla s lives as they reside with their beloved grandparents, Mam and Pop, who provide safety, secur This is a profoundly moving novel that tears your heart apart from the hugely gifted Jesmyn Ward It is Southern Gothic at its most impressive, set in the burning heat of the Mississippi Gulf coast It speaks of neglectful parents, ill equipped to bring up their mixed race children The black Leonie is a drug addict and troubled woman, moving in and out of 13 year old JoJo and his toddler sister, Kayla s lives as they reside with their beloved grandparents, Mam and Pop, who provide safety, security and love for them They call their mother Leonie, not mum, as she is scarcely a mum Leonie resents this and the close bond between JoJo and Kayla, Kayla turns to JoJo to have her needs met Their father, Michael, is in Parchman prison, about to be released This is a story of poverty, love, grief, loss, abuse, brutality, race, injustice, family, addiction, and ghosts It tells of the ugliness of US history and how it informs the present The pain of the black experience as it moved seamlessl...Jesmyn Ward s Sing, Unburied, Sing is true Southern Gothicism at its finest It is a novel that I ve been waiting a very long time to read, and I mean that both literally and figuratively There is so much within these pages so much angst, so much wonder and so much sorrow that I am still grappling with it even now And that s a wonderful thing, the best feeling and the most lasting impression a writer can ever bestow on their reader.I read, before reading this novel, that Jesmyn Ward had recent Jesmyn Ward s Sing, Unburied, Sing is true Southern Gothicism at its finest It is a novel that I ve been waiting a very long time to read, and I mean that both literally and figuratively There is so much within these pages so much angst, so much wonder and so much sorrow that I am still grappling with it even now And that s a wonderful thing, the best feeling and the most lasting impression a writer can ever bestow on their reader.I read, before reading this novel, that Jesmyn Ward had recently been called the modern day Faulkner, and I doubted this, I admit, likely because of all the books out there I ve encountere...I listened to the audiobook of Salvage the Bones , a couple of months ago I was so engrossed, it was almost hard to distinguish one talent from the other the narrators voice or the authors writing Jesmyn Ward was a new author to me I remember I cringed at times and thought the language was beautiful NO SPOILERS..many other reviews came before me excellent ones describing the plot and sharing about the characters I read Michael s review which had me running to find this book on Net I listened to the audiobook of Salvage the Bones , a couple of months ago I was so engrossed, it was almost hard to distinguish one talent from the other the narrators voice or the authors writing Jesmyn Ward was a new author to me I remember I cringed at times and thought the language was beautiful NO SPOILERS..many other reviews came before me excellent ones describing the plot and sharing about the characters I read Michael s review which had me running to find this book on Netgalley I didn t even know a new release was coming out His review is wonderful I recommend reading his review its terrific I wrote this review mostly in context AS A WHOLE not many details about the characters and the story However, this novel will stay with me a long time Its wonderful I like it eventhan Salvage the Bones and I liked that too I enjoye...Click here to watch a video review of this book on my channel, From Beginning to Bookend Heartbreak prevails, the past materializes in haunting forms, and Jesmyn Ward s prose sings in this brutal coming of age set in Mississippi.Adult responsibility should not consume the life of a thirteen year old Jojo s family lives in poverty along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi Once Jojo had a mama Leonie who attended to him and watched TV with him He stopped calling her mama after she started snorting crushed pills His father, Michael, is jailed in Parchman farm, The Mississippi State Penitentiary.Jojo has a dual role as surrogate parent to toddler sister Kayla and as future head of household He is asked to help grandfather Adult responsibility should not consume the life of a thirteen year old Jojo s family lives in poverty along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi Once Jojo had a mama Leonie who attended to him and watched TV with...Profound, poetic, and at times painful to read, Jesmyn Ward s Sing, Unburied, Sing is searing, truly a soaring literary achievement that I won t stop thinking about anytime soon.Jojo is 13 years old, on the cusp of manhood but i...I almost always read just before going to sleep, and occasionally I wake up thinking about the characters, feeling like I have to get back to the book because I just have to know what s going to happen to them This is what happened with this story To me that s so telling about how Jesmyn Ward creates characters that are so real that you worry about them as if they were people you know, children that you want to be safe That s just one of the strengths of her writing the intimacy that we as I almost always read just before going to sleep, and occasionally I wake up thinking about the characters, feeling like I have to get back to the book because I just have to know what s going to happen to them This is what happened with this story To me that s so telling about how...

English
16 March 2017

Jesmyn Ward