I dread writing this review. I hated this book. I’ll just get that out of the way. Hated it. Yet I hesitate. How can I eviscerate a book that contains lines like this: ‘Come on, son,’ Pop says. When he begins walking toward the house, I follow, trying to leave the memory of Leonie and Michael fighting outside, floating like fog in the damp, chilly day. But it follows, even as I follow the trail of tender organ blood Pop has left in the dirt, […]
Ghosts on the Gulf Coast
Sing, Unburied, Sing is the story of three generations of a black family in a fictitious town on the Mississippi coast, told from three perspectives. Jojo is a biracial 13-year-old boy living with his grandparents, his mother and his young sister. He idolizes his grandfather but only tolerates his mother, who leaves him with the responsibility of caring for 3-year-old Michaela. His mother, Leonie, soothes her pains with drugs while she waits for her white boyfriend (and Jojo and Michaela’s father) to get out of […]
My favorite book of 2017
Hello, favorite and best book of 2017. This is a book that needs to be shouted from the rooftops, because it crawls into your bones and won’t release you from its spell. Jesmyn Ward is a magnificent writer, as I discovered when I devoured Salvage the Bones. I’d heard that her newest novel, Sing, Unburied, Sing was short-listed for the National Book Award, so I grudgingly added to my library holds list, interrupting my read-the-books-on-my-shelf project once again. And what a worthy interruption. This is […]
My last review of 2017: a stark end to a stark year – Sing, Unburied, Sing
Firstly, let me toot my horn for a moment. I set a goal this year to read 34 books and this is my 34th review. (Insert trumpeting sounds). Huzzah! Now, on to the book. I saw this book posted on the CBR Facebook page as part of a combo review of book award winners from a fellow Cannonballer. During a brief stop into the library I saw it on the new books shelf and though I did not judge a book by its cover I […]