I haven’t read Salvage the Bones, Jesmyn Ward’s earlier novel, though it’s been on my to-read list since it first came out, so this was my first experience with Ward’s writing. Sing, Unburied, Sing is a novel both beautiful and terrible, heartbreaking yet optimistic, and grittily realistic while tinged with magical realism. It’s a family story but one where the history of race, poverty, and violence is close to the surface. Jojo lives with his grandparents, Pop and Mam, while his mother, Leonie, hovers around […]
Sometimes, the world don’t give you what you need, no matter how hard you look
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, […]
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 […]
My favorite part of year
So screw the Pulitzer Prizes because they don’t release the nominees until the winner is announced, but August/September/October is my favorite part of the year because the Booker Prize and National Book Award release their longlists and we get a new Nobel Prize winner. So I haven’t liked the change toward American books on the Booker Prize because I like to expand what books I am watching, but so it goes. Of the ten books on the National Book Longlist, I have already reviewed two […]