Salvage the Bones in Overdue Podcast

Mar 06, 2025 Jason rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own, favorites, 2025-top-10-so-far

Just as stunning a book as all the critics would have you believe with evocative writing and brutally seductive plot and characters. I was late to the party, but so glad I came.

“And then I get up because it is the only thing I can do. I step out of the ditch and brush the ants off because it is the only thing I can do. I follow Randall around the house because it is the only thing I can do; if this is strength, if this is weakness, this is what I do. I hiccup, but tears still run down my face. A

Just as stunning a book as all the critics would have you believe with evocative writing and brutally seductive plot and characters. I was late to the party, but so glad I came.

“And then I get up because it is the only thing I can do. I step out of the ditch and brush the ants off because it is the only thing I can do. I follow Randall around the house because it is the only thing I can do; if this is strength, if this is weakness, this is what I do. I hiccup, but tears still run down my face. After Mama died, Daddy said, What are you crying for? Stop crying. Crying ain’t going to change anything. We never stopped crying. We just did it quieter. We hid it. I learned how to cry so that almost no tears leaked out of my eyes, so that I swallowed the hot salty water of them and felt them running down my throat. This was the only thing that we could do. I swallow and squint through the tears, and I run.”

A family and community story that is steadily building toward the inevitable devastation that we all know hurricane Katrina is going to bring. Ward manages to build tension, develop characters, and layer themes with seeming ease. I was not immediately convinced of the brilliance of this book upon starting it, but I also couldn't tell you at what point I found myself completely under Ward's spell, but I absolutely did. It is a case of immersing one's self in the language, references, and scenes and finding yourself suddenly in love. Ward's realistic if seemingly simple dialogue alongside references to the Greek mythological story of Medea and transportive scenes, even when graphically violent, is a winning combination of elements.

Themes of rural poverty, class, race, and motherhood underpin this family drama of individual characters. Within a cast of exquisitely developed characters, the most complexly endearing is the lone living female in the family, and narrator, Esch, quickly followed by her brother Skeeta and his canine companion, China. There are points that I found myself reading and wincing, making involuntary gasps from behind the book. I would not claim that this book, filled with tenacity and desperation, is ever easy, at times the intensity is almost overwhelming and some graphic violence had me feeling queasy (particularly scenes dealing with dog fights), but I found the overall story totally worth it.

“There is a movement behind my breast that feels like someone has turned a hose on full blast, and the water that has been baking in the pump in the summer heat floods out, scalding. This is love, and it hurts.” ...more

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May 06, 2018 Valerie Brett rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: well-read-black-girl

The whole time felt like slogging through; it read like required school reading. I can't believe other reviews say this contained beautiful prose. It was trying so hard. It read like it was saying I AM A BOOK, with multiple similes every single page. It was so many similes that it was distracting; I started taking note of the worst ones and when there were like 5 on one page (which was often). I suppose a lot happens in the book but it didn't feel like anything happened. The best part was the pa ...more

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Mar 14, 2018 Camille24 (camilleisreading) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book reads like an old-fashioned epic. In the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina, Esch's family struggles to prepare for the storm. Esch is fourteen and pregnant. Her brother Skeetah is trying, and failing, to keep his beloved pitbull's new litter of puppies alive. Her oldest brother Randall hopes to earn a basketball scholarship that will get him out of Bois Sauvage, MS. And youngest brother Junior is insatiably curious at 8, having been raised by his older siblings after their mother di ...more

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