Salvage the Bones in Around the World in 80 Books

Jun 10, 2020 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: hot-lit, bipoc, read-harder

The 4 stars are for the writing, and for the final two chapters. Jesmyn Ward is a hell of a writer. But I had a really hard time with all the dog fighting stuff.

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Sep 04, 2012 Katy rated it it was amazing

I had trouble getting into this book at first, but once it got going, man did it get going! We get to know Esch, Skeetah, Randall, Junior, and their dad, along with assorted other characters, over the course of 12 days or so. Every chapter seems jam-packed full of *things* to think about -- how Esch is going to handle her pregnancy, how the siblings relate, how Randall’s dreams are deferred...and all the while you know what they don’t know about the storm approaching. In that way, Katrina hangin ...more

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Jan 14, 2024 Joanne rated it really liked it

Not sure why I’ve waited so long to read this author. Her writing is incredible. This story is gut wrenching and hits close to home for the similarly hurricane traumatized. So so good.

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Aug 04, 2015 Madeleine rated it really liked it

Shelves: dad, favs

Jesmyn Ward on writing this book as a political act:

"I realized that if I was going to assume the responsibility of writing about my home, I needed narrative ruthlessness. I couldn’t dull the edges and fall in love with my characters and spare them. Life does not spare us."

(From an interview in the Paris Review http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/20...)

This. ...more

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