From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

Sing, Unburied, Sing

Jesmyn Ward

Start date: April 15, 2018

Finish date: May 1, 2018

Discussion: Reading List

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Aug 19, 2017 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: netgalley, read2019, reviewcopy, read2017, ebooks, southern, location-usa-mississippi, around-the-usa

ETA: 11/2019 - Rereading this for an at-work Jesmyn Ward book club. She's coming to campus in February so we're meeting monthly to discuss a different work, hosted by the library and English department. It's amazing how much of it is still so vivid in my mind.

Original review from 2017:

I finished this novel a week ago and haven't been able to write about it. It is so good, I just don't know how to do it justice. If I list the ingredients of the novel for you, the characters and events, it wouldn' ETA: 11/2019 - Rereading this for an at-work Jesmyn Ward book club. She's coming to campus in February so we're meeting monthly to discuss a different work, hosted by the library and English department. It's amazing how much of it is still so vivid in my mind.

Original review from 2017:

I finished this novel a week ago and haven't been able to write about it. It is so good, I just don't know how to do it justice. If I list the ingredients of the novel for you, the characters and events, it wouldn't start to explain how it feels to read it. I'll do my best.

I haven't read Jesmyn Ward before now. I am hyper aware of her, because her 2011 novel, Salvage the Bones, won the National Book Award. Still I didn't read it. I think I had it in my head that it was violent and gritty and like the same way I avoided Steinbeck for the same reasons, I was missing out. And the way this novel starts made me think first of Steinbeck, rather than Faulkner and Morrison who most people mention, probably because I've read a lot more of him lately. But there is a scene with a goat between Pop and Jojo, who we later discover are grandfather and grandson.

The novel is set in rural Mississippi, in poverty, and a situation where the grandparents have been the primary caretakers of their grandchildren. Their daughter (Leonie) is not a good mother for various reasons, and the (white) father is currently in jail, but since his family did not approve of his involvement with Leonie anyway, he was not a strong presence for the children. But now, Mam has cancer, and Pop has to shift his focus to her care.

There is more going on that is unveiled as the story progresses. Mam has the knowledge of the old country, herbal remedies, midwifery, and the ability to speak to the dead. She thinks her children should learn these things and has tried to teach Leonie. There is another connection between Leonie's brother and her baby-daddy's family.

All of this is going on and the author shifts between characters, bringing the reader into each person's experience and focus, and this is incredibly effective. The elements of the fantastical fit into the gritty, real environment in ways I would not have expected. Highly, highly recommended.

Thanks to the publisher for providing early access through NetGalley and Edelweiss (I accidentally requested it twice.) The book comes out 5 September 2017. ...more

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May 12, 2018 Beverly rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Some novels are so personal that it takes a while to “unpack” what exactly is going on with the author. In Sing, Unburied, Sing, I was unmoved and somewhat disappointed when I started reading. It seemed to me that the “voices” of the characters were distinct and profoundly conceived, but then…nothing happened. Oh, I know, literary fiction…nothing is supposed to happen, right? I don’t hold that opinion. I think literature has a story to tell, regardless.

By the time I was halfway into this book, ...more

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Jan 27, 2019 Andi rated it it was amazing

No spoilers. . . but seriously, I cried audibly because of the power of this book and the stories here. Road trip. Ghost story. Family trauma. Addiction. Incarceration. But also hope and beauty, deep love and profound richness.

I cannot recommend this book enough for everyone, but especially people who carve the stories of family that are not perfect or curated. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful.

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Jan 13, 2018 Joyce rated it really liked it

Shelves: 100-nyt-books

Spurred by PBS and the New York Times, I picked this up and read it fairly quickly. Through the work I do, I know people like Leonie and Michael. They seek escape because reality is too difficult. It bothers me when people say that they don't want to read something because it is grim. Life is grim, especially for anyone in financial stress or a member of a racial minority. Everyone should read a story like this just to get a glimpse of how others live and suffer and why. ...more

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Nov 26, 2017 Jennifer rated it liked it

I tried to read this book and only made it halfway. I loved the premise and the characters but I just couldn't get through it. I'll try again someday. ...more

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