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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Apr 16, 2018 Jane rated it it was amazing

I was nervous about taking on Jesmyn Ward’s Sing Unburied Sing. I’d been reading too many books that weighed on my heart, that stayed with me throughout the day, bringing me emotionally low. Eat the Apple by Matt Young, What My Body Remembers by Agnete Friis, Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday, The Sellout by Pail Beatty, A False Report, A True Story of Rape in America.
Since I read Salvage the Bones when it was published, I knew that Ward takes on heavy topics. Since three of the four book clubs I read I was nervous about taking on Jesmyn Ward’s Sing Unburied Sing. I’d been reading too many books that weighed on my heart, that stayed with me throughout the day, bringing me emotionally low. Eat the Apple by Matt Young, What My Body Remembers by Agnete Friis, Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday, The Sellout by Pail Beatty, A False Report, A True Story of Rape in America.
Since I read Salvage the Bones when it was published, I knew that Ward takes on heavy topics. Since three of the four book clubs I read with were reading the book, I decided to plunge in. Is it a devastating read? Absolutely? Is the writing overwhelmingly beautiful? Indeed. The book includes the devastation of poverty, racism, drugs…and there is heartbreak enough for every character, but there is a kind of redemption for many of the characters. And Ward’s writing itself is a kind of redemption.

Jojo feels to me like the central character, although he narrates the story alternately with Leonie, and Richie occasionally is the voice giving us his perspective. Jojo is one of my favorite characters of all time. He hears and feel things others don’t. He doesn’t want to be crazy like his neighbor Stag, who Mam says “isn’t right in the head.”

Jojo thinks this:“But it was impossible not to hear the animals, because I looked at them and understood, instantly, and it was looking at a sentence and understanding the words, all of it coming to me at once.”

Jojo’s sister has a gift as well. She sees things others don’t. Her mom has the gift as well. “The seed of a gift,” the midwife who helped deliver her sister said. “And she prayed that I would live long enough to see whatever I was meant to see.”
When Leonie connects with Michael, her brother has died and she knows that she doesn’t “have to sneak out anymore, my parents wrapped up in their grief. Spider-bound: web-blind.” That’s the kind of writing that makes this book more of a blessing than a dirge.

Michael’s father is racist through and through. and Leonie thinks: They are not the same. …from the first moment I saw him walking across the grass to where I sat in the shadow of the school sign, he saw me. Saw past skin the color of unmilked coffee, eyes black, lips the color of plums, and saw me. Saw the walking wound I was, and came to be my balm.

And Richie's hurt is larger than anything. Keeps him wandering the earth to find out what happened to him. How he died. The mystery of this book and the way the hurt is resolved is extraordinary. Brace yourself and let yourself accept the sadness. This book will stay with you.

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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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