From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

Salvage the Bones

Jesmyn Ward

Start date: November 15, 2018

Finish date: December 1, 2018

Discussion: Reading List

Discussion leader: Barb

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 434 topics — 16,974 comments total

Reading List

* The Schedule for July through Dec. 2025
By Lynn · 1 post · 49 views

last updated Jun 20, 2025 08:37AM

In Winter I Get Up at Night by Jane Urquhart Spoilers/Discussion
By Barbara · 35 posts · 24 views

last updated 9 hours, 16 min ago

showing 10 of 11 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Nov 19, 2011 Roy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: literary-fiction, african-american-fiction, women-authored

Novelists like Jesmyn Ward don't come along very often. Only truly special writers can slip readers beneath the skin of a character, make them feel as if they are experiencing the events happening on page first hand. Reading Salvage the Bones one is drawn into the oppressive summer heat of Louisiana; aches with helpless desire; is burdened by a stifling sense of loss; vicariously goes through youthful yearning to be loved, even if only as much as a treasured pet. Prior to the arrival of Hurrican ...more

17 likes · Like · see review

Apr 26, 2012 Linda rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction, booktopia, botns, oxford-2012, cultural

For much of this book I felt as if I were listening to music - country music. I like most kinds of music, but not country.

The book tells the story of a family, 3 boys, their sister (the narrator) and their widower father. Mom died shortly after giving birth to the youngest boy (who is nine years younger than Esch, the girl. The first three are teenagers, born a year apart. Dad morns the loss of his wife at the bottom of a bottle.

Esch is surrounded by males - not only her family, but her brother ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jan 27, 2020 Kenneth P. rated it it was ok

Shelves: african-american

This book romanticizes a stubborn family that refuses to evacuate when facing a direct hit by a category five hurricane. They live in the low lying bayou country of the Mississippi gulf coast in a vulnerable, ramshackle home. All of them very nearly die. When Katrina passes by they congratulate one other for being alive.

The depiction here of the Katrina catastrophe and its build-up seems conveniently manufactured to showcase the author's overrated prose. No image, no scene, no utterance stands ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 24, 2018 Sheila rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobook, ebooks

I've had the book for ages but held back to read it with my in person book group. It is one of those "couldn't put down" books - the audible version read by Cherise Booth is a 5 star narration to my mind . Easy to see why it won the 2011 National Book Award winner for fiction.

It is the story of one family's survival through hurricane Katrina in rural Mississippi. Set as 12 days/chapters leading up to the phenomenal description of their Katrina encounter in chapter 11, this is a very human story ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Nov 18, 2011 Tensy (bookdoyen) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, e-book

Amazing book which grabs you from the beginning with a tight fist until the Hurricane hits at the end. There were parts of the book that were labored and felt too contrived (frequent references to Medea just didn't feel right.) In the end, this family is beautifully drawn, and as with every book I assign a 5 star rating, I was captivated.

I read a short biography of Ward and she was born in Mississippi and lived through Katrina and its aftermath. My daughter was starting her Freshman year at Tula ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Apr 09, 2018 Temple Dog rated it it was ok

Jesmyn Ward’s Salvage the Bones is a decent read. But, if you have read any Tony Morrison, you will find this somewhat derivative.

It centers on the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina and the lives of a family in Bois Sauvage, Mississippi. Our narrator, 15-year Esch is the only girl living with her father and three brothers, Skeetah, Randall and Junior. Their mother having died during childbirth, each family member assumes some parental role; baby sitter to Jr, breadwinner, etc. and although E ...more

Like · see review

Mar 23, 2015 Tamela rated it liked it

Shelves: book-club, books-read-in-2015

Most of the book club didn't like it...but I'm not sure they could pinpoint exactly why (violence, sadness, poverty, writing?). Parts were harder to get through but that was due to the emotional aspect. The end was an extremely good read; I guess that was finally the point of the book.

Connection to (Rainbow Rowell's Landline):
"This baby got a daddy, Esch." He reaches out his big soft hand, soft as the bottom of his feet probably, and helps me stand. "This baby got plenty daddies." ...more

Like · see review

Jan 31, 2014 Jane rated it really liked it

This was utterly painful to read. I had to put it away at times. I will never forget it though. Surprised I never added it here. Maybe just too painful to talk about.

Like · see review