From the Bookshelf of Appomattox Regional Library System…

[close] You may know Jesmyn Ward as the young woman who won the National Book Award for her debut novel "Salvage the Bones". Her first work of nonfiction is entitled "Men we reaped: a memoir." In it, she recounts her own childhood and young adult years in Mississippi.

On one level this is a harrowing tale of poverty and family pain. Many people write about poverty, but Ward writes from the viewpoint of having lived it. There are many disappointments in her young life, as her father struggles to make a better life for them, but often fails his wife and his children. Jesmyn through a random stroke of generosity is able to attend a better school than her brother and sisters, and she starts down the road to a more financially secure life, despite experiencing casual racism from some of her peers. At home, her mother keeps the family above water by stringing together a number of low wage jobs.
Jesmyn then begins to notice that several of the young males in her family are meeting sudden death. She experiences this as a vague force, but then she explains how the limited choices available in her community contributed to poor choices and deadly results.

While imperfect, this effort is certainly thought provoking. As readers who have never experienced the things that she has experienced, we walk a tightrope. Is she too burdened with her own pain to be fully objective? Perhaps. But on a deeper level, she invites us to meditate on the countless choices and moments of grace that make up a life- or end one early. It is a flawed but fascinating journey in a small package, only 250 odd pages.