Friday 4 September 2020

Sing, unburied, sing by Jesmyn Ward

Hardcover, 289 pages


Published November 2nd 2017 by Scribner (first published September 5th 2017)


Series: Bois Sauvage #2


Fiction


Library



I am not good with writing thoughtful reviews, and this book deserve better than what I can do.



The book is told by Jojo, who was raised my his grandparents. His gran is dying. He spends much of his time looking after his baby sister. His white father is in jail, his white grandparents are racists.



The other POV is Leonie, Jojos mother. She does drugs, she likes her man more than her kids. She sees her dead brother. Yeah, that was a thing, this book is also infused by tiny bit of the paranormal that feels so right. I totally believe she can see her dead brother, killed by the systematic racism in the deep south.



It is a road trip book, bring the dad back from prison. Driving through bad country, driving through memories of how things used to be since JoJos grandfather had spent time at the same jail. And of course for nothing, just sent away cos he was black. And it is dark, and it makes me think. Because I know I do not know, and I can never know. But fuck! I just can not understand people, what is wrong with people?!  All I am saying, I can never believe in a future where everyone gets along because humans are scum.



I liked the tone too, it was truly like someone was telling me a story. A dark sad story . Easy to read, and not long.



Jojo and his toddler sister, Kayla, live with their grandparents, Mam and Pop, and the occasional presence of their drug-addicted mother, Leonie, on a farm on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Leonie is simultaneously tormented and comforted by visions of her dead brother, which only come to her when she’s high; Mam is dying of cancer; and quiet, steady Pop tries to run the household and teach Jojo how to be a man. When the white father of Leonie’s children is released from prison, she packs her kids and a friend into her car and sets out across the state for Parchman farm, the Mississippi State Penitentiary, on a journey rife with danger and promise.


9 comments:

  1. Your review is lovely, thanks for sharing your thoughts

    ReplyDelete
  2. Interesting. I've seen so many reading this book. I just hate racism, it makes me so sad. You've highlighted this book really well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Definitely sounds like a deeper read.

    ~Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum

    ReplyDelete
  4. I hope it didn't have a sad ending, but yeah, I get you when you say 'humans are scum".

    ReplyDelete
  5. There are times one has no hope for the human race. It sounds like a powerful book.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Shelley
    Thank you :)

    Karen
    Sadly yes

    Kahtryn
    Thank you, oh and that reminds me, I need to get her other one

    Mogsy
    And still it was light, well written indeed

    Rachel
    Nope, I mean, no, it was good

    Sophia
    UNtil the end of days

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am so behind in my commenting this week D:

    But yes - this sounds pretty good. Dark, but good.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Carole
    Happens me every week now

    ReplyDelete

Contributors

Copyright © 2008-2020 Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell All Rights Reserved. Proudly powered by Blogger

  © Blogger template Starry by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008 Modified by Lea

Back to TOP