Jesmyn Ward – Cannonball Read 17

A Point in Time Series Review

Naomi's Gift by Martha Hall Kelly

Ash Wednesday by Paula McLain

Landing by Olivia Hawker

We are Bone and Earth by Esi Edugyan

A Wild Rose by Fiona Davis

Alison's Conviction by Thomas Keneally

Mother Swamp by Jesmyn Ward

December 6, 2022 by Classic Leave a Comment

Per usual, here are my reviews for each short story in the collection. Overall, this collection at times moved me and made me do more research on certain events brought up which is why my reading this week was slow (for me). Naomi’s Gift by Martha Hall Kelly (5 stars)-Phenomenal. You can figure out where Kelly is taking you, but I honestly was shocked at the the whole Holocaust camp for women/mothers/children. I keep thinking that there is nothing that could shock me at that […]

Whenever my mother drove us from coastal Mississippi to New Orleans to visit my father on the weekend, she would say, “Lock the doors.”

Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward

Navigate Your Stars by Jesmyn Ward

July 20, 2020 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

CBR12Bingo – Nostalgia Men We Reaped: 5/5 Stars I can’t say I am nostalgic here, as I can’t imagine a childhood and teenage in America much different from mine, but I am about the age of Jesmyn Ward’s brother Joshua (and some of the other men and boys mentioned in this book), so it provides an interesting contrast to say the least. This 2013 memoir comes at the heels of Jesmyn Ward’s National Book Award winning novel Salvage the Bones and right before her second National […]

“Sometimes the world don’t give you what you need, no matter how hard you look. Sometimes it withholds.”

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

November 7, 2019 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

In 2015 I read Ward’s Men We Reaped and I was fascinated with the way Ward’s language in a memoir was tinged with a bit of magical realism, and also just a larger than life feeling. At the time I put Ward on my radar – this was an author I was interested in a further relationship with. Once reviews for her 2017 work Sing, Unburied, Sing started coming in I knew this would be the one. Sing, Unburied, Sing is a big, award-winning book […]

Life is Simple, Except When it Isn’t.

November 7, 2018 by lumenatrix Leave a Comment

This book is amazing. I love this book. I am so glad I stumbled across this looking for something to fill up my bingo card. Magical realism is one of my absolute favorite story telling devices when it is done well, and this is such a perfect example of what it can really do. This is the story of Jojo’s family. Jojo is a thirteen-year-old mixed race boy growing up in the current day South and straddling that realm in between boyhood and adulthood. He […]

Just read it

March 13, 2018 by lowercasesee Leave a Comment

Probably because I’ve read them both in the last month, I kept hearkening back to Lincoln in the Bardo. It certainly isn’t the best comparison, but the themes of grief and loss are persistent in both and very keenly unearthed by both authors. If anything, I went into this one knowing less and with more discovery awaiting me. It didn’t do as much more me (I still really, really loved the experimental nature of Lincoln), but I did really enjoy it. It’s like the book is haunting me. […]

Like my marrow could carry a bruise.

February 17, 2018 by Leedock Leave a Comment

I couldn’t decide if this was a book that I needed to digest a little before I tried to review it. Ultimately, I decided to write about it immediately after finishing it, while it still clung to me. This is definitely a book that clings to you. It’s not an easy book to read and it shouldn’t be. The bulk of the story is a somber road trip that takes place over a few days, trapped inside a hot car in the American south. When Michael […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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