I haven’t read Salvage the Bones, Jesmyn Ward’s earlier novel, though it’s been on my to-read list since it first came out, so this was my first experience with Ward’s writing. Sing, Unburied, Sing is a novel both beautiful and terrible, heartbreaking yet optimistic, and grittily realistic while tinged with magical realism. It’s a family story but one where the history of race, poverty, and violence is close to the surface. Jojo lives with his grandparents, Pop and Mam, while his mother, Leonie, hovers around […]
Sometimes, the world don’t give you what you need, no matter how hard you look
I dread writing this review. I hated this book. I’ll just get that out of the way. Hated it. Yet I hesitate. How can I eviscerate a book that contains lines like this: ‘Come on, son,’ Pop says. When he begins walking toward the house, I follow, trying to leave the memory of Leonie and Michael fighting outside, floating like fog in the damp, chilly day. But it follows, even as I follow the trail of tender organ blood Pop has left in the dirt, […]
ABC After-School Special on Steroids (and I mean that in a good way)
As I read this young adult novel, I had no idea that it had won the National Book Award. All I knew was that I found the main characters compelling and that a few passages caused some serious tears. It felt like an “ABC After-School Special” (yes, I’m totally dating myself) done by a really skillful indie director. Far from the Tree tells the story of three teenagers, all abandoned by the same mother, but ending up in three very different situations. As a baby, […]
My favorite book of 2017
Hello, favorite and best book of 2017. This is a book that needs to be shouted from the rooftops, because it crawls into your bones and won’t release you from its spell. Jesmyn Ward is a magnificent writer, as I discovered when I devoured Salvage the Bones. I’d heard that her newest novel, Sing, Unburied, Sing was short-listed for the National Book Award, so I grudgingly added to my library holds list, interrupting my read-the-books-on-my-shelf project once again. And what a worthy interruption. This is […]
Throwing some shade on Jonathan Franzen: with a special guest star.
I have this thing about White Male Authors. Sometimes their white male existential angst bothers me, and sometimes it’s not present enough in the writing to be noticed. It’s sort of like playing Russian Roulette, though. You never know when some weird sexual encounter, an act of bizarre masturbation, or mansplaining is going to arise. So, to help me work through some incredible shade I need to throw, I’ve recruited a guest star who knows how to throw incredible shade, whether it’s brushing off that […]
A Young Woman’s Dreams
Last year, my sister bought me the young adult memoir-in-verse, Brown Girl Dreaming. And then it went on to win the National Book Award for young readers! Hooray! I have been meaning to read it again and again, and something else got in the way. So when I was at my conference, chilling in my hotel room, I decided to pull out the audio copy I had borrowed from the library and listen to it. It was a good choice. Jacqueline Woodson covers her birth […]