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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
This one made me cry and gave me nightmares (it was a patron recommendation!) very good and sorrowful. Would recommend to everyone if it didn't have every trigger warning known to man
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved the writing style and how the characters were written and developed. The ghost storylines were tough to follow, though I understand why given the trauma the characters were dealt. Jojo will stay with me for a while, as a boy who had to mature way too fast in order to adapt to his circumstances. I appreciated that all of the characters did the best they could with the hand they were dealt, and resonates because similar situations are all to common in life.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The book is written in the 1st person from 3 different points of view, giving the reader a fuller understanding of what the character’s thoughts and motivations are. And those characters are very real and relatable. Sometimes it is almost too real. Meanwhile the writing is lyrical describing places so well you can almost smell the salt water tang in the air.
I do wish I knew more about Maman Brigitte. Wikipedia helped but that is my lack not the novel’s fault.
I bought this in one of Apple’s 5 dollar or less sales, now I will look for more of Ms Ward’s novels. She is amazing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual content, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Abortion
Graphic poverty, incinerated parent of minors, child neglect, ghosts.
Amazing voice, character growth, and flaws that do not resolve, variance and family dynamics the supernatural and spiritual had deep roots that ended up grounding this whole family and to a greater extent the family of all those who share life. I was very happy that this held more than the light touch of magic realism but was set in the present day American South and not an alternate world. Aching in it’s truth that amidst all the horror and pain in the world there is harmony. A cosmic song full of the voices of lwa, animals, orisha, orphans, ghosts, and the living.
Iiiii forgot to write this review right after book club, and I have now flat-out forgotten all of my detailed thoughts about it! So, in short: It's well-written for sure, this aching portrait of an eleven-year-old boy struggling to look after his baby sister, amongst terrible parents and their wonderful grandparents, as he and his mother go on a road trip to fetch his father recently released from prison. It's a spin on the Southern Gothic from the POV of a Black/mixed-race family, and our book club had some really great conversation about this subversion of the genre, about perspective, about ritual and ceremony and superstition. I went in blind and didn't even realise how much of this was magical realism, and how in-your-face the hauntings are.
Ward's prose is great, so I'd definitely read more from her. Rating stars mainly docked because nothing much has happened or changed by the end; it was an interesting foray through their lives, but it left me wondering what the point of it all was. Not much plot, so it really just winds up more of a character study of Jojo, his sister, mother, and grandfather.
Ward's prose is great, so I'd definitely read more from her. Rating stars mainly docked because nothing much has happened or changed by the end; it was an interesting foray through their lives, but it left me wondering what the point of it all was. Not much plot, so it really just winds up more of a character study of Jojo, his sister, mother, and grandfather.