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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
More of a ghost story than I expected, but lyrical and beautiful.
I've been finished with this book for about a week, but I cannot come up with a review worthy of its transcendent static. The book rambles down a long and winding road, only to wind back at the start with little more than you started with. Perhaps people do not really change.
But people do grow, as exhibited by wise-beyond his years Jojo, a 13-year-old boy who embarks on a raucous road trip with his sister, his mother, and his mother's friend. The mother, Leonie, who Jojo deservedly refers to by first name, is out to get her white boyfriend out of prison, which paints a cloud of gray on the whole trip. Leonie is a neglectful caregiver and drug addict, spurned by the childhood murder of her brother. Though the book flips perspectives between characters, Leonie's point of view is actually wiser than her actions. But because she gives into her skin color and past trauma instead of trying to become better, I cannot respect this woman.
Jojo, on the other hand, provides most of the parenting for himself and younger sister when they are away from his grandparents, the two most respectable characters. Unfortunately, the grandmother is dying of cancer, leaving Jojo to become a man much sooner than he should be.
Oh, and there are ghosts! [b:Lincoln in the Bardo|29906980|Lincoln in the Bardo|George Saunders|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1492130850s/29906980.jpg|50281866] style! To avoid confusing you, another narrator pops up late in the book and all of a sudden, what was a hopeless tale about accepting fates turns into a supernatural unfinished-business power hour. The end of the book comes at you fast then it's over and you're asking, "What was that about?" A week later, you're still not sure.
But the book seemed to take painstaking efforts to say that people don't really change. Those you can trust will always come through for you, whereas those who let you down are irredeemable. Meanwhile, the same oppression that existed 50 years ago is still here, more prevalent than it should be. No matter what we do, it just won't seem to die.
Without knowing much about her, I sense Jesmyn Ward draws her prose from a gorgeous yet fortified spirit. Her biography is now on my must-read list.
But people do grow, as exhibited by wise-beyond his years Jojo, a 13-year-old boy who embarks on a raucous road trip with his sister, his mother, and his mother's friend. The mother, Leonie, who Jojo deservedly refers to by first name, is out to get her white boyfriend out of prison, which paints a cloud of gray on the whole trip. Leonie is a neglectful caregiver and drug addict, spurned by the childhood murder of her brother. Though the book flips perspectives between characters, Leonie's point of view is actually wiser than her actions. But because she gives into her skin color and past trauma instead of trying to become better, I cannot respect this woman.
Jojo, on the other hand, provides most of the parenting for himself and younger sister when they are away from his grandparents, the two most respectable characters. Unfortunately, the grandmother is dying of cancer, leaving Jojo to become a man much sooner than he should be.
Oh, and there are ghosts! [b:Lincoln in the Bardo|29906980|Lincoln in the Bardo|George Saunders|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1492130850s/29906980.jpg|50281866] style! To avoid confusing you, another narrator pops up late in the book and all of a sudden, what was a hopeless tale about accepting fates turns into a supernatural unfinished-business power hour. The end of the book comes at you fast then it's over and you're asking, "What was that about?" A week later, you're still not sure.
Spoiler
Leonie didn't change by the end. Her boyfriend was still a despicable chum after prison. His parents were still racist. The ghost didn't go away. Poor Jojo was too young to do anything about his circumstances. I have nothing bad to say about grandpa Pop, he was a firm man who overcame his situation.Without knowing much about her, I sense Jesmyn Ward draws her prose from a gorgeous yet fortified spirit. Her biography is now on my must-read list.
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
3.75
Oh man. Man oh man oh man.
This is an incredibly layered and complex novel that somehow weaves breathtaking amounts of pain and suffering into less than 300 pages in a way that, despite how dark and heavy it feels, is totally unputdownable. Ward deploys the Southern Gothic genre expertly here — a story like this, all about African American generational trauma and America’s unfinished business in the South, simply had to be a ghost story.
I would rate this higher save for the somewhat unsatisfying (and honestly, quite rushed) ending and the pacing in general. I also found the chapters from Leonie’s perspective less engaging than Jojo’s — I totally appreciate the purpose of the dual-perspective but I feel like it could have been one or the other and the story would have worked just as well.
Overall, an exceptionally intense read but absolutely worthwhile and important.
Oh man. Man oh man oh man.
This is an incredibly layered and complex novel that somehow weaves breathtaking amounts of pain and suffering into less than 300 pages in a way that, despite how dark and heavy it feels, is totally unputdownable. Ward deploys the Southern Gothic genre expertly here — a story like this, all about African American generational trauma and America’s unfinished business in the South, simply had to be a ghost story.
I would rate this higher save for the somewhat unsatisfying (and honestly, quite rushed) ending and the pacing in general. I also found the chapters from Leonie’s perspective less engaging than Jojo’s — I totally appreciate the purpose of the dual-perspective but I feel like it could have been one or the other and the story would have worked just as well.
Overall, an exceptionally intense read but absolutely worthwhile and important.
I wanted to read this book as soon as it came out, but it was always unavailable at the library or had a long wait list. I just finally found a copy on a 14 day borrow, and I was disappointed I didn’t love it as much as I thought I would.
Positives: I love the authors writing style. The way she describes feelings and scenes was almost poetic, but not pretentious. There was a flow to her writing that I really enjoyed. Also, at its core, the story is simple yet powerful. The entire time I read it I was thinking it would make a great indie film.
Negatives: The story felt very repetitive up until about 2/3rds of the way in. I was starting to get bored and was trying to decide if I should muscle through and finish, or just stop and pick up something else. It’s not a very long read, so that’s part of what kept me going. I’m glad I finished, as the ending was really interesting, but I nearly gave up. I also feel like the supernatural parts of the story should have been played up a little more. The subtleties were nice as I wouldn’t necessarily classify this as a “ghost story” but the ghosts are a pivotal part of the ending, and at times I felt it was like, “Oh, and here’s some ghost stuff...”
I’m not sure I’d recommend this book to a friend, but I’m interested in reading more from this author.
Positives: I love the authors writing style. The way she describes feelings and scenes was almost poetic, but not pretentious. There was a flow to her writing that I really enjoyed. Also, at its core, the story is simple yet powerful. The entire time I read it I was thinking it would make a great indie film.
Negatives: The story felt very repetitive up until about 2/3rds of the way in. I was starting to get bored and was trying to decide if I should muscle through and finish, or just stop and pick up something else. It’s not a very long read, so that’s part of what kept me going. I’m glad I finished, as the ending was really interesting, but I nearly gave up. I also feel like the supernatural parts of the story should have been played up a little more. The subtleties were nice as I wouldn’t necessarily classify this as a “ghost story” but the ghosts are a pivotal part of the ending, and at times I felt it was like, “Oh, and here’s some ghost stuff...”
I’m not sure I’d recommend this book to a friend, but I’m interested in reading more from this author.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
A story about love and letting go while bringing to life the pain and suffering of our nation’s history, racism and family.
Jojo is a 13 year old mixed boy. Normally, his Black grandparents would take care of him and his 3 year old sister, but his grandmother is dying of cancer, so his chronically absent mother is in charge, and has decided to bring the two of them with her to pick up their father from prison. But this family is haunted by its past, figuratively and literally.
I picked this up on a whim because the audio had no wait at my library, but also because of the NYT Top 100 list - Jesmyn Ward was the only author to appear three separate times, so I thought it was time to finally read her stuff.
I definitely understand why Ward is so lauded. This book packs so much into less than 300 pages. I was so surprised how many topics this covers, to different levels of subtlety. We talk about generational trauma, the prison and justice system, drug use and how it affects a family, racism, and police brutality among others. The speculative element tied very well into what is otherwise a very realistic, gritty story, and absolutely warrants the Morrison comparison. The setting and atmosphere of the sweltering South was well-done. Possibly the most successful part of this was how it complexly characterizes everyone we see. Leonie, the mother, is a drug addict who has basically abandoned her children. She literally neglects to feed her children and worse, but has no problem going to lengths for drugs, and then is jealous of her 13 year old son for having a better relationship with her daughter. But we still feel empathy for her and all she's gone through, and want her to be better! SeeingJojo and Kayla go through this trip is entirely harrowing on multiple levels and can be hard to watch. However, my main detractor from this book was that it felt like not a lot happened. I could've used more plot, but also felt like we could have seen even more from all of our characters and gotten more resolution. Everything in the book was good, but I felt like there was more to go through.
On a side note, I wouldn't recommend the audiobook. One of the narrators in the first half of the book consistently drops in volume for every sentence, whispering by the end of it so it's hard to hear. It's not there in the second half, but it was enough to really frustrate me.
Overall, this is a great literary fiction that covers lots of thematic ground. I'd highly recommend it although I wish there was a little bit more plot.
I picked this up on a whim because the audio had no wait at my library, but also because of the NYT Top 100 list - Jesmyn Ward was the only author to appear three separate times, so I thought it was time to finally read her stuff.
I definitely understand why Ward is so lauded. This book packs so much into less than 300 pages. I was so surprised how many topics this covers, to different levels of subtlety. We talk about generational trauma, the prison and justice system, drug use and how it affects a family, racism, and police brutality among others. The speculative element tied very well into what is otherwise a very realistic, gritty story, and absolutely warrants the Morrison comparison. The setting and atmosphere of the sweltering South was well-done. Possibly the most successful part of this was how it complexly characterizes everyone we see. Leonie, the mother, is a drug addict who has basically abandoned her children. She literally neglects to feed her children and worse, but has no problem going to lengths for drugs, and then is jealous of her 13 year old son for having a better relationship with her daughter. But we still feel empathy for her and all she's gone through, and want her to be better! SeeingJojo and Kayla go through this trip is entirely harrowing on multiple levels and can be hard to watch. However, my main detractor from this book was that it felt like not a lot happened. I could've used more plot, but also felt like we could have seen even more from all of our characters and gotten more resolution. Everything in the book was good, but I felt like there was more to go through.
On a side note, I wouldn't recommend the audiobook. One of the narrators in the first half of the book consistently drops in volume for every sentence, whispering by the end of it so it's hard to hear. It's not there in the second half, but it was enough to really frustrate me.
Overall, this is a great literary fiction that covers lots of thematic ground. I'd highly recommend it although I wish there was a little bit more plot.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Unexpectedly good and extremely visually arresting, especially as an audiobook. I didn't expect the ghosts and found the language poetic and lyrical.