Reviews

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

traitorjoes's review against another edition

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4.0

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sarahzg's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

ovenbird_reads's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 stars. I'm still not sure how I feel about this book. it was powerfully written and I kept turning the pages compulsively yet it broke my heart again and again to the point that I wasn't sure I could finish reading it. too many children suffering too horribly for me to stand. but I did finish it and I am left feeling deeply saddened. this book punched a hole in me. be warned I guess.

lauramcsherry's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Sing, Unburied, Sing


3.5 ⭐️

This book was definitely a different book than I’m used to reading but had a unique voice. I so felt for Jojo and Kayla as they grew up in a house with a drug-addicted mother. The audiobook did a really good job with the different characters. 

wamz's review against another edition

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2.0

Strange book. Lost me with the ghosts.

jessehersh's review against another edition

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3.0

I wanted to like this book so badly!!! And there were plenty of really compelling passages and stories. At the end of the day, the ghost storyline threw me and I couldn’t come back from it, even with the ending.

maritzasolo's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

ddillon154's review against another edition

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3.0

The prose is very skillful and beautiful but it sometimes overrides the story, which I found itself to be rather understated and at times plodding. A great example of a novel more interested in philosophical musings than storytelling, though still worth a read.

skrrtvonnegut's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a very harrowing, tough read. There are scenes and interactions where your heart is in your throat, with some of the most palpable tension I've ever read. Jesmyn Ward masterfully manages to write a very concise story that encapsulates so many predetermined and long ongoing into the future circumstances in these characters lives. In a lot of ways the tension of the immediate, contained events against the overall backdrop the characters are forced to deal with is like her version of the afterlife, "That the history and sentiment that carved the place out of the wilderness would show me that time is a vast ocean, and that everything is happening at once," what is immediate and in front of them is made of so much pain and memory, as well as pain and horrors to come, all at once. She writes the real so starkly and the somewhat mystical so believably. A real great treat to read and appreciate, no matter how hard it was at times.

gylait's review

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challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

As I sit here, attempting to write a review for this novel, I am finding it hard to compose my thoughts. I will be honest and say that it took me many breaks to get through this book, not because of any distaste for the writing or the literary elements, but mostly because of the haunting and sad nature of this book. It weighed heavily on me.

The main narrators of this book include Jojo, a young teenage boy, who, because of his mother’s substance use and his father’s incarceration, finds himself having to step up and take care of his younger sister Kayla, as well as help his grandparents. Both of them are grappling with their own trauma, as his grandma is dying of cancer and his grandpa is reflecting on his own experiences in prison.

Another narrator includes Leonie, Jojo’s mom, who did not receive as much “air time” as I had hoped for her. Her substance use brings her closer to her deceased brother (appearing as a ghost when she is high), who was lynched by the cousin of her current partner. The dynamic between her Black identity and her partner’s White identity was not explored as much as I had hoped it would be, especially given the very large plot point with Leonie’s brother. The chapters with Leonie’s narration felt rushed. I had wished she had more depth to her story rather than just someone who is struggling to thrive because of her past traumas and her difficulties navigating mother.

Lastly, we have the narrator of Richie, a ghost. I honestly really loved this element of the story and although I am not usually one for magical realism, I felt that this really added a beautiful throughline for each of the narrators, especially Jojo. I had wished that the ending wrapped this piece up a bit more, but the lasting thoughts it left me with regarding how we honor the victims of murders motivated by racism and hate, was a conversation I’d love to continue to think about.

Jesmyn’s writing overall was such a strong part of this book and I felt she beautifully crafted the character of Jojo. He felt real, he felt whole, and he felt human. This to me was a standout of this novel and I look forward to reading other books by Ward in the future