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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
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.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“Sometimes the world don’t give you what you need, no matter how hard you look. Sometimes it withholds.”
Full review @https://ecstaticyetchaotic.wordpress.com/2017/12/03/book-review-sing-unburied-sing-by-jesmyn-ward/
A mix of reality and fantasy, Sing, Unburied, Sing, is a heart-wrenching tale of the souls who crave to go home, metaphorically and literally. The book brings to us a poverty-stricken and a racist world, where privileged people find new, unimaginable ways to torment the meek (the blacks in this case).
“Home is where the heart is”― Pliny the Elder
This was an emotional rollercoaster and about 50 pages in, I realized I needed to stop judging the characters and look at the bigger picture. I think the addition of fantasy was a real treat and it complimented the plot, making it more dramatic and true.
There are a lot of social themes that are highlighted throughout, most important being Racism. Blacks have been tormented and exploited throughout. There are instances where the characters are taught to live a particular way just because they are black and the society doesn’t like them much. For instance-Leonie is a Black woman and Michael, Jojo’s dad is a white man, and we see Leonie not being accepted by her in-laws because of her color.
Full review @https://ecstaticyetchaotic.wordpress.com/2017/12/03/book-review-sing-unburied-sing-by-jesmyn-ward/
A mix of reality and fantasy, Sing, Unburied, Sing, is a heart-wrenching tale of the souls who crave to go home, metaphorically and literally. The book brings to us a poverty-stricken and a racist world, where privileged people find new, unimaginable ways to torment the meek (the blacks in this case).
“Home is where the heart is”― Pliny the Elder
This was an emotional rollercoaster and about 50 pages in, I realized I needed to stop judging the characters and look at the bigger picture. I think the addition of fantasy was a real treat and it complimented the plot, making it more dramatic and true.
There are a lot of social themes that are highlighted throughout, most important being Racism. Blacks have been tormented and exploited throughout. There are instances where the characters are taught to live a particular way just because they are black and the society doesn’t like them much. For instance-Leonie is a Black woman and Michael, Jojo’s dad is a white man, and we see Leonie not being accepted by her in-laws because of her color.
Audiobook. I listened to almost all of this several months ago but never finished it until now. Clearly it was hard for me to stick with it so I can't rate it too high. I thought the narration was good, just slow moving and very sad. The writing was good but I'd probably would have appreciated it more if I had actually read the book.
dark
emotional
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:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Very well written, heavy, and compelling. Nothing ground breaking but very entertaining and thoughtful. Hard not to fall in love with Jojo and Kayla.
First read for Black History Month!
3.5 stars.
I quite enjoyed this, but something is keeping me from shouting from the rooftops that I loved it. The plot is relatively simple - a drug addict mother goes on a roadtrip with her two children and drug addict friend to meet the father of her children upon his release from prison. Meanwhile, the characters are haunted by visions of various ghosts, and it becomes about helping them move on to whatever place is after the purgatory in which they currently exist.
The writing? Gorgeous. At times it felt like I was reading poetry. That being said, it is written in the first person, and the characters are a) a drug-addict neglectful mother, and b) her thirteen-year old son. It’s a little bizarre to hear their internal thoughts tackling such mature ideas while their actions demonstrate nothing but immaturity. It leads to a kind of disconnect between the plot and the themes.
This book also tackles a LOT for how short it is. It talks about grief, addiction, racism, motherhood, spiritualism, poverty, police brutality, generational relationships, dealing with in-laws, slavers, incarceration - and it’s only 280 pages (with large font). I like what it had to say, but it felt a little jumbled and haphazard in its presentation.
By the end I was moved, and some of the imagery it evoked in me will stick with me. It teeters a bit too into magical realism and by the end I was left wondering what it was trying to say beyond the surface level analysis of “don’t hit your children,” “respect your elders,” “racism bad.”
3.5 stars.
I quite enjoyed this, but something is keeping me from shouting from the rooftops that I loved it. The plot is relatively simple - a drug addict mother goes on a roadtrip with her two children and drug addict friend to meet the father of her children upon his release from prison. Meanwhile, the characters are haunted by visions of various ghosts, and it becomes about helping them move on to whatever place is after the purgatory in which they currently exist.
The writing? Gorgeous. At times it felt like I was reading poetry. That being said, it is written in the first person, and the characters are a) a drug-addict neglectful mother, and b) her thirteen-year old son. It’s a little bizarre to hear their internal thoughts tackling such mature ideas while their actions demonstrate nothing but immaturity. It leads to a kind of disconnect between the plot and the themes.
This book also tackles a LOT for how short it is. It talks about grief, addiction, racism, motherhood, spiritualism, poverty, police brutality, generational relationships, dealing with in-laws, slavers, incarceration - and it’s only 280 pages (with large font). I like what it had to say, but it felt a little jumbled and haphazard in its presentation.
By the end I was moved, and some of the imagery it evoked in me will stick with me. It teeters a bit too into magical realism and by the end I was left wondering what it was trying to say beyond the surface level analysis of “don’t hit your children,” “respect your elders,” “racism bad.”
dark
emotional
sad
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:
Yes