Reviews with content warning for Death - Sing, Unburied, Sing

A book written with shifting perspectives and narrators about a family struggling with addiction, incarceration, illness, racism, and life. It's a powerful story, and the writing style is unique and often beautiful. I struggled when it turned a bit more magical/spiritual, but it is a truly singular novel and voice.

Content Warnings

katreads2022's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

The language of this book is just so amazing. The prose alone vaunts it to exceptional, although the plot can be somewhat aimless and bare. Jesmyn Ward writes beautifully.

Content Warnings

mia_merrill's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Content Warnings

miak2's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Sometimes the world don't give you what you need, no matter how hard you look. Sometimes it withholds.

This is a tale of two books for me. Part of this book I found excellent, easily 4+ stars. The other part is a 1 star at best. So I'm settling with three.

Which might not be fair to the author, I realize. It's not that she did anything inherently wrong during the sections of the book I disliked, rather I disliked Leonie so much because she wasn't written to be likeable, just haunted and complex. I acknowledge that, but reading through those parts was just such an unpleasant experience that I can't bring myself to rate this higher despite what I enjoyed about it.

On that note, though, Jojo was a great character to follow. He really did come across as a scared teenager, but with the wisdom and maturity of somebody who's been forced into a parental role far too early. Similarly, the slow uncovering of the story between Jojo's grandfather and a fellow inmate from his teens was moving and heartbreaking.

And, certainly, the reflection on race was incredibly thoughtful and well-done. It, alongside family motifs, was a driving factor throughout the story, and we saw how it strained interracial relationships and friendships, how Pops was treated as a Black prisoner, and how Leonie and especially Jojo are treated by the police. It's a crushing look at the very real issues that still plague our society to this day.

All that being said, I really really disliked Leonie. And, again, she wasn't made to be likeable, only complex. But the way that she treated her children, everywhere from neglect to outright abuse, the way she almost completely ignores them when her boyfriend is around. Absolutely a realistic character, there are certainly mothers out there lacking that parental instinct, but I had a hard time reading through it.

Another, much smaller, gripe is that Ward's paragraphs are quite long. It shouldn't matter, I know, but something about reading pages and pages of dense walls of texts really made it feel like I had to slog through at times. (Especially when they were about her relationship with Michael, which I cared very little about. And they usually were!)

All in all, I'm glad that I read this, but I didn't necessarily enjoy reading it.

Content Warnings