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A review by tysonburleigh
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
3.0
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.”