A review by gwendle_vs_literature
Whose Names Are Unknown by Sanora Babb

emotional informative sad

5.0

This novel is beautiful, evocative, heartbreaking, compassionate, and concise. Nothing is drawn out, but nothing felt like it had been omitted either. It is no surprise that Sonora Babb, who came from a farming family and who lived and worked among the migrant/refugee workers fleeing the worst of the dust bowl was able to craft a narrative so much more respectful (rather than pitying) of those people than stories written around the same time by a writer who was only briefly a tourist in those camps for research purposes (and who was given access to her notes).

It’s a crime that this novel had to wait so long to be published, and I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to read it.