tlcooperauthorpoet 's review for:

Mother Swamp by Jesmyn Ward

5.0

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Mother Swamp by Jesmyn Ward latches on to the psyche and won't let go. I couldn't stop thinking about this story. It enthralled me in ways I really didn't expect. The clinging to the old ways and the desire to break free battling in this story of survival demonstrate the lengths people will go to to survive and to propagate. When First Mother develops a plan to keep her lineage alive and follows through with it, it's a risk that starts a ritual that feels at once necessary, uncomfortable, and unsustainable. Ward writes beautifully of the world she creates in the woods and the relationship/non-relationship between the two communities with similar goals. Mother Swamp explores how rituals can become traditions that stymy the recognition of options to achieve goals with a subtly and brilliance that never get in the way of the story itself.