Sing, Unburied, Sing
Yet another book by our gal, Jesmyn Ward. This time it's a fiction novel about a similar group of people to her memoir, a deep south, rural, disadvantaged community, but it centers around one family. There's a young lady, Leonie, who had a kid at 17, by a white boyfriend, Michael, and then another one some years later. We are following the family through various anecdotes as they deal
with the grandparents, both black and the white ones who want nothing to do with them, as well as a long road trip to the prison where the boyfriend is being held, to pick him up.
Now, the anecdotes are pretty good, but she did add another layer to it by telling the story in the first person from multiple different perspectives. There are chapters told from the mother Leonie's perspective, and others told from the perspective of her son, Jojo, and one from another character, Richie, which leads to the supernatural element of all this.
You see, Richie is a young black boy who was thrown in prison when he was a young teenager, decades ago, for some small offense, and was brutally murdered shortly thereafter. He now appears to this family as a ghost that only Jojo can see. Jojo interacts with Richie, by way of some clairvoyant ability.
Leonie has some clairvoyant moments too, where she sees the spirit of her own brother, a boy named Given, who was murdered by her boyfriend's cousin, actually. He appears in her field of vision now and then but doesn't speak, just watches as she deals with the grief.
Overall, the book was fascinating, and Ward's writing style is very emotional and gripping. She feels just as close to her subject matter with this one than her memoir.
The mix of a slight belief in the occult did make me a bit uncomfortable, I'm not a huge fan of the whole, speaking with the dead, holding a seance, spirits roam among us type of belief system. I mean, I think there are spirits out there, I just don't mess with them. I don't need to have a first hand encounter with one, that's okay.
Still a great discussion of family, and the relationship of past to present. Seeing the same scenes from different perspectives was a great, unexpected way to characterize to these people.
Now, the anecdotes are pretty good, but she did add another layer to it by telling the story in the first person from multiple different perspectives. There are chapters told from the mother Leonie's perspective, and others told from the perspective of her son, Jojo, and one from another character, Richie, which leads to the supernatural element of all this.
You see, Richie is a young black boy who was thrown in prison when he was a young teenager, decades ago, for some small offense, and was brutally murdered shortly thereafter. He now appears to this family as a ghost that only Jojo can see. Jojo interacts with Richie, by way of some clairvoyant ability.
Leonie has some clairvoyant moments too, where she sees the spirit of her own brother, a boy named Given, who was murdered by her boyfriend's cousin, actually. He appears in her field of vision now and then but doesn't speak, just watches as she deals with the grief.
Overall, the book was fascinating, and Ward's writing style is very emotional and gripping. She feels just as close to her subject matter with this one than her memoir.
The mix of a slight belief in the occult did make me a bit uncomfortable, I'm not a huge fan of the whole, speaking with the dead, holding a seance, spirits roam among us type of belief system. I mean, I think there are spirits out there, I just don't mess with them. I don't need to have a first hand encounter with one, that's okay.
Still a great discussion of family, and the relationship of past to present. Seeing the same scenes from different perspectives was a great, unexpected way to characterize to these people.
