WINNER of the NATIONAL BOOK AWARD and A NEW YORK TIMES TOP 10 BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A finalist for the Kirkus Prize, Andrew Carnegie Medal, Aspen Words Literary Prize, and a New York Times bestseller, this majestic, stirring, and widely praised novel from two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward, the story of a family on a journey through rural Mississippi, is a “tour de force” (O, The … Mississippi, is a “tour de force” (O, The Oprah Magazine) and a timeless work of fiction that is destined to become a classic.
Jesmyn Ward’s historic second National Book Award–winner is “perfectly poised for the moment” (The New York Times), an intimate portrait of three generations of a family and an epic tale of hope and struggle. “Ward’s writing throbs with life, grief, and love… this book is the kind that makes you ache to return to it” (Buzzfeed).
Jojo is thirteen years old and trying to understand what it means to be a man. He doesn’t lack in fathers to study, chief among them his Black grandfather, Pop. But there are other men who complicate his understanding: his absent White father, Michael, who is being released from prison; his absent White grandfather, Big Joseph, who won’t acknowledge his existence; and the memories of his dead uncle, Given, who died as a teenager.
His mother, Leonie, is an inconsistent presence in his and his toddler sister’s lives. She is an imperfect mother in constant conflict with herself and those around her. She is Black and her children’s father is White. She wants to be a better mother but can’t put her children above her own needs, especially her drug use. Simultaneously tormented and comforted by visions of her dead brother, which only come to her when she’s high, Leonie is embattled in ways that reflect the brutal reality of her circumstances.
When the children’s father is released from prison, Leonie packs her kids and a friend into her car and drives north to the heart of Mississippi and Parchman Farm, the State Penitentiary. At Parchman, there is another thirteen-year-old boy, the ghost of a dead inmate who carries all of the ugly history of the South with him in his wandering. He too has something to teach Jojo about fathers and sons, about legacies, about violence, about love.
Rich with Ward’s distinctive, lyrical language, Sing, Unburied, Sing is a majestic and unforgettable family story and “an odyssey through rural Mississippi’s past and present” (The Philadelphia Inquirer).
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A wonderful story that will make you see things from a new perspective.
The book reminded me a little of Toni Morrison’s work.
I hated this book and it’s cast of unlikable characters. I picked this up based on the reviews posted. Seems like those reviewers were reading a different book! I read 2-3 books a week but was absolutely unable to finish this one. I do NOT recommend.
How many times did I clap my hand over my mouth while reading this book, awash in inarticulate emotion? The book deals with many themes: racism, mass incarceration, addiction, shame, power, magic. It’s a ghost story, a road trip, a multigenerational saga. I sobbed, chuckled, and mainly sat riveted by the utterly gorgeous words falling around me at the author’s deft wielding.
Having grown up in the South, I relate to too many parts of this book. Being white, I didn’t recognize others on a personal level, and some aspects of these characters’ lives slammed into my soul, previously unfelt but now searingly real. The characters that seem stock on page one are vividly rendered on every page thereafter. This is a book that will live on long after the final page flutters into the wind like a blackbird’s fallen feather.
Extraordinary
To me, this book reminded me of the magical realism of South American writers, but set in the southern US. Some of the characters were not likable as human beings, but when you looked out through their eyes, you understood them. Amazing story.
Ward has a way of talking creole jive and making it sound erudite. Great characters, great wordsmithing, great story. One of those books you don’t want to end, and when it does, although it is on a perfect note, it seems too soon.
It was hard to read because of the poverty and violence of this family. It’s realism was authentic. It opened many doors for me
Eye opener about what she lived through. I liked it betterthan Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” which I read immediately after.recommendhighly—
Gorgeous prose, a compelling story and richly constructed characters made this a must read.
It’s a wonderfully written book, haunting, sad, uplifting and engrossing.
Her prose is like poetry.
A fabulous book on audio as well as in print. The voices were perfect. I highly recommend listening to this magnificent book
A haunting book about people whose lives are very different than mine.
Lyrical prose with a dark and verging on magical realism style.
Brutal story. Underbelly of drugs and poverty. Difficult to read.
Unrelieved misery!
Didn’t like the characters.
Highly recommend. Very original. Moved me to tears.
Unforgettable characters.