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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Tragic characters in a tragically wounded world
Sad, but lovely.
A haunting book about a road trip to a prison. Great character development.
A beautifully and tightly written story that evokes the epic dimensions of ordinary life among neglected individuals in our society.
I wanted to love this more than I did…
Very difficult to read.
The NewYorker touted Jesmyn Ward’s ‘Sing, Unburied, Sing,’ so I expected a high-caliber literary read. But the finely-crafted supernatural elements are an unexpected pleasure in this searing & beautiful novel about family, the prison of childhood, racism, trauma & imperfect love.
Ms. Ward is one of the most important writers of our times. It is no wonder she has received the National Book Award for two novels. I find her writing soulful, heartbreaking, and original.
Beautifully written and a gritty, painful haunting story line.
This is a demanding novel, demanding because the world the novelist presents is so intensely realized: hardly any physical detail passes without some metaphorical enhancement or intensification, such that things (or events) are rarely allowed to speak for themselves. Wests’s talent is prodigious, without a doubt, but I think she’s too overbearing – both with her characters and with their experiences.
This book tells the story of a black family from the point of view of a teenager. It is sad yet very realistic as it depicts life for these 3 generations of this family, and the deep racism they endure in the Sourh, showing how events from the past leak into the future. Highly recommend.
he main character in this story is a 13 year old boy named Jojo. He is the son of a drug addict mother and his father is in jail. He is the main caregiver of his little sister Kayla because his mother is inconsistent in their lives. He does have a grandmother and grandfather that care for him deeply – Pop and Ma – who live with him. Jojo’s mother can’t quite put mothering at the top of her list of needs above her drug addiction, She is also tornmented by the constant presence of her dead brother, Given, who died as a teenager.
Jojo’s dad is released from prison so his mom takes him and his sister to pick him up. Jojo meets a dead boy named Richie when he is at the prison. He was 13 when he was an inmate and carries the story of how bad the South was when he was there. He follows Jojo and his family home, hoping Jojo’s grandfather – who knew the boy as an inmate – can help release him from earth.
This was a pretty good story. Like one reviewer stated “I appreciated it, but I didn’t love it” – is how I feel as well. The writing was fantastic. And my heart broke for Jojo and Kayla knowing that there are so many kids in their kind of situation. But other than that – I just didn’t connect to the story. Plots seemed to swirl around each other, and I had trouble connecting the characters to the story.
I am not saying don’t read this book. There are too many things to like about it to pass it up. Just know that you may feel a little disconnected from the story. Or….you may not.
My book club — & I — found much to ponder &, even in the face of such daunting oppression & travails faced by all its characters, enough hope for the characters and the next generation in SING, UNBURIED, SING. We found that author Jesmyn Ward gives us the way to allow all that is unburied to sing, to be voiced, to be faced by all the living. America, You must seek and then face all that is buried, as history of our nation is VERY present, never-dead.
Just guessing that people who read books like this do not live the type of life described in here. This shows heartrendingly bad parenting and the reader is left wondering if the protagonist will even make to adulthood.
Exceptionally sad and disturbing. Even though it’s beautifully written, I found the characters to be too conflicted and the situations too haunting (literally). There is not one happy moment in this book and I can’t recommend reading it.
She is a masterful writer; every sentence stopped me because of its beauty. This is strong, beautiful writing at its best–with so much to say and see–I cannot recommend this book more highly.
Of the many books I’ve read, this is one of the best!
Beautiful writing.
Just finished this amazing and important work! Couldn’t recommend it more.
Beautifully written. Memorable characters. Heartbreaking.