Review: Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Title: Sing, Unburied, Sing
Author: Jesmyn Ward
Publisher: Scribner
Publication Date: September 5, 2017
Edition: ebook (304 pages)
Genres:

• Fiction
• African American Fiction
• Contemporary Fiction
• Cultural
• Literary Fiction

Literary Awards:

• National Book Award for Fiction (2017)
• Andrew Carnegie Medal Nominee for Fiction (2018)
• Kirkus Prize Nominee for Fiction (2017)
• Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Fiction (2017)
• Reading Women Award Nominee for Fiction (2017)

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Set in rural Mississippi, in modern times, Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward chronicles the lives of a family struggling with poverty, prejudice and death. As with her previous book, Salvage the Bones, this book is raw with feeling, the consequences of abject poverty and the overcoming of much.

Jojo, thirteen, and his little sister, Kayla, three, live with their maternal grandparents. Their mother is not a constant presence. She is battling drug addiction. Their father, Michael, is about to be released from prison. And their maternal grandmother is dying of cancer. Their mother decides to bring Jojo and Kayla with her when she drives north to bring Michael home after he is released from prison. The trip is not easy, and there is danger lurking.

There is so much more to this book than I can describe here, but I am not surprised at the number of literary awards it has received. Jesmyn Ward knows how to tell a great story.