This was really good. It was slice of life, which isn’t my favorite type of story, but these characters were great and the story was heartbreaking. The writing was really good and I enjoyed it.

Was not able to access the book. Switched from a BN tablet to a Kindle. The download would not access my Kindle

Rich in detail, family and horror. Really excellent and only sorry it took me so long to get to this.

A book about haunting and death but also the living and barely alive. This book digs at the heart of why impacted people - Black folks in this case - are more vulnerable to the hauntings of those murdered by racists. It also shows how these hauntings can lead people down roads that are cyclical and unceasing.

A beautiful, powerful, profound book. I've read it twice and led a book club discussion on this one because I loved it so much. A rich text full of things to talk about, and I'll read anything Ward writes now.

I'm not sure what it is about Ward that I just can't enjoy. Her writing is undeniably powerful, her prose both lyrical and brutal as she tackles tough subjects of race, violence, incarceration, drugs and trauma. Her work draws strongly from the traditions of Toni Morrison and her use of the ghostly conjures Beloved. But I just didn't feel it the way the earlier work touched me so profoundly. Rather, it seemed to suffer by comparison. Having also read Salvage the Bones with similar mixed feelings I can only conclude that, for whatever reason, Ward is not the author for me. It's always a shame to acknowledge an author's talent without being able to fully engage with it. It's not you Jesmyn, it's definitely me.

This book has won so many awards, and it's easy to see why. This story sent me on an emotional roller coaster in the best kind of way. There were some parts that went a little slower, but overall, I know this is a book I'll remember for a long time.

I'm clearing out books that I requested ages ago and have been on sale for years! I really enjoyed this title.

There is literally nothing in the world that Ward could write that I would not jump to read, and Sing, Unburied, Sing is no exception. Brilliant, heartbreaking, whipsmart, incisive, insightful. Everything we want in a novel that makes us feel and burn and think.

This book was haunting, and the writing is beautiful. The pacing was a little off for me since the most of it is slower and takes its time, which left the ending feeling a little rushed to me.

This is a beautifully written story following a mother and her two children as they travel across the country to meet their father who has been released from jail. The characters are really interesting, and I liked the different perspectives and voices - although they weren't always entirely convincing in their use of language.

Unfortunately for me, the magical realism elements didn't work - more of a personal preference than anything else! And once a ghost started narrating, I struggled to get through the book as for me it took away from the main story which I had found really interesting.

Heartbreaking story of tragic loss, addiction, and a family struggling to survive. This is a book that should be required reading for all high school students.

I loved this book, but found it really difficult to read. This is perhaps why it took me years to actually finish it.

Ward writes such compelling characters, and I was so drawn to Jojo as he navigates the circumstances he's growing up in. I think of this as the road trip from hell, but the power of the book is that so much of what he experiences is common to many - there's nothing that happens here that couldn't happen to any other Black or mixed-race family in America today, and the issues that surround Jojo and his family are unfortunate realities for lots of families.

The inclusion of a ghost that travels with Jojo adds another layer to the story and subtly drives home many elements of the story.

Difficult, thought-provoking, and highly recommended.

This story is haunting and beautiful. It stuck with me for a long time after reading. I'm not sure that I loved it, but it was memorable.

This one was beautifully written, but ultimately hard for me to follow. I know so many people loved it, but I found the supernatural elements to be a tad confusing.

This was one of the few books that lived up to the hype for me. An absolute masterpiece. I enjoyed it so much that I'm not sure I could do it justice in a lengthy review.

I made the assumption based on some of the early reviews I stumbled across and the synopsis that this would be an enjoyable experience. However, I was not aware this storyline contained magical realism, something I struggle to accept with fiction. While I think that this is probably a fantastic read in the right reader's hands, this just wasn't my cup of tea. I made the decision to set the book aside and move on. Thank you for access to an early copy.

SING, UNBURIED, SING is a powerful addition to the catalog of one of my favorite contemporary writers; it’s a heavy and hopeful story, and one that won’t be easy to dispel.

Told from varying perspectives, SING focuses on 13 year old Jojo, his sister, mother, father, grandfather Pop, grandmother Mam, and the ghost of a boy that Pop knew in prison. The book begins with Mam sick and, unrelated, Jojo’s mother Leonie planning to take him and his sister to pick up their father from prison.

This book, I think, is mostly about "protect"[ing] others—something that the ghost and other characters remark upon throughout the book—and how much more difficult that task is when both parties concerned are black. Jojo, who is biracial, takes care of his sister; Pop takes care of the kids. Both of their efforts are sometimes limited by others. There are Leonie and her white partner Michael, and they protect one another and no one else. Then there are black men who weren’t able to be protected—whose black bodies were at the mercy of white men. And black children who aren’t able to be protected, including Jojo himself, in arguably one of the most disturbing scenes in the book.

The book draws our attention to the violence done against black bodies, black people. How white people dehumanize black people and see them as less than and as threats, even when they’re children.

But it’s also a story about love and hope. How the best kind of love is nurturing and reciprocal, and how it's possible to father/mother someone who is not your biological child.

I didn't quite understand or like what the ghost does in the final big scene with Leonie. But, from beginning to end, SING makes me grateful to Jesmyn Ward for telling the stories we need to hear and in ways we won’t forget.

4.5 stars

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Netgalley. All opinions provided are my own.

This book sharpened my perspective on racial inequality. I highly recommend for boomers as well as millennials.

A beautifully written atmospheric family saga. Mostly character driven and a little slow at times, but Jesmyn Ward created such intricately detailed the character arcs that I could not get enough.