Sing Unburied Sing has been described as a 'Southern Odyssey' and it certainly lives up to this. While it only spans days in real time, it covers years of racial tensions, poverty and struggle in the rural South. 

The story is told from multiple perspectives - largely 13 year old Jojo and his mother Leonie - who is addicted to cocaine, and a neglectful mother. Jojo and his sister Kayla, are mixed race, with a black mother and white father, and as such have been disowned by his father's white family, instead primarily cared for by their 'Pop', Leonie's father. An excursion to pick up Michael, the children's father, upon his release from prison is a harrowing journey through the lives they live and struggle through. The multiple perspectives, alongside elements of magical realism, captures the lack of communication and understanding between characters, which drives much of the tension and frustration of the narrative. 

The story is truly tense, as it feels throughout as though the family is about to implode. Jojo's narrative is deeply moving, and often difficult, and while Leonie's is far less sympathetic, it does give insight into her experiences and how she struggles to relate to and connect with her own children. There are stark and horrific moments, in everyday tasks as well as the horrendous injustices the family face. However, there are also, very momentarily, deeply beautiful moments, between Jojo and his sister, or with his Pop. The setting is completely immersive - you can almost feel the oppressive heat and imagine the many smells of the novel filling your nostrils. The magical realism is captured so seamlessly that it doesn't feel odd or out of place but perfectly fits with the themes the narrative has gradually established. 

Ward captures the intensity of human emotion in the smallest of actions and incidences, in the same way that the family becomes a microcosm for Southern society - with the relationships between the black and white families, and the history between them reflecting larger tensions and discrimination. The book is difficult and complex, as well as truly sad, but it is not completely bleak with a sense of hope in the characters of Jojo and Kayla, as well as a pure good-heartedness in Pop. 

This book is truly stunning and it will be a big one this year.

This is a real tough one. Tough to read. Tough to evaluate. BUT. 4 because the voice was so searing and effective.

A dysfunctional family tale, but not the usual one. The power of this book grows on you.

The setting:
"Jojo [13] and his toddler sister, Kayla, live with their grandparents, Mam and Pop, and the[ir crack head] ... mother, Leonie, on a farm on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Leonie is simultaneously tormented and comforted by visions of her dead brother, which only come to her when she’s high; Mam is dying of cancer; and quiet, steady Pop tries to run the household and teach Jojo how to be a man. When the white father of Leonie’s children is released from prison, she packs her kids and a friend into her car and sets out across the state for Parchman farm, the Mississippi State Penitentiary..."

There are ghosts in this story. Leonie is visited by her dead brother, Given--when she's high--which is often. Jojo is visted by Richie, a young boy imprisoned with Pop [River] way back when. Jojo only knows part of Richie's story because Pop doesn't reveal all til near the end of the book.

Leonie is not mother material--affirmed by her mother, Mam. [I loved Mam.] Leonie is more concerned with herself than feeding her children. Jojo, in fact, takes care of Kayla as Leonie is incapable. He cares that Kayla is always hungry and gives [and steals] her food rather than feed himself. Although Jojo and Kayla are [to me] the heart of the story, my criticism is way too much of the hunger scenes and Jojo as parent, but understand reflective of the situation. Sometimes I felt as if Ward were bashing me over the head with repetition of the sadness of their situation.

Michael's parents are racists and can't abide that their son's girlfriend/then wife, is black. In fact, they have never met their grandchildren, until... Read to see how the layers unfold in this regard.

Some of the language caught my attention.
Consider:
"my shoulders even as a hanger"
"...I could see a shadow of Big Joseph in him... see the ways the years would soften him to his daddy. How fat would wreathe him, and he would settle into his bbig frame the way a house settles into the earth underneath it.""...the dream...a bruise in the memory that hurts when I touch it."
"He matched the sky, which hung low, a silver colander full to leak. It was drizzling."
"The pain glistens in her black irises, moves like smoke over the whites."

And so on. There's drug abuse, racial problems, poverty, tragedy, sadness, and love. Often heartbreaking. But give this book a chance, as it's power will grow on you, haunt you, and linger in your thoughts.

Recommended.

The best thing about this book is the characters. They all feel well developed and realistic and this is an impressive feat considering how short the book is. I thought that it was a good idea to have alternating perspectives between the son Jojo and the mum Leonie as I wouldn't have had any sympathy for or understanding of Leonie if some of the story wasn't told from her perspective. This is essentially Jojo's story, but I thought that was a good decision. I thought the subject matter was interested and I was especially interested in the way the story explored the themes of race and incarceration. After researching the author, I found out that she has written a non-fiction book exploring this topic (which I have already purchased) and I think it will be an interesting read as the author clearly has a good understanding of this topic. The only reason I didn't give this a five star rating is because I really disliked the supernatural elements of the story. I found them to be jarring and they kept taking me out of a story I was really enjoying. This book started off being really gritty and realistic and I expected this to be maintained throughout. The introduction of supernatural element spoilt this. It's was disappointing that Jojo's parents didn't really seem to evolve as people, but I actually think it was quite realistic. If they'd all lived happily ever after I would've have believed it. Overall, I would really recommend this book.

Ward's writing could not be more relevant to this current moment in U.S. history. It's poetic and beautiful, while the subject matter is terrifying and ugly. The story is told from multiple perspectives, encouraging empathy from the reader and demanding that they look at the world around them with the same consideration.

A restorative justice training in 2014 helped me understand the educational impact of trauma and taught me how to instruct knowing that the majority of my students at the time had high ACE scores (adverse childhood experiences).

Many teachers understand and have sympathy for students with rough home lives, but we need to move beyond feelings into action.  Students who have experienced trauma are not lazy, explosive, or defiant- they are in survival mode.  Their brains develop differently as a result of the trauma and teachers need to use trauma-informed practices in our classrooms.

Sing, Unburied, Sing is drenched in trauma and follows JoJo and his sister Kayla as they leave the familiarity of their grandparents' home and their dying grandmother to go on a road trip with their distant drug-addicted mother to pick up the children's abusive father from prison.  JoJo serves a dual role as a child and as a father figure to his toddler sister, a role I've observed many times in real life.  JoJo stole my heart and I mourned for him with each page.

The trauma present in the lives of JoJo and Kayla, while horrific, is not that unusual in our world, and is a powerful reminder to all of us who work with children.  In fact, trauma was pervasive throughout all of the generations represented in the novel.  Immerse yourself in this book, enter into the children's lives, weep, then dry yourself off and do something because...

None of it happened and all of it's true. -Jeanne Ray

Out September 5th!!! Thank you Scribner for allowing me to review this book!

I was lucky enough to get a digital arc of this book via netgalley.

I have encountered Ward earlier in the year when I read the series of essays "The Fire This Time" that she curated, which was thought provoking and highly educational for me.

Sing, Unburied, Sing, which is going to be published in November in the UK, follows a family in the deep South as they navigate grief, loss and betrayal. Ward is a skilled storyteller and the change in perspectives from the different point of views we follow is effortless. The language is beautiful, lyrical but always engaging and easy to read.

Jojo, is a young boy, who had to learn too early that he cannot rely on his mother or his white father, who is about to finish a prison sentence. He lives with his grandparents, his grandmother dying from cancer and considers himself the sole carer for his toddler sister. When his father is about to be released from prison, his mother forces him and his sister to come with her to pick him up. We follow their journey - and it is a journey of many layers - from the viewpoint of Jojo and Leonie, his mother. And then later, a ghost joins the narration too.

As wonderful as the language is, as much as I cared for Jojo, to me the book just never really came together. So much was attempted and I really wanted it to all come together, but to me it felt like I was to feel the greatness but never allowed to be in on it fully.

Although an initial look at the blurb for this would make you think it's a dark and depressing tale of life on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, it's so much more. The paranormal aspects of the novel- when the ghosts talk to poor Jojo- are the best part because they impart so much wisdom, even it might not seem so on the surface. All of these characters are sympathetic, even Jojo's lost mother, because you might recognize them, even across the boundaries of race and class. Ward has a lovely style of writing which is both literary and accessible. I believe this will be a wonderful book club selection and I'd recommend it to everyone, both young and old. Younger readers may focus on Jojo, older on Pop and Mam, and Leonie. Thanks for the ARC. This is a special book.

I read all Jesmyn Ward’s books. “Salvage the Bones” was one of my all time most loved books, and this one is every bit as good. Seeringly honest, emotional, sad, uncomfortable, and stunningly written. A story about poverty, and racism through the lens of an understandably dysfunctional mixed race family in Mississippi, but laced with small islands of good. Ghosts as well, but not in the usual sense. Ward has proven that she is truly a great writer who can continie to write great books. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an Advance Reader Copy.

Having reading multiple award-winning Jesmyn Ward's other books, I was anxious to read her latest novel, due out this September. This is a stunning tale, showing both the beauty and the pain in the Mississippi Delta of today and the decades past. Told through the eyes of multiple narrators, this is a powerful exploration of southern history: Jojo, a thirteen year old boy who lives with his grandparents and baby sister, while his drug-addicted mother passes through his life; Leonie, the mother who sees her murdered brother only when she is high; and Richie, a ghost of a young boy whose complicated friendship with the grandfather provides context for the past. As Leonie goes on an odyssey to retrieve her white boyfriend from prison, we see shades of Greek heroes as obstacles must be overcome and oracles show the path that lies ahead. Surrealism, akin to Toni Morrison's writing, are sprinkled throughout as Jojo, his grandmother, and even his baby sister see the ghosts of times long ago who listen for the songs to be sung. Imbued with truly stunning writing, the tangled tragedies of the past affect all the character's present, highlighting issues with racism, drugs, and parenting choices not only in prison, in our schools and in families. This is a powerful book; it would be an excellent choice for a book club or a classroom, providing some provocative discussion points.

OH BOY, what to say - Emotional....Sad....Disheartening....Infuriating....AND a Great Read!

SING UNBURIED SING is a multi-layered, beautifully written story about a dysfunctional family who live on a farm near the Gulf of Mississippi.

THE CHARACTERS are very well-defined and unforgettable.....like the self-absorbed drug addicted Leonie who "ain't got the mothering instinct".....like Michael, the father...who "ain't" much better...undependable...even when he's not in prison.

POOR MAM, she's bedridden; POP watches over her and his two bi-racial grandchildren, but OMG! lives with a haunting and heartbreaking memory.

AND THEN there's JoJo...only thirteen, but clearly stands out among ALL the rest giving baby sister Kayla love and protection from neglect, stupidity and evil.

AND...OH. MY. GOSH. The road trip to the State Penitentiary!

MANY of the incidents in this novel are pretty tough to take. (including one with a farm animal). There are also ghosts about and visions from the past, but thankfully, in the spirited end, there is hope and singing from a special little voice.

MANY THANKS to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Liked a lot, but not loved. I do actually think it's perfect for fall so the release date (9/5/17) is spot-on. It felt a little like a Toni Morrison novel but may be but as well fleshed out.

This novel is a raw, yet lyrical, journey into the brokenness of an American family. Wards writing is beautiful, however, I felt like I was working the whole way through trying to figure out the deeper meaning. Like a poem that sounds beautiful, but is difficult to understand. It was short & did keep me reading. In the end it just didn't work for me.... I think I needed to be in the right mood for this & I wasn't. I know that I'm in the vast minority in my thoughts on this one. 3 stars.

At first, I was very confused by where this was going. The POVs sort of jumped all over the place, and it was downright depressing. But then it occurred to me that these are the stories that families like mine don't tell--the stories of the bodies that form the roots of their family tree, the ones that fell from the branches, or were pulled down, and those who are left to seed.

This is both a book about a road trip AND a ghost story, and neither are optimistic. The pages are literally covered in vomit from beginning to end, and the whole thing reeks of it. These people are surrounded by family, but their circumstances drag them down down down and Jesmyn Ward holds back nothing as she shows us exactly what race, poverty, and drug addiction will do to a person. Add in grief and cancer--it's just a devastating mess.

Phew. That is a lot of sadness in one paragraph. I should tell you that the writing is fantastic. The book is not an easy one to get through because of the subject matter, but there are a lot of people comparing this to Morrison or Faulkner. Personally, I had a hard time connecting to it, but from a reviewer's standpoint, this book is going to get a lot of acclaim--Ward has already won a National Book Award for Salvage the Bones, and I wouldn't be surprised to see her take awards for this one as well. I rate this somewhere between a 3 and a 4. I struggled with it, but that doesn't at all negate the author's brilliance--more my personal shortcomings.

Haunting. Jesmyn Ward has been described as the heir to Toni Morrison, and she absolutely deserves that title. She relentlessly depicts the effects of poverty, racism, and drugs in the deep South. But while Salvage the Bones shows the strength of family ties, Sing, Unburied, Sing heartbreakingly shows their limitations. This is a devastating story that I will be thinking about for a long time.

A contemporary setting with a classic feel. The incredible depth of personal and family tragedy makes this one incredibly heart-wrenching and unforgettable. It is impossible to read it and not think of great American authors such as William Faulkner and Toni Morrison.

Ward pushes you through the emotional wringer as she plunges you into the life of a mixed race family with the past seeping blatantly into their daily dysfunctional lives. I became emotionally attached to 13-year-old JoJo and kept wishing him strength as he becomes a man as the son of a black mother - Leonie, who shows no love, and a white father - Michael, who in the first part of the book is in prison.

This story is full of abuse and neglect. It also shows how the history of slavery and discrimination survives the past to continue to influence lives. It also contain some paranormal undertones.

Many thanks to Jesmyn Ward and Scribner through Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Relentlessly sad and beautifully written. Sing, Unburied, Sing is about the evil that festers from deep seated poverty and racism. It's also about the small pockets of good and sanity people manage to build in horribly adverse circumstances. Jojo and Kayla live with their mother and grandparents in Mississippi. Their mother Leonie is black and their father Michael is white. Their parents have no idea how to be parents, and thankfully their mother's parents do. Leonie and Jojo are haunted by ghosts, bringing a touch of magical realism to the mix. Ward is a ridiculously talented writer. Half the book takes place over a two day car ride that Ward manages to make riveting by giving so much life to the nuanced emotions between the characters. I'm not big into ghosts, but I was ok with what Ward does with these ghosts. Really, I think that Ward could write about pretty much anything and make me interested. Smart, moving, uncomfortable, and, again, relentlessly sad. Highly recommended. Thanks to Angela and Diane for another great monthly buddy read -- we all seemed to gallop through this one. And thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

I almost always read just before going to sleep, and occasionally I wake up thinking about the characters, feeling like I have to get back to the book because I just have to know what's going to happen to them . This is what happened with this story. To me that's so telling about how Jesmyn Ward creates characters that are so real that you worry about them as if they were people you know, children that you want to be safe. That's just one of the strengths of her writing - the intimacy that we as readers get to share with these characters. It's a gritty, unbearably sad story of a Mississippi family. I'm not even going to touch on the plot. You can read the Goodreads description for that. I would prefer to try and convey how much I was impacted by this story. I can say that I loved Jojo, the thirteen year old son of a black woman and a white man. A boy who becomes a man, in spite of parental neglect and abuse because he has grandparents who care for him and who love him and his three year old sister so deeply. There are poignant moments when Pop tells Jojo stories - "He tells me stories. Stories about eating cattails after his daddy been out gathering them from the marsh. Stories about how his mama and her people used to collect Spanish moss to stuff their mattresses. Sometimes he'll tell me the same story three, even four times. Hearing him tell them makes me feel like his voice is a hand he's reached out to me... ". Then there are the moments when Jojo reaches out his hand to Kayla by telling her stories.

I loved his grandfather, Pop, and also Richie, the ghost of Pop's past who comes to Jojo and sees what we as readers see: "Riv hugs them even when he's not in the same room with them, even when he's not touching them. The boy, JoJo, and the girl, Kayla. Riv holds them close.... they go off to to Riv's garden, where they pick strawberries and blackberries and weed until the sun is high. They eat the berries from the bush. I expect to see a winged shadow over them, but there is nothing but this : the garden, green and sweet. Life-giving flowers, ushering forth sweetness from fruit."

To say this is an intense read is putting it mildly. Readers should know they will find drugs and violence and racism of the past and present and death and ghosts here. There will be times when the incompetent and senseless treatment of these children at the hands of their parents will make you sick. But there is also love and understanding and traces of hope because there are people who love them. This story not only spoke to me, it sang about home and heart and love that exists amid the heartbreak.

A monthly read along with two of my favorite book buddies , Diane and Esil. The quotes are from an advanced copy so may change in the finished book.)I received an advanced copy of this book from Scribner through NetGalley and Edelweiss.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32920226-sing-unburied-sing" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Sing, Unburied, Sing" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1499340866m/32920226.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32920226-sing-unburied-sing">Sing, Unburied, Sing</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1676417.Jesmyn_Ward">Jesmyn Ward</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1891827253">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I would give this book a 4.5 rating.<br />Beautifully written, haunting, very sad. In this story we have biracial children being taken care of by the grandparents, a drug addicted mother, their father in prison, a grandmother who is dying, and a loving grandfather. Oh, and we also have ghosts, yes, quite a few ghosts.<br />Jojo one of a few different narrators of this book is just bogged down with the responsibility of his little sister Kayla..he is the only constant for her, he and his grandfather really pulled at my heartstrings!<br />I plan to read more by this author, this is the first of hers that I've read.<br /><br />Many thanks to Scribner for the ARC.
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This is the first book I have read by Jesmyn Ward, and it made me want to go out and buy all of her other books. The majority of this book takes place in a car, and moves quickly. The writing is engaging and perfectly timed. It deals with difficult topics and situations in the most real way. Everyone should read this book