Sing, Unburied, Sing appears to be taking the literary world by storm and immediately became a must read for me. And there’s something about the cover I find so appealing!

I was immediately drawn to Sing, Unburied, Sing after reading the blurb and I must say the blurb is incredibly accurate, it delivers what it states, however, there were some elements that I found incredibly distracting and this prevented me from being able to fully immerse myself in this novel.

Ward does a wonderful job portraying just how lacking Leonie and Michael are as parents, and I liked that this was portrayed through their total disregard of their children, eg. Leonie putting her drug habit and her desire for her children’s father above the needs of her children, rather than through constant hard-to-read, descriptive child abuse paragraphs.

The most heart-warming part of this novel, for me, was Jojo’s relationship with his younger sister, Kayla, watching him be both a brother and a parent to her, shouldering that responsibility instead of being the carefree young thirteen-year-old he should have been. A large part of this novel takes place during the drive to the State Penitentiary and there were some wonderful moments on display between these siblings. However, I was frustrated as I felt these were largely over shadowed by vomit – that’s not a secret code, Kayla threw up a lot, and I found the descriptions, for example, Jojo hugging Kayla with both of them covered in sick, rather off-putting. Yes, it showed Leonie not tending to her children as she should, but it just wasn’t pleasant reading and it was a distraction as I didn’t see what was gained from it happening so many times, and it took away from what should have been tender moments.

There’s no denying Wards ability to create lyrical prose and yes, the language is distinctive as a whole, however, I felt there was no distinction between the characters narration. The chapters alternate from the viewpoint of Jojo, Leonie and Richie, but their voices all read the same – usually when chapters are narrated from alternate viewpoints, each character has their own “voice” and even without it stating at the beginning of each chapter who is narrating, you know who the narrator is but here I felt the characters lacked that individual distinction. That’s not to say you get confused, because you certainly don’t, based on the content you’re reading and the fact that it does clearly state the character’s name at the start of each chapter, you’re able to follow this plot without any issues, but I felt it took away from the individuality of the characters and thus prevented the connections to the characters, mainly Jojo, that is essential for you to be invested in this novel.

I’ve seen many reviews saying they didn’t expect the magical realism elements or ghosts in this novel, and I don’t really think that’s a fair reason to criticise this novel [not based on the above blurb anyway], because it clearly states “At Parchman, there is another boy, the ghost of a dead inmate who carries all of the ugly history of the South with him in his wandering.” If this element didn’t work for you for x and y reasons then fair enough, but if you simply don’t like/want this in your novels and the blurb states this is within the novel, then you can’t fault it on its existence alone.

While this novel does deliver what the blurb states, I was hoping the themes would run deeper and we’d see themes of race and poverty explored in more detail, especially in relation to Jojo “trying to understand what it means to be a man.” I can’t help but feel something was missing in this novel, that there should have been [or was and I missed it] a deeper message/meaning behind the lyrical prose. The strongest theme in this novel was grief but there were many themes explored but at a surface level and thus I struggled to connect with this plot in the way I hoped. This is by no means a bad book but, in terms of recommending novels that explore family bonds and the other themes within this novel, Sing, Unburied, Sing would not be top of my recommendation list.

This is such a different and amazing book! It's not the type of books I normally go for but I loved the premises and I loved reading it.

The characters are so well done! They are realistic, interesting, the development is amazing, ... It was just so interesting to read about their lives, especially since it was the most dysfunctional family I've read about!

This story follows Leonie's perspective and Jojo's perspective (her son). They are African-American and they live in Mississipi, on a farm. They are quite poor, but as if that was not enough in a family of 5, Leonie's mom has cancer, her dad is trying to compensate and doing everything he can at home, Leonie is a drug addict and she has a son and a baby daughter. Plus the father of the kids is in prison. Sounds promising, right?!

This novel is dark, tense and extremely unique. The plot is amazing but the writing takes it on a whole other level. I absolutely loved how the writing made me connect so much with the characters and how realistic it made it feel.

There are two things that really touched me. One is about Jojo. From the very beginning of the book - and believe me, it starts already incredible and quite gruesome - I loved him. He is a very special kid, that has to grow up a lot faster, who sees his grandparents as his actual parents and who has to compensate his mother's absence and also take care of his little sister. It was touchy! My heart felt squeezed with how beautiful yet unfair and hard the situation was.

The other has to be how interesting it was to read about Leonie and her struggle with her drug addiction. Every time she used drugs she saw her dead brother, Given. He was shot by a white guy for winning a football game. It was emotional and hard to see. I really started to understand her, even tho I still didn't agree with a lot of things. Sometimes I really hated her, but I also felt compassion for her...

I also obviously loved Mam and Pop. They are amazing. It was hard to read about Mam, but I loved Pop with all my heart. How hard and strict he was but at the same time, he had a buttered heart. I loved his relationship with Jojo.

This book talks about racism in a very unique and powerful way. It deals with family struggles, drug addiction, cancer, pregnancy at a young age and domestic violence. The family dynamic is amazing, the writing is amazing and the theme is just incredibly important!

It's just an incredible and utterly strong novel. It's meaningful, interesting, intense, sometimes even hard to read. It will touch if not break your heart.

A sad, sad story of young lives blighted by poverty, drugs, social alienation, neglect, domestic and state-condoned violence. With scarcely any relief from the harrowing descriptions of events and only the barest whisper of hope for the future, reading this book left me depressed.

Some striking flashes of poetic writing - one example sticks with me: “Mama clears her throat, but her whisper is no louder: too-long pant hems dragging over dirt”. Not enough of these, though, to lighten the unrelentingly bleak mood.

This was an excellent read - it's written beautifully, and is definitely not for the faint of heart. Character driven, and haunting (in more ways than one), it packs an emotional punch.Well worth the read.

This is no doubt a modern day version of reading a Toni Morrison novel. From the magical realism aspect to social issues affecting African Americans, this novel is both haunting and almost poetic.

The story follows a family on their way to a prison, in which the children's white father is due to be released. The teenage boy and his three year old sister are mostly dependent on one another as well as their grandparents Pop and Mam. The mother Leonie is absent, and rather aloof in their upbringing, forcing her son, Jojo to bring up his kid sister. In between are disturbing stories featured in flashbacks and ghostly apparitions, The novel explores interracial relationships, police brutality and even post traumatic stress disorder to a degree.

While it can seem haphazard, going back and forth in time, and random narratives appearing throughout, it leaves the reader with a sense of unease and despair at the violent nature of society. A truly intriguing read.

This is a profoundly moving novel that tears your heart apart from the hugely gifted Jesmyn Ward. It is Southern Gothic at its most impressive, set in the burning heat of the Mississippi Gulf coast. It speaks of neglectful parents, ill equipped to bring up their mixed race children. The black Leonie is a drug addict and troubled woman, moving in and out of 13 year old JoJo and his toddler sister, Kayla's lives as they reside with their beloved grandparents, Mam and Pop, who provide safety, security and love for them. They call their mother Leonie, not mum, as she is scarcely a mum. Leonie resents this and the close bond between JoJo and Kayla, Kayla turns to JoJo to have her needs met. Their father, Michael, is in Parchman prison, about to be released.

This is a story of poverty, love, grief, loss, abuse, brutality, race, injustice, family, addiction, and ghosts. It tells of the ugliness of US history and how it informs the present. The pain of the black experience as it moved seamlessly from the plantations in the past, to the prison today, from one nightmare to another. Mam, a healer, has cancer and is dying, Pop tells his stories, like that of the doomed Richie at Parchman, to JoJo, a boy with responsibilities and a maturity way beyond his years and a boy who can see and hear what others cannot. Under the influence of drugs, Leonie can see her dead brother, Given, which both frightens and comforts her. . Leoni packs her children into a car embarking on a road trip to meet Michael, who she loves, on his release from Parchman. On a trip that brings danger and destruction, and the truth of Leoni and race to JoJo. The ghost of Richie searches for home in a song.

This is a novel that journeys into the soul of Mississippi, its history and people vibrating and shimmering in the air and land. Nothing disappears, it is all there informing the present, with spirits and ghosts seen by those with the sight. Ward writes with humanity and insight, painting an unflinching portrait of a nation and its people. It is lyrical and poetic, and amidst the heart of darkness and pain, is hope and love. Her complex and nuanced characters, rich descriptions and compelling narrative, spirits and ghosts, are the song of Mississippi and the US. A hauntingly brilliant read which I highly recommend. Many thanks to Bloomsbury for an ARC.

What a seriously stunning book.

Sing, Unburied, Sing captivated me almost instantly. THIS is how character-driven family dramas should be, and there's nothing quite like a nice bit of dysfunctional family drama to keep me turning pages. But I don't want to diminish the strength of this novel. It is a character study of a contemporary African-American family in Mississippi, but it is also a darkly beautiful story about ghosts. In the literal and figurative sense.

Ward creates a really strong sense of place. I could easily picture this rural poor Southern setting with its history of racial tensions that have never quite gone away. From the beginning, I knew this was going to be something special. The writing pulls you into this world, into the minds and lives of the vivid characters. They burn so brightly.
The sky has turned the color of sandy red clay: orange cream. The heat of the day at its heaviest: the insects awoken from their winter slumber. I cannot bear the world.

Into this setting, the author introduces the perspectives of Leonie, a drug addict increasingly haunted by the ghost of her brother, Given, who was shot by a white football player for winning a game. The other main perspective is Leonie's teen son, Jojo, who is more of a parent to his young sister than Leonie has ever been. They live with Leonie's parents - known throughout as Mam and Pop - the former ravaged by chemo, and the latter haunted by the ghosts of his own dark past.

Many stories from the past emerge through Mam and Pop, including the story of young Richie, a prisoner from Pop's tales of his time in jail. Richie also occasionally takes the narrative in between Pop's revelations about the horrors inside Mississippi State Penitentiary, and the gradually-uncovered truth of Richie's fate.

It is rich in glorious, horrific detail from the very opening when Jojo assists Pop in gutting a goat. Ward evokes emotions with description - the grisly unravelling of the goat's innards, Leonie's dreamy drug-induced escapes, the sticky, swampy atmosphere. The more I read, the more I felt the air clinging to my skin, and the more I felt the characters getting under it.

Sing, Unburied, Sing is a story both dark and bright. Issues of race, death and extremely messy family dynamics are prominent features, but the brightness is obtained from the author's overwhelming empathy for her characters, even at their worst. Leonie is a terrible mother, but she is portrayed as nothing more or less than a messed-up human being. Pop's history will paint him in an increasingly unflattering light, but do we forgive him? Of course we do.

A gorgeous - though dark - story for anyone who loves complex families and messy, lovable characters. It deserves every bit of the hype.