Beautifully descriptive book about a very poor part of the American South. It bought the whole area and the lives of the people alive. The characters did not have many redeemable features but you wanted them to survive Katrina. Some disturbing scenes revolving about dog fighting and baiting which made me grimace when reading.

Since I was completely blown away by Sing, Unburied, Sing, I jumped to the opportunity to read this previous novel by Jesmyn Ward. I love the way she treats her characters; there are no black and white angels and villains, almost all people have some redeeming traits or circumstances that softens your judgement. Even though the lives described are so far removed from my own reality they still feel close because of their intense humanity.

In Salvage the Bones we meet Esch, a 14 year old pregnant girl. Her mother died in childbirth when the youngest brother was born, father is drunk and his parenting seems to involve little else than providing a roof over the childrens head and food (instant noodles) in their bellies. Nobody ever instilled into Esch that she has value, that she is worth protecting, that she can have a future of her own.

The way she talks about sex: "...(I)held him the way I'd embraced those boys I'd fucked because it was easier to let them get what they wanted instead of denying them, instead of making them see me."

While one brother cares for a litter of puppies the rest of the family are preparing for hurricane Katrina, and one thing after another goes wrong, while Esch comes to terms with her condition. But, even after all the destruction and loss, there is a sense of hope, there are still good people that make life worthwhile.

I recently read and loved Jesmyn Ward's novel Sing Unburied Sing so I was really pleased to get the chance to read her earlier work Salvage the bones. As ever, her prose is beautiful and evocative and the story of Esch and her brothers was gripping and I was making good progress through BUT I couldn't stand reading about the dog fighting and in the end I had to stop and put the book down. However, this wont stop me from recommending this novel to library users and Jesmyn Ward's work in general. I may still come back to this when I'm in a tougher state of mind!

A really interesting read. The writing style took me a few minutes to get used to but I feel that it went perfectly with the subject matter. This is a totally different way of looking at the world. I was really caught up in the lives of the characters. This is an eye opening story that will stay with me for a while.

This is a very slow moving book but I did stick with it to the end. It is a story of a family's fight for survival prior to Hurricane Katrina. A few disturbing scenes in the book made it a challenging read and I didn't like any of the characters. The writing was very descriptive of the surroundings but more time on the characters would have been better. I would put this book in the young adult genre. Thank you Net Galley for my copy. I reviewed on Amazon, Goodreads and Facebook.

It always surprises me when a book receives high acclaim on one side of the Atlantic, and yet goes totally unnoticed on the other. In the case of Jesmyn Ward, it took not one, but two National Book Awards in the US, before either of her prize-winning novels was published in the UK. On the other hand, this eventual happy event was what drew my attention to both publications, starting with her 2011 Hurricane Katrina story, <i>Salvage the Bones.</i> We saw a lot of the hurricane’s aftermath on the news over here, but probably learned little of what people’s lives were like in the days leading up to the event, or what considerations – beyond, perhaps, extreme poverty – caused them to stay in homes that with hindsight seemed destined to fall victim to weather and floods.

Esch’s family is one of those with nowhere much to go: they live on land her grandfather reclaimed from the rough woods outside town, in the house that he built, and where Esch’s mother died in childbirth. Esch’s father and two older brothers make money when they can from odd jobs and through less legal means, while Esch tries to take care of them all, along with her younger brother, and imagines a wider world influenced by the books of Greek myths she reads whenever she gets the chance.

As the story opens, we learn that one of Esch’s older brothers has a prized pit bull, soon to give birth, and that he plans to make money from the puppies in order to send her other older brother to basketball camp – as his only chance of getting to college and towards a better life than any of them currently know. Esch, meanwhile, is worried what will happen when any of her family find out that she is pregnant; she knows who the father is: she has had sex with other men – boys really – but none since she hooked up with her brothers’ friend Manny.

The family knows that a storm is coming, and they are doing everything they can to protect their home and store up food and water for themselves and the dogs, but we readers know that their preparations will never be enough; nor does it seem likely that Esch’s father’s plan to earn money rescuing others after the storm has passed will ever come to fruition.

This is one of those stories where we know things will never end well for all concerned, but desperately hope for the best anyway. Esch in particular is a delightful narrator, and her knowledge and empathy shine out, as she compares herself and those around her to characters and situations from her beloved mythologies. The novel put a truly human face on an unimaginably huge disaster, and gave the lie to all those who criticised the people who stayed – as if they had any real options. I’m now even more keen to read the other book I managed to obtain from Netgalley by the author, and am greatly looking forward to learning about people and places that seem so far away, even though we all speak the same language.

A tough book to read about a tough way of life. The writing is superb and so real their world comes alive through the page - and I am glad I'm not there with them. It is quite brilliant. Salvage the Bones is a tale of survival and getting through heightened by the approaching devastation of the storm - I was disturbed by it but loved it and highly recommend it .

I really was not sure if this book would be for me, when I started reading it, but how wrong I was.
This is a beautifully written story of a poor, black family over 12 days covering the run up to Katrina, the storm itself and some of the aftermath.
You are drawn into the lives of the characters, through the eyes of Esch, a pregnant 15 year old, as the story builds like the storm, and if you don't shed a tear at the end you must have a very hard heart!

This is Ward’s second novel, which tells the tale of an impoverished rural Mississippi black family that struggle to get by. It relays their lives, the days preceding storm Katrina and their preparations to survive in order to deal with its aftermath.

It is incredibly poignant and humbling to read. Since the loss of the mother, the father and the children have struggled to cope. Esch is the protagonist doing her best as a teenage girl to stay clear of their drunken father and keep the peace between her two brothers.

So poor are they living in their junk strewn land that they are unaware of the abhorrent poverty they live in – with feral squirrel a mainstay meal, perhaps eating once per day, their beds infested with things that bite, and a blighted place to live. The only thing of value in their lives is skeeter’s Pitbull, China that he fights. Much is written about his relationship with the dog and the fighting scenes are boldly described and hard to read. I quite enjoy a gory read, but the protracted depiction of this was wearing through its discomfort.

Esch becomes pregnant in part because she finds it easier to let the boys have sex than spur their perpetual advances, but she is also looking for love and attention, she just doesn’t see it. But she hides her pregnancy for fear of the wrath from her father. It is sad in that they have very few friends to speak of. Their family is mainly all they have. Still they manage to cherish what is important and dear. The prose is powerful and unflinching. The story overall is haunting, but for me with a few stalls in the cadence of the writing that made it, at intermittent times, feel a little drawn out. However very clear why this is award winning.

Could not identify with the main characters and gave up by the time I had read half the hook. Disappointed as I was looking forward to reading this book.

Esch lives with her father and brothers in Bois Sauvage, Mississippi. It’s a backwater place where they struggle against poverty: eating eggs from their multiplying chickens, wearing hand-me-downs from each other and friends and stealing what they can’t afford.

Esch’s mother died giving birth to Junior, the little brother she and her eldest brother, Randall, raised. Their father’s often drunk, his odd jobs not bringing in quite enough.

They like to hang out in the pit, where Skeetah, Esch’s other brother, has found a stray dog to raise into a fighter. There’s lots of money to be had from fighting dogs.

The novel opens as Skeetah’s dog China gives birth to her pups. He’s prepared to do anything to save those dogs, to breed more fighting dogs.

This struggle to give birth, to bear fruit in a world pitted against you, is a strong theme in the book. Esch too discovers she is pregnant, despite being only 15. Pregnant with a boy she’s in love with, a boy with paler skin who refuses to acknowledge her in public. A boy who has a jealous girlfriend. A boy whose cousin’s dog fathered China’s pups.

And behind all of the pain, blood and power of birth is the developing hurricane, which just happens to be Katrina.

Esch is an avid reader of Greek myth. She is particularly fond of Medea. The intensity of Medea’s story forces us to see links between the old epic stories and Esch’s life, pulling writers like Toni Morrison and William Faulkner into the reader’s horizon. It makes sense that the novel won the 2011 National Book Award for Fiction. Her most recent book, Sing, Unburied, Sing has been shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2018. Jesmyn Ward gives epic grandeur to the marginalised lives and voices of Esch and her family. I will definitely be reading Sing, Unburied, Sing.

This is a powerful and moving novel, with a wide scope but always concentrating on the personal. It explores relationships in a broken society and in a region broken by nature. Then again, maybe "broken" isn't the right word to use because no matter what happens Ward seems to believe in the indomitability of the human spirit. Her characters are flawed, strong, fearful and loving. Much of the book's subject matter are challenging to read, but as with most challenges, the effort is worth it.

Jesmyn Ward's SALVAGE THE BONES explores the dynamics of a family - our lead character, Esch, and her three brothers, plus their father - in the hot and dusty countryside of Louisiana in the build-up to Hurricane Katrina. Esch is the only girl in the family, following the death of their mother while giving birth to Junior, the youngest child. At times Esch is still one of the boys - out in the woods all day, helping in the yard - and at other times she finds herself being pulled into womanhood and her half-assumed role of mother to the boys.

There is a simmering tension throughout the book, with all of the subplots - Esch and her shocking personal discovery, her brother Skeetah and his beloved dog China, their father's rudderlessness since the death of his wife, the friendships between the kids and the other local boys - building slowly towards the culmination of the story, when the hurricane hits. It's an almost palpable tension that traces throughout the book - growing, building, warming and swirling. Jesmyn Ward's writing, as she paints the imagery of the surroundings so that you can almost feel, smell and touch it, creates a superbly detailed and yet delicately handled (and never cloggy) story of a family, a home and an unavoidable catastrophe. I would highly recommend it.

A difficult read touching on some difficult subjects, but beautifully written. I can see why this is award winning.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

The outstanding writing abilities of Jesamyn Ward are indisputable in this emotionally visceral powerhouse of a novel, epic in scope, pitching the indomitable spirit of a family to survive, against all the odds, with the destructive and devastating monster of nature that is Hurricane Katrina, wreaking havoc on the Mississipi coastal town of Bois Sauvage. Esch is the black 14 year old narrator, pregnant, the only girl surroundes by males. Mother died in childbirth, and father is a hard drinking man, often absent from family life. They are a family that has lived generations in poverty and squalor, residing in a junkyard. The narrative spans twelve days, in which Ward establishes the gritty and brutal circumstances of the family and its characters, attempting to build up supplies and water, limited by the options open to them, and the coming of and aftermath of Katrina.

Esch has been enjoying sex for a while, driven by her search for love, but is drawn to one person in particular. Her brother, Skeetah is trying to keep alive the puppies of his pitbull, China, but failing. Randall has dreams of basketball as his path out of poverty, and Junior has no memories of his mother. There are harrowing depictions of dogfights which are desperately hard to stomach. Amidst this dysfunctional family, conflict is rife amongst the siblings. It is abundantly clear that they are ill equipped for Katrina, but their love for each other binds them together as a force of nature in its own right as they look out for each other in their battle to survive. It is this that provides a glimmer of hope in what would otherwise be a relentlessly bleak if atmospheric picture of marginalised poor black communities, with nowhere else to go, viewed as of little consequence by the rest of society, feared and abandoned, and left to fend for themselves.

Without doubt, this is often a troubling, brutal and challenging read, but the compelling and authentic force driving the narrative makes reading it an infinitely rewarding experience. The phenomenal quality of the vibrant, poetic and lyrical prose had me feeling as if I was there with the Batiste family, living precariously, and facing all its travails. Ward gives us richly detailed descriptions, deploying powerful imagery and creates characters that have the reader emotionally invested the book, I was rooting for Esch all the way. This is a brilliant and uncompromising read which has indelibly imprinted itself on my mind and my imagination, although I accept this novel might not be for everyone. Highly recommended! Many thanks to Bloomsbury for an ARC.

Sorry, I really couldn't read this book! Too upsetting. I find Jesmyn Wards Books very hard hitting!

The story is at times uncomfortable. A family seemingly fractured by circumstance and a certain hopelessness. The pit bull, Skeetah is a central character in the narrative and the family's emotions are often expressed through their relationship with the dog.For someone who has never lived through a hurricane, I found the description of that phenomenon to be absolutely terrifying. She brought the experience to life and within that she brought the family together. Excellent atmospheric read.

"Salvage the Bones" by Jesmyn Ward is a slow malting novel that takes time to mature, but come the end, all the characterisation and scene building fuses together in 1 perfect explosion.

I don't tend to read literary fiction but something about this book screamed to be read. The detail and portrayal of each and every character was exquisite. I felt like I knew them all inside and out. The setting was also wonderfully described. I could feel the sizzling heat on my skin and the warm humid air before a storms hits. It was simply a beautifully, heartbreaking read.

"Salvage the Bones" is about a family preparing for a storm to hit but really it is not about the storm at all. It is about each and every one of their sacrifices and struggles, qualities and flaws but above all their love and loyalty to one another. I didn't realise how much the characters had touched my heart until I was sobbing like a baby at the end. (This could be down to having a heart procedure and being full of sedation and adrenaline but I know I would of cried like a baby no matter the day or circumstances.)

So why 3 stars? As others have stated there are quite a few disturbing scenes of dog abuse, dog fighting and dog neglect. It did add substance to the story but being the biggest dog lover it was extremely difficult to stomach. Also as much as the story was about the characters rather than a plot itself, it could of had just a little more drama and excitement. It was extremely slow to build up and finally feel the way I felt for the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Salvage The Bones by Jesmyn Ward is haunting and beautifully written and it is easy to see why this book won the 2011 National Book Award.

Salvage The Bones is set over twelve days leading up to the impact of Hurricane Katrina but it is so much more than a novel about the devastating impact of that storm. It is also about poverty and the importance of family ties in tough situations.

Esch is the protagonist of the book and an incredibly strong character. She is just fourteen years old and unexpectedly pregnant with the child of her brother’s friend Manny. She is in love but unfortunately those feelings aren’t reciprocated.

Nobody in her family has noticed her budding pregnancy as they are all too occupied with other things. Esch’s mother died when she eight years old giving birth to her youngest brother Junior. Junior is looked after by all his siblings and just wants to be allowed to tag along with any plans they make. His favourite pastime is hiding in the crawl space under their house.

“Mama had all of us in her bed, under her own bare burning bulb, so when it was time for Junior, she thought she could do the same. It didn’t work that way. Mama squatted, screamed towards the end. Junior came out purple…she said she didn’t want to go to hospital. Daddy dragged her from the bed to his truck, tracking her blood, and we never saw her again.”

Randall is the oldest of the siblings and wants nothing more than play professional basketball. His goal for the summer is to go basketball camp but he knows their father is never going to have the money to pay for him to go. His only chance is if he is spotted by a professional scout.

Skeetah is the brother she is closest to, but he only has eyes for his pit bull China who at the start of the book is about to give birth to her first litter of puppies. He puts all his time and energy into ensuring the puppies survive so he can sell them for a profit when they are ready to leave their mother.

“He is the second child, sixteen, but he is the first for China. She only has eyes for him.”

Despite clearly caring for China potential readers need to be aware that Skeetah essentially uses China as a fighting dog and there are some pretty graphic descriptions of this during the book as well as the death of some puppies.

The family live in a ramshackle house in the woods built by their grandfather in an area known as The Pit. The children live in a state of poverty with little money for food or anything else. They live off canned good as that is the only food their father knows how to cook. Most of the time he is too drunk to pay much attention to his children.

The only thing their dad does pay attention to is the weather. He is convinced that the Gulf Coast is going to become the new Hurricane Alley and that he and his family need to start preparing. His children aren’t convinced and see his preparations as an unnecessary inconvenience.

“Most don’t even hit us head-on anymore; most turn right to Florida or take a left for Texas, brush past and glance off us like a shirtsleeve. We ain’t had one come straight for us in years, time enough to forget how many jugs of water we need to fill, how many cans of sardines and potted meat we should stock, how many tubs of water we need. But on the radio that daddy keeps playing in his parked truck, I heard them talking about it earlier today. How the forecasters said the tenth tropical depression had just dissipated in the Gulf but another one seems to be forming around Puerto Rico.”

Esch is a well-written character and one I believe most readers will easily be able to empathise with. Since the age of twelve Esch has sought love by having sex with friends of her brothers. In the last five months though she has only had eyes for Manny. She is in love with him and all she wants is for him to look at her with love, the way China looks at Skeetah. The reader will quickly realise this hope is naïve.

I frequently wanted to shake her as her pregnancy progressed and she continues to bury her head in the sand and not to confide in anyone in her family.

From the moment the author reveals to the reader that the oncoming storm is Katrina Salvage the Bones becomes much tenser. I felt like I wanted to urge the characters to forget their other concerns and concentrate on preparations for the coming storm.

Jesmyn Ward has some fantastic descriptions of hurricane Katrina in Salvage the Bones.

“Katrina surprised everyone with her uncompromising strength, her forcefulness, the way she lingered; she made things happen that never happened before.”

Salvage the Bones is a brilliant book and I will be looking out for more of her work.

I loved this book. Not my usual choice but I'm glad I gave it a go. Against the threat and ultimate devestation of Hurricane Katrina this is a story about family, motherhood and mist of all love