Summary:
Jojo and his toddler sister, Kayla, live with their grandparents, Mam and Pop, and the occasional presence of their drug-addicted 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, on a journey rife with danger and promise.
Sing, Unburied, Sing grapples with the ugly truths at the heart of the American story and the power, and limitations, of the bonds of family. Rich with Ward’s distinctive, musical language, Sing, Unburied, Sing is a majestic new work and an essential contribution to American literature.
My take: 3 looks
I have waited a few days after finishing this novel to write my review. Why? Because I am still processing and trying to discover what the author is trying to tell me.
A typically disfunctional family, and probably more representative than I would like to imagine, the story follows a 13-year-old biracial boy (Jojo) and his drug-addicted mother (Leonie). Chapters go back and forth between the two of these characters, telling their story. In the supporting cast are her parents, Jojo’s father Michael (who is in prison), and Jojo’s younger sister Kayla.
What threw me off a little was the introduction of a ghost, Ritchie, that both Jojo and his sister can see. Richie was in prison (the same one that Michael is currently in) with Leonie’s father, and the two are bound through a shared experience. Also, when Leonie is high, she sees the ghost of her dead brother.
The story is full of vivid descriptions of both the characters and the environment. The relationship between Jojo and his grandfather is a sweet and tender source of love and comfort to them both. The relationship between Jojo and Kayla is a result of the disfunctional situation of a drug addict not bonding with her youngest, and Jojo taking on the role of parent at his young age. Kayla is overly dependent on Jojo, extremely clingy, and demands him when she is stressed.
The fact that Michael is white, with parents who are unsupportive to the point of hatred toward his family with Leonie, who is black, played a very small part of the story surprised me. I can only assume the author didn’t want to go into racial dynamics and strayed away from the topic after introducing it.
There was also a thread of redemption in the prison story of the grandfather and Richie; but, this, too was unexplored with any real focus.
There are themes of disappointment, death, and living with addiction, but the main push of the book seemed to lie in the mystical realism of the two ghosts. And this is where I am at a loss as to what the author is trying to tell her reader. That mistakes in the past can hold you here past death? Something about sins of the father? Skipping a generation of hope?
It was a nicely written book, but because I turned the last page feeling a bit disjointed, and utterly lost with respect to the message, I am giving this one a 3 out of 5.
Somewhat recommended.
