Jesmyn Ward's "Sing Unburied Sing" follows the life of 13-year-old Jojo and his family. The novel presents a dark picture of a dysfunctional family living in Mississippi. Told from the point of Jojo and his drug-addict mother Leonie, Ward's takes her readers on a journey to explore black America in the present and the past.

Jojo begins to understand the world as a mixed-race teenager who cares for his little sister and fights with feelings of disappointment towards his parents. Pop, his grandfather, offers an emotive and authentic memory of his time in Mississippi State Penitentiary ( Parchman Farm) with 12-year old Richie.

"Sing Unburied Sing" is poetic and its spiritual moments add an extra depth, blending death and racial tensions together.

This is not actioned-backed and at times some of the scenes with apparitions are a little awkward to follow. Jojo- first-person narrative made the story come alive. The story is heartfelt and raw.

There is something I really, really like about this book. Ward knows how to use words to create vivid pictures that stay in your mind for a long time. I’ve never read an author before with such a distinctive use of prose. I was transported to the sometimes bleak, dark and hopeless world inhabited by her characters. There is a lot of darkness in this book and it would be easy for the whole thing to fall into sadness and misery. Yet, there is hope to be found scattered throughout the book. I thought the characters were great, flawed, damaged people that I completely sympathised with. There is a sense of hopelessness in the book as Leonie and her children head towards an inevitable, tragic fate. Sing, Unburied Sing is a beautiful book.

Beautifully written and very harsh. I know life was terrible for so many and yes, it's good to read about it, but I found this relentlessly depressing and it didn't leave me with any hope for the characters. I suppose that's the point, but still hard to read.

Not an easy read if you’re sensitive to the destructiveness of poverty and racialism.

Jojo is a young boy of mixed race. His father, Michael is white, usually in prison rather than living with his mother Leonie and baby sister Kayla (Michaela).

The first part of Jojo’s life is relatively happy as he, together with his mother and sister, lives with Leonie’s parents on their rather rundown smallholding. Everything that Jojo learns about life is thanks to his Pop and Grandma Mam. His mother is far keener on enjoying life and waiting for Michael to be released from prison.

I honestly struggled with this book. I hoped that there would be a glimmer of hope, joy, happiness hidden somewhere between the pages. Unfortunately, I searched, and there is nothing that is going to lift my spirits. My problem is that I find the whole racist, poor family struggle just so depressing.

I wanted to give three stars, based merely on my reading experience, but this seems so unjust because the book is beautifully written; lyrical and filled with pictures painted in words. Unfortunately, I found the subject matter far too depressing. Jesmyn Ward is brave to tackle the subject, and I can completely understand this book being among Barack Obama’s best reads in 2017.

Imbali

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

Very well written but I found the narrative although harrowing, very slow. An uncomfortable read giving the view of life through a black persons eyes living in the southern states.

An absolutely stunning novel that won the National Book Award for Fiction in the US. Set in the Deep South, Sing, Unburied Sing has switching narrators, from 13-year-old JoJo, to his drug-addicted mother Leonie, and the spirit of a young boy who died in Parchman prison decades earlier.
JoJo is the hero of the story. He lives with his beloved grandparents, Pop and Mama (the latter is cancer-stricken and close to death), while his mother comes and goes – their relationship so fractured that he refers to her by her given name rather than Mom. JoJo is the main carer for his three-year-old sister Kayla – the tender devotion he shows to her all the more heartbreaking when you consider he’s never received this from his parents. Leonie is a woman struggling with motherhood, the father of her children, Michael, is in prison and she uses drugs to help deal with her feelings of failure. She is African American and Michael is white and their mixed-race relationship met with hostility from Michael’s parents despite the fact that Michael’s cousin was responsible for the murder of Leonie’s brother Given.
When Michael is due to be released from prison Leonie decides to take the two children on the long drive to pick him up. But Leonie is a woman with only the vaguest idea of what children need and less interest than that – forgetting to feed and water them.
The struggles of poverty, racism and drug addiction are all key themes. The legacy of slavery is felt through the intense racism displayed by some characters – talk of lynchings in the sections of the book set decades before is devastating. This is echoed by an incident of police brutality in the present that could have ended so much worse. These are broken characters fractured by a broken society. Sing, Unburied Sing is a powerful novel and a must-read for all.

Sing, Unburied, Sing is a heart-wrenching reading experience. It is the kind of book you may have to put down for a moment, because the content is upsetting at times. Simultaneously it’s also so compelling you can’t tear yourself away from it.

It tells the incredibly sad story of Jojo, the biracial child of a black mother and a white father. Mother spends the majority of her time getting high and his father is behind bars most of the time. Jojo and his baby sister are cared for by his mother’s parents, mainly because Leonie neglects them and they don’t exist for the white side of the family.

Leonie decides to take the children along on a road trip to pick their father up from prison, which becomes a catalyst for fragile relationships and tensions between all of them. Throughout the whole ordeal I just wanted to reach out and help Jojo and his baby sister. To save them from the brutal reality of their existence.

Ward has created a passionate and lyrical vision, which is simultaneously fraught with emotion and tempered by the brusque reactions of the characters. The reader is confronted with the harsh realities of racism, child abuse and neglect, and drug abuse.

It sings the silent song of all the men, women and children who have fallen prey to hatred and injustice. The forgotten who are trapped in an endless hell that is neither here nor there, because they can’t cross over or find peace. The ones who will never have any kind of justice.

It is both magical and mystical in equal measure. It is an outstanding piece of literature.

This is a deep exploration of the inner workings of the minds of the main characters, excellently written and plotted, with a huge amount of setting and richly-wrought environment.

However, I feel that the strengths of this book lay in the realist portions of the story, and I found the more 'fantastical' sections to be incongruous and distracting from the core story, which would have been very strong by itself.

I found this quite a hard read, especially the beginning, but the story gripped me and I was intrigued with what happened and what was happening and where it would all lead. A powerful book.

I loved Jesmyn Ward’s first book, which was finally published in the UK last year, and was very keen to read more of her work, particularly this novel, set once again amongst some of the poorest families in the southern United States. In fact, at one point two characters from the earlier novel get a cameo in this one, although I won’t spoil the surprise entirely as to whom we see again or when. As with 'Salvage the Bones', this book tells the story of a young teenager taking on adult responsibilities far too early; however, the central character is a boy this time and, unlike before, we get to know a little more of the adults’ stories directly as well.

Jo-Jo is thirteen and being raised, along with his toddler sister, by his Black grandparents. His mother is frequently absent or recovering from drink and drugs binges, while his White father first left the family, and then was imprisoned. Now, though, Jo-Jo’s grandmother is dying of cancer, and his father is about to be released. Against her parents’ wishes, Jo-Jo’s mother takes her children – and a fellow waitress from the bar where she works – on a road trip to meet her man as he leaves the State Penitentiary. As they travel, Jo-Jo thinks over what he knows of the prison where both his father and grandfather have served time, and wonders why his grandfather has never told him how the stories he tells of those days came to an end.

Both Jo-Jo and his mother see ghosts: she sees her dead brother, killed – in anger, or an accident – by a relative of the man she loves, while Jo-Jo is haunted by the young boy – a year younger than he is now – whom his grandfather befriended while in prison but who apparently died there. Like Jo-Jo, the ghost boy wants to know how his story ends, but to do so they both have to learn just how harsh life in prison could be for Black inmates in times past.

I liked this book a lot, although not quite as much as the author’s previous work. Jo-Jo was a very engaging character and, while his mother was highly flawed, there was a streak of determination within her that could still be admired. The harsh realities of the road trip reminded me of a shorter, if still uncomfortable, journey I made across California and Nevada in the height of summer many years ago, and made me very glad that my travelling companions then were far less troublesome than Jo-Jo’s. I also enjoyed the stories within stories that contrasted Jo-Jo’s life with that of his parents and grandparents. Ultimately, it was difficult to get away from the fact that his parents were quite selfish individuals, and I was left with a nagging worry that life was not going to get markedly better for either of their children in the long term.

Having liked the previous Ward novel (Salvage the Bones) I looked forward to this one and was not disappointed. Again the plight of the poor black communities in the Deep South are highlighted, here with a teenage male protagonist. Incredibly moving at times, Ward is a writer to note.

In Sing, Unburied, Sing Jesmyn Ward has created a beautiful and powerful novel about race, family addiction and grief. 13-year-old Jojo is the stand out character, a boy who has had to assume the role of parent, caring for his younger sister, while his mother, Leonie and father Michael prove incapable of providing any stability for them. Lyrical, poetic and sad, but at the same time, life affirming.

Simply beautiful ! Southern gothicism at its best ! One can almost feel the heat of the coast, and the anguish of the ghostly voices emanating from the pages. It was almost painful to read, but also impossible to set down. I don't think I'd be able to read it a second time though.

A beautifully written, lyrical exploration of family life.
I heard praise upon praise for this book and jumped at the chance to review it.
I genuinely did enjoy reading it. It was a slow meandering heartfelt book, with beautiful prose. So much so, that I think huge amounts of the book went over my head. maybe it was just 'too fancy' for me.
I know there has been lots of talk about the paranormal aspect of this book and whether it was needed, personally, I think that it was a brilliant addition to the storyline. And although it was by no means the focal point of the story it definitely added some depth. There are so many great things about this book, and even me, who is generally not a 'lit fic' person thoroughly enjoyed it. I urge you to read it!

This book is lyrical, devastating and has a wonderfully gothic quality to it that I was not expecting. It tells the story of Jojo and his mother, Leonie as they travel to collect his father, Michael from prison. The book is told in alternating viewpoints, which allows us to fully get to grips with each character. Given some her behaviour, Leonie is a particularly difficult character to sympathise with and yet Ward manages to make us do just that. There are some horrible things that happen throughout the narrative, but the prose is so lush and there is a detachment present in the voices that allow the reader to fully immerse themselves within the world, despite the horror. Ward never over explains anything and we are only shown snippets of the characters' lives, but these snippets are enough to infer a lot about their history and potential futures. Add to all of this, a supernatural element that was unexpected but very welcome, and for me, this is damn near a perfect book. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys beautiful prose, road narratives and the lyrical, lush and tragic history of the black south.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest re

Simply put, if this doesn't win the Women's Prize then it is an absolute travesty. Upon reading, I immediately bought a copy as it is one of those books which you feel honoured to have grace your shelves. It's wonderful, it lives up to the hype, please read it!

(I do confess that I bought the hardback though, as the cover is infinitely prettier than the paperback).

I found myself totally absorbed in this book which tells a tale of three generations of a black family and the damage they suffered, and continue to suffer, from the intolerance of the white man. Ward brilliantly draws her readers into the atmosphere and tension of race relations in the American South and sharply depicts the grimmer aspects of discrimination. Slavery may be long gone but, as this novel shows, the cruelty of white dominance can leave a terrible legacy which still plays out down the generations. A truly moving and intensely human tale. Highly recommended

I adored this book & had to stop and underline so many passages. Achingly beautiful prose and a gut-punch of a message about the realities of race & poverty. We should all be very excited about Jesmyn Ward.

this book had been calling to me for an age and when it began it was so different from what I had expected I couldn't get it but then it hooked me and I was drawn in until it concluded. It is that mystical, horrifying history of black suffering brought up to date and tells of so many horrors and so much neglect that it is almost expected, rather than shocking in any way. The spiritual walks alongside the mundane and the tragic and the whole is a memorable sad story of a family who cannot stay together but who cannot forget each other either.

My book club's March pick was Jesmyn Ward's novel, "Sing, Unburied, Sing", a 2017 National Book Award winner and the story of a mixed family living in Mississippi facing the realities and consequences of racism.

The novel tells the story from multiple points of view: Jojo, a racially mixed thirteen year old boy primarily raised by his grandparents; Mam and Pops, Leonie, Jojo's mother, a woman working and addicted to meth while her boyfriend and children's father is serving his sentence in the nearby prison of Parchman; and Richie, the ghost of a young, black boy who died while serving his own sentence in Parchman and knew Jojo's grandfather, Riv (River). Jojo's father, Michael, is set to be released, so Leonie takes Jojo, Michaela - Jojo's toddler sister, and her friend - Misty, on a short road trip to pick him up (Misty is visiting her own significant other in Parchman).

Ward's novel is masterful at interweaving multiple archetypes: coming of age, caring for a dying parent and other complicated familial relationships, confronting racism in the heart of the South and the topical subject of police brutality against young black men. Ward certainly packed a lot into "Sing, Unburied, Sing".

I enjoyed the rich detail of Ward's writing and the raw confrontation of social issues. Through the eyes of children, both of today and of the past, the harsh realities of racism and drug abuse are seen and I had difficulty reading certain moments even though I could anticipate what was to come.

The only negative I have with Ward's Sing Unburied Sing is that I found myself at times becoming frustrated and a little irritated by the constant mention of "ghosts" and magic realism, such as the images of Richie curled up on a car floor and a room's ceiling, for example. For me, the chaotic death bed scene with Mam also somewhat weakened this powerful story. I can understand Given haunting his family and his presence at his mother's death and in his sister's mind, especially as we know she frequently hallucinates from her drug use, and as she consistently makes choices she knows will hurt her or her kids -- that's ghost as metaphor and one whose emotional resonance is easy to relate to. Not so the presentation of Richie as a kind of "living ghost," as it were.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book; the main characters are compelling and the story arch of single-mother, Leonie, and her thirteen-year-old son, Jojo is captivating and gut-wrenching, and it exploration of racism and the harsh realities of drug abuse will leave you saddened for the world in which we are living and the children that are being brought up in these environments. It is a book which will stay with you long after you have finished the final sentence.