Reviews with content warning for Slavery - Sing, Unburied, Sing

In Sing, Unburied, Sing, Ward’s writing is lyrical, complex, and rooted in the earth. The novel is extremely moving, but in a disturbing and existential way. It exposes the continuity of slavery and racial exploitation through prison, and the ways that these ongoing processes can break families. There’s also some spiritual exploration only heightened the discomfort I felt in reading.

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ari5scythe's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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sydneythekydneybean's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I really wanted to like this book. It's one of my friend's favorite books, it's our next book club book, and I hate being that person who goes to a book club with negative or neutral things to say about something many people love.

I don't know what it was about Sing, Unburied, Sing that I didn't like. Out of all of the characters, Richie's story was the most intriguing and interesting, and the relationship between Jojo and Pop was mesmerizing and, honestly, something I wish we focused more on instead of Jojo and Kayla's relationship with their mother and father (which... I have many, many words to say about them and their particular parenting style, but I will plead the fifth here). Jesmyn Ward is undeniably a very good writer, but sometimes I felt like her lyrical prose outweighed the voice of the character we were in the head of. In the end, it might have been that which led me not to feel as connected to the characters as I wanted to. Some worked (see Richie), but many didn't (see Leonie).

It's a beautifully written and important book about poverty, family, racism, the ghosts of our pasts, and the hopes for our futures, but ultimately, it just wasn't for me.

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lizziaha's review against another edition

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4.5

This is a book about families, and the people that make them up. It’s about how the things we can’t control shape our lives, and how the tiny pieces of control we carve out can come back to haunt us.
Ward manages to capture the very essence of the South. The violence that runs through the mud, through the blood. The history that some people can’t even see, and that other people can’t ignore.
It wasn’t an easy book to read.

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