Reviews with content warning for Drug abuse - Sing, Unburied, Sing

Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

89 reviews

amalas_bookstop's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Solid 4.5 stars.

Jesmyn Ward writes so descriptively. I could almost feel the swamp of Mississippi as I was reading this book. I could feel the resentment Leonie had towards her children, parents, and the grief of losing her brother. It made it easier to understand maybe why she was such a neglectful mother.

I enjoyed how she used the ghosts to showcase how our past can sometimes hold us back or make us stronger. As we read with Jojo and his sister Kayla.

She even explored the slave to prisoner pipeline at Parchman prison. A terrible penitentiary that is still being used to this day.

I am definitely going to keep her on my radar for future reading.

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rebekistan's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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mel_j's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Sing, Unburied' Sing' was a marvellous reading experience. In some way, I could feel for and understand all the characters and their motives. The magical realism was well-done and felt not too over-the-top; it fit very well into the story.

There was a slight historical feel to 'Sing, Unburied, Sing' that is connected to the magical realism. I loved the historical references and facts; sad, but important, they added a lot to the book

It's a heartbreaking book that made me stop and think quite a few times; very moving.
The ending felt quite rushed and incomplete, which is why I don't give the book 5 stars – I feel there could've been done more, but I enjoyed the reading experience a lot.

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cheryl1213's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Beautiful and haunting. Too hard to capture without telling to much. A mix of gritty reality with a touch of magic

(Actually a reread but deleted the prior entry bc it was appearing as the wrong edition...probably wouldn't care but it was the audiobook and those just aren't my thing. The first paragraph was my old review, but it's still spot on (humbly said))

Beautiful and haunting. Too hard to capture without telling to much. A mix of gritty reality with a touch of magic

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sisithelyricist's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I liked the poetic feel of this book. The writing and imagery is stellar, and the inclusion of racism and incarceration in this deeply moving story of a family doing their best was incredible. I disliked how wordy some parts got. Sometimes it took away from the story. Only a couple instances though. I also got a bit confused when picking up and putting down due to the jump around of character narratives. That’s why i rated it a 4.5. I would say this is a straight through read. However, depiction of the humanity of ALL characters was beautiful as well. That made the multiple narratives worth it in the end. All in all a beautiful and compelling story. I actually cried. I will be reading her work again! All the best to Jesmyn Ward! I recommend this book to all Americans, but especially Black people all over the diaspora. This is an important piece of work.

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