ymgodly's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
I sobbed hard at the end, I recently lost someone so the last few pages slapped me.
23149014345613's review against another edition
3.0
I've read too many memoirs recently and I'm a little tired of them. Well-written, and the stories of the five men Ward lost over four years are heart-wrenching, especially when contextualized with the larger crises facing many Black Americans. I thought the structure of the book was an interesting attempt to balance chronology with tragedy, but was cumbersome in parts.
danasiler's review against another edition
5.0
6 of 35 on my #AmplifyMelanatedVoices TBR.
Fantastic and heartbreaking.
Fantastic and heartbreaking.
torileighloveslit's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.25
dkrane's review against another edition
4.0
This book makes you care about people who have been systematically devalued, dehumanized, and ignored. It's a sad and painful book, but it's an important one.
megansnextread's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
medium-paced
5.0
In just five short and difficult years, Ward lost five young men in her life, including her brother. This memoir details her hometown life in the deep south of rural and poor Mississippi town. She tells of the families in this town who often experienced the loss of fathers, the fracturing of families. How this cycle, seemed never-ending that the loss would have no end in sight.
I thought Ward's writing was incredible in this memoir. I am absolutely going to pick up more works from her. The way the story was told was also incredible to me. In between chapters were about her life growing up in Mississippi and the other chapters were about the friends and brother she lost.
I found this book so important in connecting the dots between systematic racism, lower-class towns, and the breaking up of families. Ward's own parents got divorced when she was young, she saw many families who lost their fathers to drugs, prison or separated.
Of course I related to much to the words the author spoke on grief. I cannot image going year after year of losing loved ones in my life. It was hard enough having to experience it myself in one with the loss of my mother and friend within one year.
When grief compounds into your life it feels so weighty, like you will never escape it. "But this grief, for all its awful weight, insists that he matters. What we carry of Roger and Demond and C. J. and Ronald says that they matter." These stories matter and I am so thankful Ward wrote down this one for me to consume.
I hope you will pick this book up.
womanlockedinattic's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This is the only book ive read in my life that made me cry for 30 minutes straight.