Author: Jesmyn Ward
Publisher: Scribner
Publication Year: 2017
Language: English
Format: Hardback
Pages: 285
Jesmyn Ward’s first novel since her National Book Award–winning Salvage the Bones, this singular American writer brings the archetypal road novel into rural twenty-first-century America. An intimate portrait of a family and an epic tale of hope and struggle, Sing, Unburied, Sing journeys through Mississippi’s past and present, examining the ugly truths at the heart of the American story and the power—and limitations—of family bonds.
Jojo is thirteen years old and trying to understand what it means to be a man. He doesn’t lack in fathers to study, chief among them his Black grandfather, Pop. But there are other men who complicate his understanding: his absent White father, Michael, who is being released from prison; his absent White grandfather, Big Joseph, who won’t acknowledge his existence; and the memories of his dead uncle, Given, who died as a teenager.
His mother, Leonie, is an inconsistent presence in his and his toddler sister’s lives. She is an imperfect mother in constant conflict with herself and those around her. She is Black and her children’s father is White. She wants to be a better mother but can’t put her children above her own needs, especially her drug use. Simultaneously tormented and comforted by visions of her dead brother, which only come to her when she’s high, Leonie is embattled in ways that reflect the brutal reality of her circumstances.
When the children’s father is released from prison, Leonie packs her kids and a friend into her car and drives north to the heart of Mississippi and Parchman Farm, the State Penitentiary. At Parchman, there is another thirteen-year-old boy, the ghost of a dead inmate who carries all of the ugly history of the South with him in his wandering. He too has something to teach Jojo about fathers and sons, about legacies, about violence, about love.
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Sing, Unburied, Sing is told from three point of views. The first one being Jojo, a 13 year old boy, Leonie who is Jojo’s drug addict mother, and Richie, the ghost of a boy who used to be an inmate at Parchman penitentiary. Jojo’s father, Michael, was in jail and scheduled to be released soon. So Leonie took him and his 3 year old sister Kayla on a road trip to pick his father up. This book covers the event starts from right before the road trip until after. Besides them, there are also Leonie’s parents whom they’ve been living with. Leonie’s mother is dying of cancer and her father has been taking care of her mother ever since.
I went into this book without knowing anything about it so I was a bit surprised when I started reading this book. Sing Unburied Sing was not an easy read to me because of the subject matter. Jojo and Kayla are biracial kids. Leonie is an African American while Michael is a Caucasian. This book takes place in the south of United States. Sadly, there’s no need to set a specific time period as a setting of this book to understand the underlying racial segregation happening in the book. Although it’s not explicit, there are scenes that uncomfortable to read for me. Especially those which show how black people being treated. The unfairness made me angry and want to stop reading at times, but in my opinion that’s what makes this book such an important read.
Sing, Unburied, Sing falls in the magical realism category. Leonie’s mother told Leonie that their family have supernatural power that’s been passed down to the next generation of the family. The power is different from person to person. Leonie’s mother said that she can feel what will happen and she heals people. At first, Leonie doesn’t believe it and all the ritual that her mother told her. That is until she started seeing her dead brother, Given, while she was getting high on drugs. In a way, Given acts as a conscience to Leonie. He shows up whenever Leonie does questionable things which often happens. Tragically, Given was killed years before by Michael’s cousin just because he won a bet and Michael’s cousin couldn’t accept it.
Leonie is not the only one who’s been gifted to see ghost. Jojo and Kayla seem to have this gift as well. On the way back from Parchman, they met the ghost of Richie, who is another narrator in this book. Richie was an inmate at the Parchman penitentiary at the same time with Jojo’s grandfather, River, or as they called him Pop. Richie was supposed to run away but ended up being a ghost without knowing how he died. Richie was 12 years old and he was sent to prison because he stole food to feed his siblings. Pop saw Richie as a small and weak boy so he protected him while in prison. Because of that, he felt Pop has the answer of what happened back then. Sensing that Jojo is Pop’s descendant, he followed him in the hope of reaching out to Pop and getting the answer.
Most of the characters in this book are unlikable. Take Leonie as an example. She is incompetent as a mother. She doesn’t really care for her children but she’s bothered when Kayla prefers Jojo to her. Even Leonie’s mother acknowledge this. Both Leonie and Michael are such an irresponsible parent. It’s frustrating to read. They often left Jojo to care for Kayla which is why Kayla clings to Jojo a lot. Then there’s the substance abuse that adds to their irresponsibility. If not for Mom and Pop, I don’t think Jojo and Kayla are able to survive.
Sing Unburied Sing is a difficult read, but it talks about an important issue that people need to read. Despite of the heavy topic, the prose are beautiful and uncomplicated to read. Some parts are quite disturbing but I’d still recommend this book.
It ain’t natural for a colored man to master dogs. A colored man doesn’t know how to master, because it ain’t in him to master.
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