In the big picture, this book is about racial identity, racism, ghosts, witchcraft, parenting, being a child, and learning to love yourself despite the horrible things you’ve witnessed or done. It is an amazing testament to resiliency and love. It was worth every second of the discomfort that I felt.
This book tells the story of a bi-racial family in Mississippi. It mostly switches between two main characters, Leonie and her son Jojo. Jojo is young – maybe not quite a teenager? And he’s living with his African American grandparents and his baby sister Kayla. Leonie is in and out of the picture – the white father of her children is in jail and she’s addicted to drugs.
The bulk of this story describes Leonie’s trip to pick up Michael, her boyfriend, from jail while bringing Jojo and Kayla with her. This trip is full of peril; one has to remember to breathe as this family moves from one dangerous situation to another. Drugs, strange encounters, and police stops are just a small part of their journey, and Ward keeps the reader on the edge of her seat, not knowing how each little saga is going to end.
We also learn more about Jojo’s grandfather, Pop, and his past. While Jojo and Leonie’s storylines are contemporary, Pop’s story shows the incredibly unjust past that he experienced. His story is tragic and heart wrenching, but he turned out to be an amazingly strong and good person. If everyone in the world was like Pop, the world would be an amazing place.
If you’re thinking it’s too difficult for you to read: it’s not. Yes, it’s heavy. Yes, it’s heartbreaking. Yes, you’ll want to hug your babies a little tighter each night and make sure you’re present as a mother or a parent in every way possible. Yes, you’ll ache about the way this country has treated people of color. But this is a book that feels necessary to read right now. When I finished, I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that the absolute worst never happened, but the lives of these children are impacted daily by this country’s lack of understanding and/or commitment to righting its wrongs. I am so glad that I read it despite all of my reservations.
What about you? Have you read Sing, Unburied, Sing? Or anything else by Jesmyn Ward? What were your thoughts on it? Or is there a book that was so difficult for you to get through, but so worth it in the end?
The Cozy Burrow 
I’m on the waiting list for this at my library. I am glad you read your review, as I was also feeling trepidation about reading this. I’ve read her memoir, Men We Reap, which was sad but soooo good.
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I think I want to read everything by her – this book was amazing! I understand your trepidation and I didn’t want to post any spoilers of the book, so I hope I didn’t say too much! I think Ward wanted us to feel the dread that she sank into her novel – it’s what people of color experience much more than I do. And man, it was hard to take!
I can’t wait to read your thoughts on it when you get to read it!
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Now I feel weird because lots of folks say it’s a heavy read, but I sped through it and was a bit underwhelmed by it all. I think I gave it 3 stars (haven’t yet reviewed it though). I didn’t feel uncomfortable by it, but what kept me reading is the unease the characters feel in their relationships toward each other – Jojo toward his mom and Leonie toward everyone who’s not Michael.
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What a great way to describe it! I agree with you about the unease the characters felt toward each other – and I think that might be a big part of why I needed to take so many breaks with it. I wish I could have sped through it, but instead it took me a solid week to finish despite its short length, haha.
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Yea, I totally understand that. I just watched another review of the book and I agree that there are a lot of difficult moments in the story, especially where Leonie is concerned and how she treats Jojo.
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And Kayla! I was so worried about Kayla throughout the book.
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