Sing, Unburied, Sing

A Novel

De: Jesmyn Ward

Narrado por: Kelvin Harrison Jr., Chris Chalk, Rutina Wesley

WINNER of the NATIONAL BOOK AWARD for FICTION
Finalist for the Kirkus Prize
Finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal
Publishers Weekly Top 10 of 2017

"The heart of Jesmyn Ward's Sing, Unburied, Sing is story - the yearning for a narrative to help us understand ourselves, the pain of the gaps we'll never fill, the truths that are failed by words and must be translated through ritual and song...Ward's writing throbs with life, grief, and love, and this book is the kind that makes you ache to return to it." (Buzzfeed)

In 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 21st-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 13 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 13-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.

Rich with Ward's distinctive, lyrical language, Sing, Unburied, Sing is a majestic new work and an unforgettable family story.

A 2018 RUSA “Listen-Alike” for LINCOLN IN THE BARDO

©2017 Jesmyn Ward (P)2017 Simon & Schuster Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"There is a truth and grittiness here that narrators Kelvin Harrison, Rutina Wesley, and Chris Chalk enhance significantly with their powerful talents.... All in all, this excellent novel makes for exceptional listening." (AudioFile)

Lyric & sensual writing, devastating story

I would not have appreciated spoilers for this novel, and I've seen plenty in other reviews of Ward's book. So I'll keep it short. This has the lyric power and the historic and literary importance of Toni Morrison's Beloved, but unlike in Beloved, the reader knows what the hell is going on. The setting and themes are contemporary, but you will never look at rural drug abuse or the racist injustices of the Old South in the same way after living life in JoJo's skin. Ward is particularly powerful when describing sensory perceptions. She's won one National Book Award; with Sing, Unburied, Sing, she deserves a second.

Wonderful story; subpar performance by Wesley

Riveting story by my favorite author. Rutina Wesley’s performance was terrible, however. During her portions of the story, it was all I could do to continue listening. I eventually opted to skip her chapters on audio and read them from the copy of the book that I purchased instead. Awful! Fortunately, the other performances offset hers.

Poetic

Overall I enjoyed the book, but I can see how some may really dislike it or it be their favorite. It touches on a number of topics that make people uncomfortable - racism, child neglect, prison life, spirits that are unable to cross to the other side...
By far the best part of the book is Jesmyn Ward's writing style. It's very poetic, flows beautifully, and is the type of book you should listen to with few distractions and let your mind flow with the book. She captures the characters inner train of thought and subconscious in a way, that for most people, would be difficult to put into writing. I finished the book in three sittings, I didn't want to turn it off.
A few nit-picky things - two of the male characters are young (13-ish) but they are read by obviously grown men with big grown-man voices. It was confusing at first. Rutina Wesley reads for Leonie beautifully, but she reads the entire thing as performance poetry and it seems a little over-the-top at times. But maybe that is how the author intended.
Overall, I recommend this book, even if it may be outside of your comfort zone a little.

Unbearable Beauty

A heartbreaking story told with exquisite artistry, truth and love. I would imagine the narrators felt privileged to read these words, to create characters so fully known.

Fantastic

Absolutely loved this book and it’s the narrators. Don’t miss! Can’t wait to read or listen to more of Jesmyn Ward’s outstanding work.

Amazing Story!

Sing, Unburied Sing is a novel filled with rich language, imagery, and characters. I continually crave books that take place in New Orleans and Mississippi because there is such rich history buried in the soil there. I am so glad Jesmyn Ward is not afraid to dig.
The story is told from the perspective of the living and the dead and it interweaves beautifully. Past and present intertwine with images so vivid, and sometimes disturbing, that it is easy to get lost in this book. I couldn't stop listening!

ghosts haunting everyone

I loved the lyrical style of the author. It brought me touching recognition moments. Are hallucinations a vehicle for dealing with traumatic events so awful they defy description?

Couldn't get past the narrator's voice

What did you like best about Sing, Unburied, Sing? What did you like least?

I LOVED Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones. I was so excited to listen to Sing, Unburied, Sing.
The female narrator's voice, however, proved too much a distraction for me to enjoy the book. Her characters are all projected with a droll sort of sultry Mae West affect; difficult to buy into with Leonie's disconnected character, and absolutely agonizing as Mam on her deathbead.

What did you like best about this story?

The characterizations, as in Salvage the Bones, were fantastic. I look forward to sitting down and re-reading this without narration.

What didn’t you like about the narrators’s performance?

The woman's voice didn't fit the characters at all.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Absolutely.

Great, Beautiful Read

Absolutely beautifully written book. The story, if simply described, would be as follows: a boy, his baby sister, his mother, and her friend go to pick up the boy’s father from prison on the day of his release.

That’s the plot, in a nutshell. But the poetic words and the depth of the characters make this much more than just a story. I felt for each and every one of the characters in the book, even the ones I despised. The language and imagery are gorgeous.

This book is extremely heavy though- not recommended for light summer reading!

Disappointing

Having just read Ward’s other award-winning novel, Salvage the Bones, I was very much looking forward to this one.

However, I had some real problems with this book. First of all, I almost stopped listening shortly after I began the book, given Rutina Wesley’s interpretation of the character Leoni. Many reviewers have noted her over-acting in this role, and I would agree. Furthermore, her voice is so breathy and stilted that I had trouble understanding her words at all. This performance pretty much ruined whatever enjoyment I might have gotten from the book. The other two performances were fine, so it was just the voice of Leoni that I began to dread.

Regarding the story itself, I think it had a very good set-up, an interesting conflict from the get-go. Unfortunately, I don’t think the author really knew where she was going with the resolution when she started. The narrative rambled and sort of shredded. Once the characters return from the prison, the story drags, burdened with multiple unhappy spirits looking for their own resolution.

Finally, the character of Jojo, whom other reviewers have praised, did not strike me as very believable. He was adorably heroic from the get-go, and never faltered. This is quite a dramatic contrast from his miserable parents, who never exhibit any growth themselves. The grandparents, too, are flat characters. So while the situation is rife with possibility, the static, flat characters remain unchanged and the story never reaches any sort of satisfying resolution.

Disclaimer: I am not generally a fan of books with characters who have visions or see ghosts. So maybe I’m not the right reviewer for this book.