Sing, Unburied, Sing

A Novel

By: Jesmyn Ward

Narrated by: 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

Critic reviews

"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)

Very good read, but way too short

The story itself was wonderful, but it seems like it was too short and I still have many questions. Hopefully there will be a sequel to this book.

Interesting story with mostly good performances

I enjoyed the story and liked that it was told from different perspectives. The different takes on what was happening between JoJo and Leoni were thought provoking. I did not care for the performance for Leoni, though. The way the narrator were out her words was irritating. JoJo and Richie had great performances, though.

Beautiful, amazing story!

This is the best audio book I've listened to in a decade! Jesmyn Ward is a brilliant writer, her prose is beautiful and this story is deep and heartbreaking. Ward presents a story of the destructive impact of people who feel broken, yet manages to convey their humanity.
The narrators performances were fabulous!

Well performed but depressing and slow

I found this book depressing. It was centered around a dysfunctional family with a brother and sister who take care of each other despite their parents’ drug addiction and subsequent neglect. Oh and a dying grandmother, and ghosts of those who have been brutally murdered in the past who are haunting these characters. I have a really hard time listening to stories that detail neglect of children to drug addicted parents. I also found the style confusing, of moving in and out of ghost characters’ perspectives. I couldn’t quite glean the message of the story. Maybe I’m too literal. It was just really not my favorite. One thing I liked was the voice of Leoni was read by Rutina Wesley, an actress I just love. However her character was the least likable in the story.
I read it because I joined the New York Times book club and this was the pick for January 2018. So I finished it, but otherwise would have abandoned it. Perhaps others would like the more poetic writing style but it was not for me. I’ll be interested to see the discussion online with the book club. Lots to talk about I guess.

Excellent!

This was an excellent book and I look forward to recommending it to my family and friends.

Overuse of simile and metaphor

Pretty good overall. Use of simile and metaphor became tiresome. Many examples of inauthentic use sophisticated words and sentence structures. A good editor should have mitigated this. The narrators were pretty good also, except for the one reading Leonie's parts; she was very overdramatic in her delivery, which I found distracting.

Not a big fan of the Rutina's interpretation

What did you love best about Sing, Unburied, Sing?

I love books about the south

What did you like best about this story?

I really didn't like this book. It was hard to like.

How could the performance have been better?

Rutina was way over the top dramatic in her interpretation of Leonie. Leonie was not a sympathetic character to begin with and Rutina made her even worse.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes. It was way too poetic for my liking. I agree the book was well written and a moving story.

Difficult

This book describes a tragedy which is all too common. I would ask a reader to think about poverty, drugs and loss of dignity as topics to consider before you start reading.

loved the multiple narrators

What did you love best about Sing, Unburied, Sing?

Use of multiple narrators to show their perspectives. It helped to attack such broad issues as being black in the south, poverty, substance abuse, spirituality, etc.,,

Who was your favorite character and why?

Jojo, while the saddest for me to hear, was my favorite to listen to. I love the thought processes of a child and the author does a nice job with his narrative.

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There was a scene where Jojo was asked to step out of the car by police, his mother was driving her boyfriend home from prison and just swallows the drugs she was carrying so as not to be caught. The author portrayed the fear that young black men often are faced with when involved with law enforcement, and also the helplessness that Jojo experiences as he does not have an adequate caregiver to help him as he needs throughout the book.

She’s a poet

This book was, in a word, powerful. But there was literally no levity. Nothing funny, nothing happy, nothing positive. I despised one of the characters, but that being said, she was written to be disliked and was written brilliantly. Ward is a poet in my mind and really, this allegorical story about death and living and loss, is like one, long sad poem. I felt heavy after I was done. And if that was the intent, then she accomplished the task. It probably comes down to how you like to feel leaving a book. And I prefer to smile. At least once.