Sing, Unburied, Sing

Locations
Call Number: BOCD Fiction, Adult BOCD / Fiction / General / Ward, Jesmyn
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch, Pittsfield Branch, Traverwood Branch, Westgate Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	BOCD Fiction	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Malletts Adult A/V 4-week checkout	Adult BOCD / Fiction / General / Ward, Jesmyn	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Pittsfield Adult A/V 4-week checkout	Adult BOCD / Fiction / General / Ward, Jesmyn	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Adult A/V 4-week checkout	Adult BOCD / Fiction / General / Ward, Jesmyn	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Westgate Adult A/V 4-week checkout	Adult BOCD / Fiction / General / Ward, Jesmyn	4-week checkout	On Shelf

Compact discs.
Read by Kelvin Harrison, Jr., Rutina Wesley, Chris Chalk.
Jojo and his toddler sister, Kayla, live with their grandparents, Mam and Pop, and the occasional presence of their drug-addicted mother, Leonie, on a farm on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Leonie is simultaneously tormented and comforted by visions of her dead brother, which only come to her when she's high; Mam is dying of cancer; and quiet, steady Pop tries to run the household and teach Jojo how to be a man. When the white father of Leonie's children is released from prison, she packs her kids and a friend into her car and sets out across the state for Parchman farm, the Mississippi State Penitentiary, on a journey rife with danger and promise.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Library Journal Review
Publishers Weekly Review
Summary / Annotation
Fiction Profile
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Magical Realism and Domestic Dysfunction submitted by sdunav on June 18, 2018, 11:37pm Evocative, gut-wrenching, unflinching, and wondrous family story set in Mississippi, spanning one African-American grandfather's younger days and his grandson's life in contemporary times.

This made it to my list of all-time favorite books. submitted by sushai on June 23, 2020, 10:47pm Such a perfect book to start the year with. The bar is set high.
I suppose in a way I can say it reminds me of Beloved in content and style of writing, but I think that would do both Toni Morrison and Jesmyn Ward a disservice since the books are unique enough. I listened to the audiotape version of this book, and both Jojo's and Richie's sections were read with such emotion and power that it felt sort of like I was seeing a play. (I did not care for what I assumed was the director's decision to make Leone's voice actor speak in drawn out words with long pauses, as if reading poetry. It became tedious.) Ward creates a real world where characters are imperfect but the reader loves them anyway; in fact the reader roots for them in many ways.
Of course I highly recommend it.

Wonderful submitted by asrecker on July 17, 2020, 5:09pm This book is beautiful and gut wrenching. The voice actors are phenomenal, this is one of the few books I would recommend listening to rather than reading.