Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Fiction
Published: Scribner, September 5/17
Sing, Unburied, Sing takes place along the poverty stricken Mississippi Gulf Coast, where racial tensions still rung high. Leonie (one of the novels narrators) is an African-American mother struggling with drug addiction. She has left her two children in the care of her parents and she waltz’s in and out of their lives (sometimes high and sometimes sober). Addiction, of course, is no easy obstacle to overcome, but also in Leonie’s case, the more she uses, the more she is comforted by the ghost of her brother, Given, who was shot by a Caucasian football player for winning a game when they were in high school.
The other perspective is from her thirteen-year-old son Jojo, who acts as surrogate parent to his toddler sister Kayla, while preparing to become the future head of household. For a young teen, Jojo has way too much on his plate. According to him, he once had a mama (Leonie) who was actually a mother figure to him, but all that stopped (along with him calling her mama) when she started snorting crushed pills. As for his and Kayla’s father, Michael, he’s been in the Mississippi State Penitentiary on drug charges.
Things at home are rough – Leonie’s mother (Mam) is slowly dying of cancer and her father (Pop) is still haunted by ghosts of his own past. Nonetheless, these two remained devoted to the children and Pop acted as the family’s rock in all the mayhem and chaos. Throughout the novel, readers will learn many stories about Mam and Pop – even when Pop did time jail time, where revelations about the horrors inside Mississippi State Penitentiary will be brought to light. The way Ward writes capture’s the reader’s attentions and then just drags them into this beautifully gothic setting with vividly unique characters.
Upon Michael’s impending release, Leonie decides to take the kids on a road trip to pick him up. Jojo, unsurprisingly, with Kayla clinging to him, is an unwilling traveler. All he can remember of his parent’s time together are their vicious fights. That is another problem Leonie and Michael will have to face soon – Michael is white, and his racist parents have always disapproved of their relationship. So much that they are not even involved in Jojo and Kayla’s lives.
Bleak situations, issues of race, family dynamics, and realism. These are only a few elements that Ward touches on. She also adds layers upon layers to her characters making them complex, thus making them realistic and not so easy to judge. Sing, Unburied, Sing is a multi-layered, emotional read. Ward’s talent is remarkable and I am looking forward to seeing what’s next in her literary career.
Kirsten Lowe studies at Athabasca University.