Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Much acclaimed, this is a complex story set in the modern day American South. But the old horrors resonate still, and Jesmyn Ward has chosen to represent some of the main characters as ghosts, still interacting with the living. Those who met a violent end cannot rest and wander nearby trying to find peace and resolution. Many of these were the results of lynching, hence the ‘unburied’. Uncomfortable and at times a difficult read, it is nevertheless a story of a family, told from the points of view of a teenage boy Jojo, his young mother Leonie, and Richie, a ghost boy from the past whose story interweaves with the family. The story centres around the family waiting for Michael, Leonie’s boyfriend and Jojo’s dad, to be released from Parchman prison. Leonie has never met Michael’s parents because they are white and have painful history with her family. Leonie is a terrible mother, neglecting to feed her children on the long ride to Parchman, so Jojo is his baby sister Kayla’s carer, she clings to him screaming ‘Jojo, Jojo’ if they are parted. There is violence, drugtaking and a carelessness towards the children which is distressing, but there is love too in this tale. The strong, fierce love of Jojo for his sister is a core running through the story, and in turn his grandfather’s love for him. He has been raised by his grandparents and dreads the return of his father. But there is also something his grandfather has taken a lifetime to tell, and Jojo is not sure he wants to hear it. Beautiful, evocative, the ghosts are creatively written and unnerving, and you care very deeply for Jojo and the outcome. The prose doesn’t drag and Jesmyn Ward tells a story which is ultimately full of tenderness.