My Amazon review of Sing, Unburied, Sing (Rated 4): A Presence in the Hole of Absence – Jesmyn Ward mesmerizes readers with a haunting story about a black boy whose mother’s love for his white father, and for drugs, leaves no room for him. The novel is rich with the details of poverty and race in the Mississippi Delta, yet universal in its pain and compassion. Fortunately for JoJo, his grandparents sustain him through Leonie’s emotional and physical absence. This is the book’s reality. The book also veers into magic realism, as foreshadowed by the title. While I’m not a fan of this device, it works here … until it doesn’t, and the “undead” overwhelm the living heart of the story. Moreover, JoJo’s baby sister, who ultimately unites the two worlds, is too weakly and repetitively drawn to bear the burden. The book is rewarding, but reviews led me to expect more.
