Jojo is thirteen yearsold and trying to understand what it means to be a man. His mother, Leonie, is in constant conflict with herself and those around her. She is black and herchildren's father is white. Embattled in ways that reflect the brutal realityof her circumstances, she wants to be a better mother, but can't put herchildren above her own needs, especially her drug use.
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 StatePenitentiary. At Parchman, there is another 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.
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[I like to think I know what death is](BloomsburyPublishing, 19 April 2018, first published 5 September 2017, ebook, 304 pages, copyfrom publisher via NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed)
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There is something I really, really like about this book. Ward knows how to use words to create vivid pictures that stay in yourmind for a long time. I've never read an author before with such a distinctive use of prose. I was transported to the sometimes bleak, dark and hopeless world inhabited by her characters. There is a lot of darkness in this book and it would be easy for the whole thing to fall into sadness and misery. Yet, there is hope to be found scattered throughout the book. I thought the characterswere great, flawed, damaged people that I completely sympathised with. There is a sense of hopelessness in the book as Leonie and her children head towards aninevitable, tragic fate. Sing, Unburied Sing is a beautiful book.