Jesmyn Ward’s 2017 novel, Sing, Unburied, Sing, has quickly emerged as one of the most highly regarded books of our young century, so on this episode we dig into what makes it so interesting.
I feel like this was a good book for me to read. I taught in the public school system and my husband has worked at children’s hospitals so we have both encountered people whose stories overlaps Leonie’s. It is easy to see the destruction she leaves in her wake, but this book lets us see the layers that no one else sees, even her family. It is so important that her choices feel more understandable while always being wrong. It pains me that her love and best intentions stay inside and all her family gets is her rage, hurt, and ineffectiveness. I am amazed that while my mothering style is very different, that some of her behaviors call me to task. How often have I decided to be more patient with my children only to be short with them immediately after? Leonie’s humanity is deftly painted.
I have read salvage the bones and the writing. Here is much better.. I felt like salvage the bones was talking to’ as I lay dying’. I think she is talking to Faulkner here as well though not sure if there is a specific book that lines up. Thoughts?
I really liked what you said about how we come to rely on Pop as a stable place for Jojo and how when they set off on the road trip we feel the rug pulled out from under us. I was so very worried the entire time that disaster was going to fall at any moment upon the innocent children. As we set off and at every turn along the way, I continued to dread that the road trip was going to end with Kayla's death. The mounting tension is almost unbearable.
In some ways I found it worse than the dread I felt while reading The Road. I was pretty sure that McCarthy would not kill the boy, the father is always such a comforting, protecting guardian presence; but Ward's narrative doesn't have the same reassuring quality about Kayla and Jojo's safety. I do not trust Leonie or Misty or the unknown Michael to have the best interests of the children at heart. We KNOW Leonie is not a protector. She's the danger.
And yet. Ward also puts us into Leonie's head, which is such a daring move. I don't want to be there. I don't want to have sympathy for her. But the story doesn't let her be a sterotype or a flat character or a cardboard villain. She's real. She's human. She's wounded. I want to mother her. I want to save her. But I am so so very angry at her for endangering her children. I love what you said about her not being a statistic. The novel would be very different if we were limited to Jojo's point of view. I don't think it would be as good. As much as I don't want to be in Leonie's head, I also find her point of view strangely seductive. And I get a kind of whiplash every time the story jumps from her to Jojo and back again.
This is so much more real than the road and that’s what makes it sadder. My heart is aching for the mother and the son. It is helping me deepen my empathy but it hurts.
“The moral framework of the novel is created by the point of view” (did I get that right?) Dang, I wanna sit in a patio with a beer and talk about that some more!
Some thoughts/questions I had listening:
I wonder how Kristin Lavransdatter would be if there were chapters from her sons’ points of view…
“Atticus” vs “Leonie” and duty/desire
I went into this book blind, so I noticed a timelessness in it - like how at the start I wasn’t sure of the time period, so when JoJo says it’s his birthday and that Pop has a knife, I’ve got an ancient coming-of-age ceremony in mind. Plus the off-the-grid way of living and the Catholicism/Voodoo contrasted against other very modern signposts and relationships that gives a strongly “of today” feel.
Around page 22 (I’m reading on kindle), Pop’s story in italics is broken with an unitalicized paragraph, but it’s still in the first-person. Is this just an error in the copy?
Man was it hard to stop reading at three chapters!
I agree. I want to sit with the idea that point of view creates the moral framework. I want to tease out what that means and how it works.
An interesting question about point of view in KL. Though I think Undset does give us a few occasional glimpses into how her sons see Kristin. I especially loved the moments we get when Skule shows up in the final chapters and we see a little bit of how he and his brothers view Kristin.
I wasn't able to stop at three chapters. I had to finish the novel. Could not live with those little children in jeopardy.
This reminded me in some ways of Morrison's Beloved. Having read Demon Copperhead, I appreciated the lighter touch here, while the tragedy still comes across.
I feel like this was a good book for me to read. I taught in the public school system and my husband has worked at children’s hospitals so we have both encountered people whose stories overlaps Leonie’s. It is easy to see the destruction she leaves in her wake, but this book lets us see the layers that no one else sees, even her family. It is so important that her choices feel more understandable while always being wrong. It pains me that her love and best intentions stay inside and all her family gets is her rage, hurt, and ineffectiveness. I am amazed that while my mothering style is very different, that some of her behaviors call me to task. How often have I decided to be more patient with my children only to be short with them immediately after? Leonie’s humanity is deftly painted.
I have read salvage the bones and the writing. Here is much better.. I felt like salvage the bones was talking to’ as I lay dying’. I think she is talking to Faulkner here as well though not sure if there is a specific book that lines up. Thoughts?
I too read this book and felt like it was in conversation with Faulkner, and even O’Connor to some extent.
And Morrison’s Beloved
I really liked what you said about how we come to rely on Pop as a stable place for Jojo and how when they set off on the road trip we feel the rug pulled out from under us. I was so very worried the entire time that disaster was going to fall at any moment upon the innocent children. As we set off and at every turn along the way, I continued to dread that the road trip was going to end with Kayla's death. The mounting tension is almost unbearable.
In some ways I found it worse than the dread I felt while reading The Road. I was pretty sure that McCarthy would not kill the boy, the father is always such a comforting, protecting guardian presence; but Ward's narrative doesn't have the same reassuring quality about Kayla and Jojo's safety. I do not trust Leonie or Misty or the unknown Michael to have the best interests of the children at heart. We KNOW Leonie is not a protector. She's the danger.
And yet. Ward also puts us into Leonie's head, which is such a daring move. I don't want to be there. I don't want to have sympathy for her. But the story doesn't let her be a sterotype or a flat character or a cardboard villain. She's real. She's human. She's wounded. I want to mother her. I want to save her. But I am so so very angry at her for endangering her children. I love what you said about her not being a statistic. The novel would be very different if we were limited to Jojo's point of view. I don't think it would be as good. As much as I don't want to be in Leonie's head, I also find her point of view strangely seductive. And I get a kind of whiplash every time the story jumps from her to Jojo and back again.
I feel like I’m mentally grimacing as I was reading for the next episode. I decided I cannot read this before bed.
This is so much more real than the road and that’s what makes it sadder. My heart is aching for the mother and the son. It is helping me deepen my empathy but it hurts.
“The moral framework of the novel is created by the point of view” (did I get that right?) Dang, I wanna sit in a patio with a beer and talk about that some more!
Some thoughts/questions I had listening:
I wonder how Kristin Lavransdatter would be if there were chapters from her sons’ points of view…
“Atticus” vs “Leonie” and duty/desire
I went into this book blind, so I noticed a timelessness in it - like how at the start I wasn’t sure of the time period, so when JoJo says it’s his birthday and that Pop has a knife, I’ve got an ancient coming-of-age ceremony in mind. Plus the off-the-grid way of living and the Catholicism/Voodoo contrasted against other very modern signposts and relationships that gives a strongly “of today” feel.
Around page 22 (I’m reading on kindle), Pop’s story in italics is broken with an unitalicized paragraph, but it’s still in the first-person. Is this just an error in the copy?
Man was it hard to stop reading at three chapters!
I agree. I want to sit with the idea that point of view creates the moral framework. I want to tease out what that means and how it works.
An interesting question about point of view in KL. Though I think Undset does give us a few occasional glimpses into how her sons see Kristin. I especially loved the moments we get when Skule shows up in the final chapters and we see a little bit of how he and his brothers view Kristin.
I wasn't able to stop at three chapters. I had to finish the novel. Could not live with those little children in jeopardy.
This reminded me in some ways of Morrison's Beloved. Having read Demon Copperhead, I appreciated the lighter touch here, while the tragedy still comes across.
I kept thinking of Beloved as well.
I read the book a couple months ago, when I heard you were doing it on the show. It's kinda haunted me ever since.
My heart was immediately with the mom and stayed that way, despite everything.