Salvage the Bones: A Novel

It takes a lot nowadays for me to rate any Fiction book 5 stars. I read way more non-fiction, and usually only read highly recommended fiction, or some that's given to me. There are plenty of other reviews here that tell you how it's not a "happy" book (why that matters i dont know), so i wont go on about that part. I dont base my reading choices on whether they have a happy fantasy story. This story is very real. The writing is really good. I have several points that i use to rate a book: the story itself, the actual writing style, the 'entertainment' value, the emotions it brings out - laughter, sadness, etc., and if it's very memorable - either by being very different than anything i've ever read, or by something else about it being very different. The only point out of all of those that i wouldnt give a 5 would be the writing style/prose - which i'd give a 4. It's very good, but not "amazing" to me like some authors are. The author brought me into the characters - where i could feel what they were feeling, and i understood why they did the 'bad' things they did - totally. I felt the way they lived, the area, the poverty... As the story progressed, i stayed up one night for HOURS wanting to know what happened - until the sun rose actually. As the finale was coming - which i had no idea would be the way it was - i was literally gripping the book with both hands and holding it up to my face. I realized this and laughed to myself since i hadnt even noticed. Then - i sobbed thru the last 20 pgs - i havent cried from ANY fiction for a long time. Yes, i get into books and really let them take me away, but this book has a special kind of writing and a special story that i never expected to effect me sooo much. The author THEN does something so amazing at the very end - when i couldnt believe it could get any better. I KNEW what i wanted to happen - and i kept thinking to myself, "no, it wont - because it will just seem to corny if it does." (Even tho i wanted it so much.) She made it happen in a special way, without making it corny but while bringing me the hope and good feeling i needed after all the sobbing. (I dont want to give anything away just in case you dont know the story.) This book scores an A+. If you love good, moving, American fiction you will love this.

I read this novel, along with nine others, for a college literature course. Of the ten, this was the only book to elicit a strong emotional reaction from me. There were moments when I hung my head in frustration, threw up my hands in respect (God bless Ward’s writing style), and wiped my face of tears and snot after crying my eyes out. An incredibly moving and poignant novel. The novel opens with its narrator Esch, fourteen years old and pregnant. She often follows her brothers around, and is constantly surrounded by men as well as the gruesome society of dog-fighting. Esch’s predominant male surrounding is, perhaps, the main influence that encourages her to sleep with her brother’s friends, and to submissively pine for the one boy, Manny, who unforgivingly mistreats her. Though Esch’s character was impeccably frustrating, and borderline stereotypical and archetypal, her faults lie with a motherless young girl, who wants to be wanted and loved. Both frustrating and annoying, this characterization was, at times, unlikable, yet that is exactly what made Esch so human. I applaud Ward’s lyrical writing style, as well her ability to write such gruesome and honest depictions that made me literally cringe when reading. Ward is able to effortlessly incorporate poetic language into her novel that, at times, made me set the book in both awe and envy, knowing I would never be able to produce such a product. I did find there to be a disconnect between the poetic language and the colloquial diction. That’s to say, I found it a bit unbelievable that Esch would speak so poorly to her family and friends, yet express herself so eloquently in her narration. Regardless, I found the poetic language to be successful and moving. I knew before reading the book that it was centered on Hurricane Katrina. However, I was surprised that the novel was centered on the build-up to the hurricane. Katrina itself is more or less twenty pages. The chapter pertaining to the hurricane, as well as the aftermath of the hurricane, were the sections of the novel that I found most captivating. Living through the hurricane with Esch and her family was difficult to read, which is perhaps why Ward chose to limit its description. That said, I wish I had more of Katrina and its aftermath. I waited for the hurricane for 200 pages, and it seemed to end as soon as it started. Though I was unsatisfied by the ending, I appreciated that the novel was a work that was not so much about Katrina as it was about survival and family. I was captivated by Ward’s poetic writing and honest characters. I will definitely be on the lookout for her other works, as well as an avid recommender of this novel.

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward New York: Bloomsberry $24.00 361 pages Hurricane Katrina spawned an awesome number of literary works, and it may be that, given sufficient time to determine the full merits of Jesmyn Ward’s novel, Salvage the Bones, her work may be the most worthy. Perhaps the theory that great disasters (wars, natural disasters) invariably produce great works of art (operas, novels, paintings, etc.). This theory was often discussed by Flannery O’Conner who commented on the irony of the “creative renaissance” in southern literature which owes its origin to the extensive suffering and injustice associated with slavery and the Civil War. The narrator of Salvage the Bones is Esch, a fifteen-year-old girl living in Bois Sauvage, a predominately black bayou town which happens to be in the direct path of Katrina. Set in the twelve days leading up to, and just after the arrival of the hurricane, the novel presents each day as a distinct vignette. Esch and her brothers spend each day preparing for the terrifying arrival. They have no intention of leaving and attempt to help their drunken father reinforce their shack with sheets of plywood. They collect and store bottles of drinking water. Food supplies tend to consist of Top Ramen moon pies, vienna sausage, potted meat and eggs gathered in the woods. However, despite Katrina’s approach, Esch and her brothers seem to be primarily concerned about their white pit bull, China who has just given birth to five pups. China has developed a reputation in the dog fights that take place in “The Pit” in Bois Sauvage. She is a killing machine, a fact that makes Esch and her brothers the envy of their neighbors. The family’s meager economic security depends on China and each day is spent grooming, washes and feeding her. Indeed they fawn over the big dog, telling everyone that her puppies will grow up to have a killer instinct and therefore, they are invaluable. Much of the intrigue in Esch’s daily life revolves around protecting China and her pups. Skeetah is Esch’s oldest brother and the dog’s self-appointed trainer. Esch has a multitude of problems. She struggles to love her handicapped father and is haunted by the memory of her mother’s death. Now, she discovers that she is pregnant by Bois Sauvage’s “golden boy,” Manny, the boy who put the baby inside her is totally indifferent to the consequences of a rough and tumble frolic in the dark. As each day brings more distress, the homely, pug-faced teenager turns to her imagination, searching for a means to deal with the world around her, and as luck would have it, that is Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, which was a required reading at school. Esch begins to see the people around her as characters in her favorite book. She observes that all the girls in Bois Sauvage seem to be acting like their mythical counterparts: Psyche, Eurydice, Daphne - all of them running away from something or running after someone. However, the mythical character that Esch selects for her own role model is an ominous one. It is Medea, the fierce and vindictive wife of “the golden-haired Jason, who kills her own brother when he stands in the way of her love for Jason; and when that love turns to hate, she then murders Jason’s new wife, Creusa, her father, Creon and even kills her own children. Of course, Esch is not going to harm anyone. Although she is filled with rage at the world around her, she is actually one of the forces that is holding everything together; China, the white pitbull is another. When Katrina reaches landfall, it comes like some apocalyptic act of God, sweeping everything away, including Esch’s home and all of their feeble efforts to battle the rising water. In the end Salvage the Bones acquires a kind of epic grander. Like Noah or Gilgamesh, the waters finally withdraw, leaving a confused and humbled Bois Sauvage. How much has been lost? The puppies are gone and so is China - but given the dog’s character, she may have survived. Perhaps Skeetah and his brothers will find her. The reader is left with a singular image. Skeetah, the oldest brother sits in the wreckage of their home, and while everyone else is searching for missing children, furniture and cars, Skeetah looks at his brothers and announces, “She will come back to me.” Esch tells us: “He will watch the dark, the ruined houses, the muddy appliances, the tops of the trees that surround us whose leaves are dying for lack of roots. He will feed the fire, so it will blaze bright as a lighthouse. He will listen for the beat of her tail, the padding of her feet in the mud. He will look into the future and see her emerge into the circle of his fire, beaten dirty by the hurricane so she doesn’t gleam anymore. So, she is the color of his teeth, his eyes, of the bone bounded by his blood, dull but alive, alive, alive, and when he sees her, his face will break and run water. And what of Esch who loves the white dog? She says that China will look at me and know “I am a mother.” Hopefully, it is apparent that this is a remarkable book. However, it was almost lost in the loud braying and confusion that dominates much of publishing business now. Even so, it won the National Book Award in 2011. Now, after a strange silence, it is beginning to get the attention that it deserves.

Salvage the Bones is a deeply personal account of a young woman, Esch, and her family's life in the few days before Hurricane Katrina. The novel is set on the family's land in a small town in Mississippi. She lives with her father, her mother seven years deceased, and her three brothers, Skeetah, Randall, and Junior. Esch has recently learned that she is pregnant with the child of one of her older brother's friends. Skeetah takes care of his pitbull, China, helping her give birth and grooming her to fight for the family's honor. Randall plays basketball in hopes of gaining a college scholarship. Junior is a product of the mother's death, as she passed away giving birth to him, and leaves the family to mother him for the rest of his life. The novel describes the family's relationships with one another before the hurricane will rock them and test their connections to one another. The novel is not set decisively around the hurricane, however the family takes precautions leading up to the storm to plan for one of the worst natural disasters in American history. Jesmyn Ward provides a semi-autobiographical context of the hurricane, as she was born in a small, rural community in Mississippi, similar to the one she describes in Salvage the Bones. Ward writes commonly in this tone, and her newest novel, Men Who Reaped, describes the lives of four men in her life that had suffered deaths far too young. The novel is poetic in its writing style, and a beautiful read. Ward describes herself as a "failed poet," however, by reading the novel, it is clear that she succeeds in her poetry. Metaphors follow each line of description, and Ward is able to connect figurative language with the colloquial language of characters living in a rural community. It is undeniably pleasurable to read through the pages. Ward creates lovable characters and leaves the reader longing to discover what happens after the hurricane, and how the favorite characters are surviving in the wake of the natural disaster. There is a large dog presence throughout the novel, in addition to family ties, the novel provides a sense of companionship and a person's human relationship with his dog. The dog becomes a member of the family, and the relationship is called into question with the severity of the storm and the need to hold onto the most important things in times of crisis. I am overwhelmed with the poetic nature of this book and applaud Ward as an exceptional writer.

This novel does a great job of weaving careful diction and sentence structure to give each chapter a sort of charm. The writing is definitely one to praise and cherish. However, this is unfortunately where most praise ends. The novel is incredibly slow and has very little points. The whole entire time, we are made to believe that Katrina is at the core of the story when in reality, it only spends about 2 chapters really focused on the disaster itself. Although, I would still recommend this novel if you are looking for a more slice of life in the middle of Mississippi. But it's not the ultimate tale of disaster it was made out to be.

Salvage the Bones, a novel written by Jesmyn Ward, tells the heart-wrenching story of fifteen-year-old Esch and her family, living in Bois Sauvage, Mississippi. The majority of the story takes place after Esch finds herself pregnant, and preparing for the inconvenient appearance of Hurricane Katrina. Since her mother’s death, and with her father clearly being an alcoholic, Esch has been living under the influence of her two older brothers, Skeetah (age 16) and Randall (age 17). The book takes on many “hard topics” such as gender roles. Esch, for example, being the only woman left in her family, is expected to take on the mother-role, cooking the food and such. By many of the boys in her town, she is expected to offer them her body, resulting in her pregnancy. It was shocking, to me, that even in 2005 such concepts still existed in society. Esch even mentions how for her, it was easier to not say anything, rather than to say “no” and have to explain why. Personally, I felt that the book was very well-written. Ward’s deep, intimate writing allowed for a close connection to many of the characters. Even though I couldn’t relate to many of the hardships Esch and her family endured, I was able to sympathize with them. The descriptions in the novel were like nothing I had ever read before; they were incredibly detailed and helped to relate ideas and objects in such unusual ways. At times, the novel became extremely intense, and therefore difficult to digest. I would suggest Salvage the Bones to readers who are able to tackle mature subject matters. Overall, the story was very well developed and I quite enjoyed it.

A dead mother leaves four precocious children to a drunken husband, but not a worthless one, because he is, fortunately, prepared to face the storms of induced poverty in a racially segregated Louisiana. In the midst of everyday survival, the major characters - humans and dogs - become ready and resourceful to withstand any storm. Jesmyn Ward takes her time to get them ready. And through her superb writing she rewards us with a refreshed perception of who these resilient characters represent in real life.

Reading this extraordinary book brought to mind a quote from Roethke: "What is madness but nobility of the soul at odds with circumstance." Four siblings and their father prepare for Hurricane Katrina and this novel takes place in twelve days as they await and prepare for the hurricane. The story is told from 15 year old Esch Bastille's perspective shortly after she has finds out she is pregnant. Motherless herself since her youngest brother Junior was born, Esch is trying to hang on to the impoverished but emotionally rich life of her family in 'the pit', their home is Bois Sauvage, Mississippi. Her oldest brother Randall has the potential to be recruited for a college basketball scholarship but lately his knee has been swelling a lot whenever he works out. Skeetah, her other brother, loves his pit bull China with a fierce and total passion. China has just given birth to puppies and her maternal instinct is in question. She is a fighting dog and the scenes of dog fights are visceral but essential to the core of the novel. What transfixed me was the mythological backdrop to the narrative. Esch, a good student, has a book on Greek mythology that she is reading for school over the summer. Her character is super-imposed on the Jason and Medea story and Esch notices that "in every one of the Greeks' mythology tales, there is this: a man chasing a woman, or a woman chasing a man. There is never a meeting in the middle. There is only a body in a ditch, and one person walking toward or away from it." As Esch deals with her feelings for Manny, the baby's father, she reflects on the Greek myth. While this novel's narrative focuses on a poor black family trying to survive a brutal and unforgiving act of nature in the face of very adverse conditions, it is really timeless. It is about connection, love, family and loss. It is about those things that are bigger than what we perceive on the surface, the geological core of our being. As Esch says, "I will tie the glass and stone with string, hang the shards above my bed, so that they will flash in the dark and tell the story of Katrina, the mother that swept into the gulf and slaughtered. Her chariot was a storm so great and black the Greeks would say it was harnessed to dragons." I will not forget this book. It has worked its way into my heart and being It is one of my all-time favorite books.

Su capacidad descriptiva es muy buena, te sientes como si estuvieras ahì. Sensible pero fuerte. Una historia que me atrapò de inmediato y me conmoviò profundamente.

Having read half the book I am still bored. Nothing happens, I don’t like the style and I can’t relate to any of the characters who are basically a bunch of degenerates.

A clear description of the typical lives of people living in the destructive zone of Katrina. Insightful poignant but a thoughtful frank look at lives of the people who were the survivors. A book for all ages

著者ジャスミン・ウォードは３２歳の黒人女性作家。わずか２冊目が全米図書賞を受賞して話題になった。ハリケーンカトリ―ナという題材が受賞を後押ししたとも言われる。しかし多感な１４歳の少女エッシュの性と生を描いて秀逸だ。まちがいなく読む価値がある。 エッシュの目下の悩みは妊娠だ。相手は兄の仲間マニー。男の中で育った彼女は、拒否するより受け入れる方が簡単と、求められるまま身体を許す。しかしアモラルなわけではない。真実の愛は必ずそれと知れると確信している。彼女の真実の愛とは、次兄スキータが闘犬チャイナに注ぐ慈しみの愛。しかし妊娠相手のマニーは彼女を「やらせる女」としか思わない。やがて巨大ハリケーンが一家を襲う。 黒人女性作家といえば、社会派のアリス・ウォーカーやトニ・モリソンを思い出す。彼女たちは暴力的な南部の未開を怨嗟した。しかし、この本には罵倒も否定もない。むしろ南部の若者の闘犬にかける愛や、そのためには盗みも辞さない一途さが肯定的に描かれる。都市文化に嫌気のさした読者が、今、未開の中にこそ救済を見たとして不思議ではない。 勿論著者は南部へのオマージュだけでは終わらない。彼女は登場人物の身体に傷を描き込むことで現実の暴力性を鮮明にしてみせる。マニーの頬に残る痛々しい傷跡。スキータの脇腹の血のにじむ傷。父親は作業中３本の指を切断、回想の母の手のひらにも釣り針の傷跡が残る。生きることは、身体に傷をつけることなのかもしれない。 タイトルと地名にあるsalvageとsavageは著者の好きな言葉だそうだ。一家が住むのはBoir Sauvage未開の森。その未開こそ豊饒のシンボル。その森では、放し飼いの鶏が卵を取られないによう隠すので、知らぬ間に孵化して鶏の数が増えるという。その卵を捜して、森を歩きまわる死んだ母親の姿を、エッシュは印象的に回想している

Amazing book . The writing is lyrical and difficult to put down.