“Beautifully written … A powerful depiction of grinding poverty, where somehow, amid the deprivation, the flame of filial affection survives and a genuine spirit of community is able to triumph over everything the system and nature can throw at it.” DAILY MAIL She and her family will be imprinted on my heart for this hurricane season and many more.I’ve been meaning to read this novel for some time, I remember when it was first published it was widely read by bloggers, it won a National Book Award in the US and it is covered in esteemed comments from reviews within many well-known media titles.

To nurture her, and be there to listen as her mother might have done. As each chapter passed, I wanted to spend more time with Esch. She drew me right into their midst, with smells and sounds described in a unique and eloquent way. Jesmyn Ward captures the tension, heartbreak, and uncertainty of everyday life for Esch’s family and friends. Ward divides the chapters by day, counting down to landfall as people in hurricane zones will do. Just in case this rural Mississippi family didn’t have enough on their collective plate, Hurricane Katrina is bearing down on them. Ironically, China is a role model for her. Esch also finds that she’s pregnant at fifteen (not a spoiler – it’s on the back cover).

China and her young puppies are an income source for the family, which only serves to increase the stress among the siblings. So, part of the story is about siblings raising themselves.Īnother part of the novel is about Esch’s brother Skeetah and his pit bull, China. Esch are her brother Randall do more parenting of the younger boys than their alcoholic dad does. Her mother has died, and she has no other strong female influence. Ward’s first-person story focuses on Esch, a teenage girl from a family with a dad and three brothers. The narration by Cherise Boothe is the perfect compliment to Ward’s writing. I’m glad I started with this one, since it was wonderful. Watching the coverage and reading the news articles reminded me that I have a few books on my shelf about Hurricane Katrina.

I chose to start this audiobook just after the 2017 devastation of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. And there are lyrical moments of beauty in the turn of a phrase or a glimpse of love, like the eye of the storm. The center of the storm is complex, unyielding, and brutal like the lives of Esch and her family. The outer bands are stormy and sparse, like her prose. Jesymn Ward’s novel Salvage The Bones is built like a hurricane itself.

Salvage the bones review