Stevie‘s review of Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
African American Women’s Fiction published by Bloomsbury USA 30 Aug 11
It always surprises me when a book receives high acclaim on one side of the Atlantic, and yet goes totally unnoticed on the other. In the case of Jesmyn Ward, it took not one, but two National Book Awards in the US, before either of her prize-winning novels was published in the UK. On the other hand, this eventual happy event was what drew my attention to both publications, starting with her 2011 Hurricane Katrina story, Salvage the Bones. We saw a lot of the hurricane’s aftermath on the news over here, but probably learned little of what people’s lives were like in the days leading up to the event, or what considerations – beyond, perhaps, extreme poverty – caused them to stay in homes that with hindsight seemed destined to fall victim to weather and floods.
Esch’s family is one of those with nowhere much to go: they live on land her grandfather reclaimed from the rough woods outside town, in the house that he built, and where Esch’s mother died in childbirth. Esch’s father and two older brothers make money when they can from odd jobs and through less legal means, while Esch tries to take care of them all, along with her younger brother, and imagines a wider world influenced by the books of Greek myths she reads whenever she gets the chance.
As the story opens, we learn that one of Esch’s older brothers has a prized pit bull, soon to give birth, and that he plans to make money from the puppies in order to send her other older brother to basketball camp – as his only chance of getting to college and towards a better life than any of them currently know. Esch, meanwhile, is worried what will happen when any of her family find out that she is pregnant; she knows who the father is: she has had sex with other men – boys really – but none since she hooked up with her brothers’ friend Manny.
The family knows that a storm is coming, and they are doing everything they can to protect their home and store up food and water for themselves and the dogs, but we readers know that their preparations will never be enough; nor does it seem likely that Esch’s father’s plan to earn money rescuing others after the storm has passed will ever come to fruition.
This is one of those stories where we know things will never end well for all concerned, but desperately hope for the best anyway. Esch in particular is a delightful narrator, and her knowledge and empathy shine out, as she compares herself and those around her to characters and situations from her beloved mythologies. The novel put a truly human face on an unimaginably huge disaster, and gave the lie to all those who criticised the people who stayed – as if they had any real options. I’m now even more keen to read the other book I managed to obtain from Netgalley by the author, and am greatly looking forward to learning about people and places that seem so far away, even though we all speak the same language.
Grade: A
Summary:
A hurricane is building over the Gulf of Mexico, threatening the coastal town of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, and Esch’s father is growing concerned. A hard drinker, largely absent, he doesn’t show concern for much else. Esch and her three brothers are stocking food, but there isn’t much to save. Lately, Esch can’t keep down what food she gets; she’s fourteen and pregnant. Her brother Skeetah is sneaking scraps for his prized pitbull’s new litter, dying one by one in the dirt. Meanwhile, brothers Randall and Junior try to stake their claim in a family long on child’s play and short on parenting.
As the twelve days that make up the novel’s framework yield to their dramatic conclusion, this unforgettable family–motherless children sacrificing for one another as they can, protecting and nurturing where love is scarce–pulls itself up to face another day. A big-hearted novel about familial love and community against all odds, and a wrenching look at the lonesome, brutal, and restrictive realities of rural poverty, Salvage the Bones is muscled with poetry, revelatory, and real.
No excerpt available.
