Where the Line Bleeds

Bois Sauvage #1

by Jesmyn Ward

Joshua and Christophe are twins, raised by a blind grandmother and a large extended family in a rural town on Mississippi's Gulf Coast. They've just finished high school and need to find jobs, but in a failing post-Katrina economy, it's not easy. Joshua gets work on the docks, but Christophe's not so lucky. Desperate to alleviate the family's poverty, he starts to sell drugs. He can hide it from his grandmother but not his twin, and the two grow increasingly estranged. Christophe's downward spiral is accelerated first by crack, then by the reappearance of the twins' Cille, who abandoned them, and Sandman, a creepy, predatory addict. Sandman taunts Christophe, eventually provoking a shocking confrontation that will ultimately damn or save both twins. Ward inhabits these characters, and this world - black Creole, poor, and drug-riddled, yet shored by family and community- to a rare degree, without a trace of irony or distance.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, African American, Race, Audiobook, Family

230 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2006

About the author

Jesmyn Ward is the author of Where the Line Bleeds, Salvage the Bones, and Men We Reaped. She is a former Stegner Fellow (Stanford University) and Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi. She is an associate professor of Creative Writing at Tulane University.

Her work has appeared in BOMB, A Public Space and The Oxford American.

Reviews

[Angela M · Rating 4 out of 5]

"THE RIVER WAS YOUNG AND SMALL . AT ITS START IT SEEPED FROM the red clay earth in the piney woods of Southern Mississippi, and then wound its way, brown and slow, over a bed of tiny gray and ochre pebbles through the pines, shallow as a hand, deep as three men standing, to the sandy green lowlands of the gulf of Mexico. It slithered itself along, wide and narrow, crossed by the small wood and concrete bridges, lined by thin slivers of white beach, in and out of the trees, before it divided itself into the bayou and emptied itself into the bay."

This is the kind of writing that gives me pause and I have to stop and read it again because these first sentences of this book are in my view are perfect. I knew immediately that I would be in for another good one by Jesmyn Ward. I loved Ward’s National Book Award winning books, Sing, Unburied, Sing and Salvage the Bones so I jumped at the opportunity to read her debut novel being republished in January, 2018. Twins, Christophe and Joshua have been raised by their grandmother, Ma-mee after they were abandoned by their mother who wants a different life away from Bois Sauvage, Mississippi and also by their drug addicted father, who is around but not part of their lives . When the novel opens, they are at a crossroads in their lives
as they graduate from high school, struggling to find jobs in a place where there weren’t many. They take different paths - one in a back breaking job and one selling drugs, both trying to make enough money to support themselves and Ma-mee as their mother who comes in and out of their lives has stopped sending money.


This is a brutally painful story in so many ways, capturing the realities of abandonment, drug addiction, and a place, a community so impacted by hurricanes and poverty, a community, still segregated in these recent times, where everyone knows everyone else's business. This is brutal, but not quite in the same gritty way as her next two novels. Having read those before this debut, the leap from a good novel to two great novels was apparent to me . It's short, but dragged some in the middle and I was anxious for the story to move forward with hope that these brothers could move to a better place within themselves.

I can't isolate this book without comparison to the other books she would write after this. It's an amazing debut, though, and I may have given it more than four stars if I had not the others first .

I received an advanced copy of this book from Scribner through Edelweiss.

[Lala BooksandLala · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit too meandering for me, but a genuine, painful look at the fallout and perseverance of 2 brothers in the face of adversity.

[Orsodimondo · Rating 4 out of 5]

BORN IN THE BAYOU COUNTRY



L’esordio di questa scrittrice, all’epoca trentunenne, che viene dal sud degli States, e si sente, il suo mondo è decisamente immerso in quella parte di USA.

Purtroppo ho letto prima Salvare le ossa, il suo secondo romanzo, premiato: in questo suo debutto ho trovato personaggi e situazioni che avanzano su binari più noti, in qualche modo scontati, ho percepito meno originalità, e forse perfino meno verità.
Grave? Direi di no: perché la lingua, anche se non ancora dispiegata in tutta la sua maestosità come nel successivo, è tuttavia già, così come la descrive la sua traduttrice:
aspra e sontuosa, terrosa e raffinata, alla base della musicalità dissonante che caratterizza i romanzi più maturi.


In copertina. Tutte i ritratti sono opera di Tawny Chatmon.

Jasmyn Ward comincia con un breve prologo che è già da citare:
Il fiume era giovane e smilzo. Al principio affiorava dalla rossa terra argillosa tra i boschi di pini del Mississippi, e poi si snodava, bruno e lento, sopra un letto di minuscoli ciottoli grigi e ocra, in mezzo agli alberi, non più alto di una mano, profondo come tre uomini in piedi l’uno sull’altro, fino alle pianure verdi e sabbiose del golfo del Messico.
E subito dopo, medesima cura e ricchezza è donata a introdurre i due fratelli gemelli protagonisti, sempre accompagnati dalla voce del narratore.
Joshua e Christophe, il primo snello e scattante, l’altro più tornito ma comunque flessuoso, indissolubili fratelli gemelli avvinti dalla “linea del sangue”, sono teneri, dolci, gentili, belli, inconsapevoli rubacuori. Ward li coglie abbracciati in quel tuffo nel fiume a festeggiare l’ultimo giorno di scuola, quello in cui dovranno indossare toga e tocco per ricevere il diploma: poi, distesa davanti a loro, l’ultima estate prima dell’età adulta.



Estate che sarà non di meno spezzata: perché una famiglia di colore nel bayou, due diciottenni senza madre né padre - perché lei se ne è andata a cercare fortuna ad Atlanta quando erano bambini, e lui è un tossico che ciondola per strada rischiando di cadere al suolo al primo soffio - due ragazzi cresciuti dalla dolce e affettuosa e protettiva nonna materna, due ragazzi così non possono permettersi neppure un’estate di riposo, di svago e divertimento. Devono cominciare a cercare un lavoro, un modo di guadagnare e sostenere la casa.

E così vanno in giro a far domande di assunzione, compilano moduli, si presentano. Dato il colore della pelle, la posizione cui possono ambire non va oltre il commesso, aiuto cameriere, o giù di lì.
E qui la linea del sangue si piega per la prima volta, senza spezzarsi: perché Joshua è chiamato al porto come scaricatore, lavoro di micidiale fatica fisica, mentre Christophe resta a inseguire una fonte di guadagno, chiedendosi perché il fratello sì e lui no.



Ward si prende il suo tempo, come già l’incipit testimonia, tempo che dedica a descrizioni del paesaggio, di colori e odori e suoni, la vegetazione, il cielo cangiante, il calore e il sudore, l’aria condizionata e le pale dei ventilatori, la terra rossa e bruna e la ghiaia e i gusci marini e l’asfalto, la pioggia, l’uragano che sta arrivando da Cuba, tramonti albe mezzogiorni.
E popola questo ambiente, racconta un’umanità di zii e cugini e amici, bimbi che giocano, e partite di basket, feste dell’indipendenza, compleanni.



Intanto, la frattura che si è creata automaticamente tra i due inseparabili gemelli si allarga piano piano. O almeno sembra così.
Ward ci prepara alla tragedia: tesse la sua tela e ci lascia percepire nell’aria calda e umida del bayou che qualcosa sta per succedere.
Potrebbe essere l’uragano in arrivo – ma un uragano non è novità in quella parte del mondo, ci si chiude in casa, si proteggono porte e finestre con assi di legno, il vento passa, seminando danni, e forse morti, ma passa.
Allora, quello che il lettore percepisce crescere dalle pagine (a me è successo), con lenta preparazione, è un episodio da tragedia greca.



Cristophe, lasciato solo tutto il giorno da Joshua che va al lavoro, comincia a spacciare erba. Soldi facili. L’erba lo avvicina alla polvere bianca: la linea del sangue è anche il taglio che si procura sulla lingua leccando una lametta - contemporaneamente Joshua ha un incidente sul lavoro, si ferisce le mani, gliele ricuciono, viene da pensare a stimmate.
Ma Ward è brava a far montare l’attesa nell’aria immobile del bayou assolato, evitando scivoloni nella tragedia, risparmiandoci situazioni alla Rocco e i suoi fratelli, o Caino e Abele. La violenza compare, non potrebbe essere altrimenti: ma Jesmyn Ward la maneggia con garbo, la usa come motore rigenerante.




Copertina di “Salvare le ossa”.


Copertina di “Canta, spirito, canta”.

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A small town on the Mississippi Gulf coast, twins Christophe and Joshua are set to graduate high school. Raised by their grandmother after their mother left and their father succumbed to the lure of drugs, they want only to get jobs so they can help make her life easier. Joshua gets a back breaking job on the docks, but Christophe gets no call backs. In an effort to make money he turns to illegal activities. This causes a big division between the close relationship the twins had, and a hardship on their grandmother who sees how unhappy they are, wishing only that they were young as again so she could hug them and make it all better.

This is Wards first book, and though not as gritty as those that come after, it does perfectly depict the poverty of those in these forgotten communities. Where drugs are often the answer, where jobs are scarce and most of those of only minimum wage. It is also a novel full of love, as this is a family that wants to stick together, but is torn apart by the lack of employment and the loss of pride of Christophe as he does things he never thought he would do. It will take a horrible incident to bring this family to its senses, with the hope of better things to come. The novel does end with hope, hope and love.

I would not consider this a YA book, it is too realistic and at times violent for that to be the designated readership. It shows her wonderful talent at tackling difficult subjects and make us care for the people involved. The descriptions of their lives are rendered authentically, and we are drawn inside this small family as they face the many hardships and yes, joys too.

ARC from edelweiss.

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christophe and Joshua are twin brothers living in Bois Sauvage, along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. At the beginning of the book they are preparing to graduate from high school. They are living with their Ma-Mee (Maternal Grandmother) who has raised them since they were children. Their Mother floats in and out of their lives but Ma-Mee is their constant. Upon graduation, the brothers attempt to find jobs while getting high, flirting with girls, getting their hair braided and playing basketball. Their bond is a close one. They can communicate without saying a word and share a combined concern over their grandmother's failing eyesight and health.

When Joshua is hired as a dock laborer, Christophe starts to sell drugs as a means of having income and to help support his family. Joshua is not happy about Christophe's actions and Christophe is secretly jealous of his brother's job, the reader begins to see tiny cracks in their relationship. Then their absentee drug addicted father shows up, things get worse for the two brothers as a confrontation takes place that can/will change their lives forever.

I first became acquainted with Jesmyn Ward when I read "Sing, Unburied, Sing" I loved her ability to weave words that sounded poetic and powerful. This is her debut book and although, I enjoyed this book, I felt it was slow and dragged in sections. What works in this book is her ability to show familial love - the love of brothers, the love of two young men for their grandmother. The love a grandmother has for her grandchildren and her daughter. Ward is also good at showing poverty and showing how choices have consequences that can shape a life - and not always for the better.

Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

See more of my reviews at www.openbookpost.com

[Jenna ❤ ❀ ❤ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm sorry to say I found this novel boring.

I absolutely loved this author's Sing, Unburied, Sing but unfortunately, though penned in Jesmyn Ward's breathtakingly beautiful prose, I couldn't connect with the main characters.

They are two twin boys, just graduated from high school, trying to find jobs. One does, the other starts selling drugs. I didn't relate to the boys at all. I found it boring to hang out with them and their friends, drinking and smoking weed.... which was all the freaking time.

Ms. Ward exquisitely describes the scenery of this small town on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. One could almost feel themselves there.

However, that alone wasn't enough to make this an enjoyable read for me.

2 stars reflects my enjoyment level. However, I'll bump it up to 3 to because it's so well written.

[Come Musica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Guarda "le triglie guizzare in quelle acque oscure, piene di residui marcescenti."
Guarda come si inclinano a quarantacinque gradi, come si nutrono "del pacciame e del fango depositati sul fondo" e guarda come "diventano sempre più lunghe e striate."
Guarda come scivolano e come si fermano "assieme alla corrente calma, lenta e regolare come un cuore che batte."
Immaginale "guizzare accanto ad altri pesci sguscianti e striati, deporre uova che sembrano biglie nere mentre il sole" cala sul bayou, e gli uragani passano "l'uno dopo l'altro, sballottolandole qua e là nel ribollire danzante dell'acqua."
Immaginale "passarsi le grosse lingue all'interno delle bocche, sentire le cicatrici lasciate dal morso degli ami, ricordare la breve permanenza nel deserto rarefatto dell'aria", le labbra che insegnano "ai figli l'odore del metallo nell'acqua, il pericolo."
Vedi come sopravvivono, "danneggiate e scaltre."
Immagina "banchi di triglie morire vecchie e grasse, satolle di acqua e palude, gonfie fino a scoppiare, finché il fiume che" sfocia nella laguna non le spazza via con la corrente. Sempre più al largo, e per tutta l'ampiezza della baia, finché le carcasse, ancora sature fino al midollo della memoria racchiusa nel ventre fertile del bayou,"si adagiano sul fondo del golfo del Messico, a mutarsi nel nero sedimento che ricopre il grembo antico del mare."

Ora immagina di essere di nuovo a Bois Sauvage e mettiti in ascolto.
E pensa alle triglie come ai protagonisti di questo terzo e ultimo racconto della Trilogia di Bois Sauvage: due gemelli Joshua e Christophe, all'ultimo anno delle superiori, uniti da un comune sentire, proprio di tutti i gemelli.
Joshua e Christophe sono due fratelli che, come Kayla e Jojo di "Canta, spirito, canta", si ritrovano con due genitori incapaci di amarli e di prendersi cura di loro, cresciuti dalla nonna materna Ma-mee.
Dopo il diploma, i due, il caso proverà a dividerli, ma la linea del sangue che li unice è forte.
E dovranno fare i conti con la fatica di diventare adulti, con la rabbia verso una madre che li abbandonati, con il rancore verso il padre tossico che non si è mai occupato di loro.

Alla fine, però, Joshua e Christophe capiranno che il cuore dell'uno batte all'unisono con il cuore dell'altro. E che la storia è come quella delle triglie: impareranno a convivere con le loro cicatrici, insieme, uniti, riconosceranno il pericolo, lo sfideranno e poi solo prostrandosi davanti alla sacralità del loro legame indissolubile, riusciranno a sopravvivere, uniti dall'amore fraterno e da quel dolore di cui solo loro, in quanto figli, ne conoscono l'intensità.

Amo questa scrittrice e anche questo terzo volume mi ha profondamente scossa e commossa.
Jesmyn Ward ogni volta riesce a sconquassarmi dentro ed è sorprendente come, nella trilogia, non abbia mai abbassato il tiro.
Una delle voci più interessanti, una delle scritture più potenti nel panorama letterario contemporaneo.

Postilla: Grazie ai commenti preziosissimi a questa recensione, ho scoperto che l’ordine giusto in cui è stata scritta la Trilogia di Bois Sauvage di Jesmyn Ward è il seguente, solo che come al suo solito NN lo inverte e pubblica i romanzi delle trilogie in ordine sparso (come aveva già fatto con la Trilogia di Holt di Kent Haruf):

1. La linea del sangue (Where the Line Bleeds, 2008), Milano, NN Editore, 2020 traduzione di Monica Pareschi

2. Salvare le ossa (Salvage the Bones, 2011), Milano, NN Editore, 2018 traduzione di Monica Pareschi

3. Canta, spirito, canta (Sing, Unburied, Sing, 2017), Milano, NN Editore, 2019 traduzione di Monica Pareschi

Ecco perché ne La linea del sangue non avevo trovato i collegamenti con gli altri due, cosa che invece avevo notato in Canta, Spirito, canta.
Ecco perché mi sembrava che il volume conclusivo fosse Canta, Spirito, canta e non La linea del sangue. E il mio intuito non si sbagliava!!!
Ora a posteriori, sarebbe da controllare se in Salvare le ossa ci sono rimandi a La linea del sangue.

[Dagio_maya · Rating 5 out of 5]

”...erano solo affamati e cercavano di cavarsela...”

Finito!
Non ci credo ancora.
Quella sensazione di vuoto che mi assale subito dopo aver girato l’ultima pagina.
Quel bisogno di dire tanto per condividerne le sensazioni e quell'incapacità di esprimersi.
Scriverò poche righe: vaghe e confuse.

A chi a ha letto “Salvare le ossa” e non l’ha gradito dico:
«passate oltre».

Chi lo ha letto e l’ha amato dico:
«continuate!».
Sono tre romanzi apparentemente indipendenti ma legati nell'essenza più profonda.

Bois Sauvage è il perno di questa trilogia in cui mi viene spontaneo, però, cercare le tracce dei protagonisti in ognuno dei tre libri che innegabilmente sono legati dallo scenario doloroso di un’esistenza senza padri e madri, dove il dolore della crescita si unisce a quello di essere un giovane afroamericano in una zona economicamente depressa.

Ne “La linea del sangue”, Christopher e Joshua, i fratelli gemelli cresciuti dalla nonna Ma-mee, si devono confrontare, dopo il diploma con la realtà del mondo del lavoro.
La ricerca dell’identità sulla linea del sangue, un richiamo ai legami famigliari che cercano di sopravvivere ai dolori dell’abbandono.
Ma qui non sono solo i genitori ad essere mancanti è la società stessa che ha costruito barricate... e chi è dentro è dentro... e chi è fuori è fuori...

Jesmyn Ward non è semplicemente brava a raccontarci una storia che fa leva sulle emozioni.
Il suo è, in tutta evidenza, un talento di grande calibro per la struttura stessa e nella lingua aspra e sontuosa, terrosa e raffinata che la traduttrice Monica Pareschi commenta alla fine di ognuno dei tre volumi.

Il paesaggio del bayou con il suo fascino sinistro raccoglie queste storie di un America nascosta tra i boschi. Sono presenze negate.
Bianchi e neri vivono sulla stessa terra ignorandosi e intanto la Natura sovrasta tutto: un uragano incombe. La tragedia che è al centro di “Salvare le ossa” è alle porte...
...e il cerchio si chiude...

” Christophe chiuse gli occhi, continuando a stringere il polso al fratello. Alzò le spalle. Suo fratello, le loro ferite, Ma-mee che si spegneva ogni giorno di più, come una lampadina, i loro genitori, entrambi in luoghi sconosciuti, che giravano intorno a loro come lune distanti: ne aveva abbastanza.”

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
Where the Line Bleeds by Jesmyn Ward was chosen as Book of the Month for April and it meets several challenges for a Goodreads bookclub. Do not judge this book by the cover. This is the first book written by this author that I have read, and I want to read more. The writing is exquisite!
"After the rain fell away in fits, after it eased up and the worst of it withdrew out over the gulf like a woman gathering her coat and leaving a room, Christophe drove them home." Page 131
"Cille gripped her purse strap like a backpacker would. In the rooms half-light, her usually light eyes were glassy and black like the water of the bayou at night shattering cold light from houses along its surface." Page 231
The story is set in a rural town of Bois Sauvage on the Mississippi Gulf coast near New Orleans. Fraternal twins Joshua and Christophe were abandoned by their drug abdicated father and then by their mother who wanted a new life. Their maternal grandmother, Mamee, raised them to be good and kind boys. The boys have the closeness that twins have and can communicate without words.

The boys graduate from high school and go job hunting. Joshua is hired to do "back breaking" work on the docks. Failing to be hired, and wanting to contribute to paying bills and helping out Mamee, Christophe starts selling drugs. This causes tension between the twins.
Where The Line Bleeds gives an in depth look at settings, characters, and relationships.
Will things work out okay for Joshua and Christophe? Will Christophe go down his father's path of drugs and prison?

[patsy_thebooklover · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, ale podciągam do 4 gwiazdek, bo uwielbiam, jak Ward opisuje Południe.

Ward pisze rewelacyjnie. I "Linie krwi" są tego świetnym dowodem. Nie mogę oprzeć się porównywaniu tej książki do kolejnych jej powieści. No bo tak - "Linie krwi" są debiutem - i to widać. W tym sensie, że zarówno powieść ta jest najbardziej przystępna fabularnie z całej trójki wydanej u nas, jak i z każdą kolejną widać progres Ward - językowo, konstrukcyjnie, fabularnie. Jednak nie zrozumcie mnie źle - 'Linie krwi' to - niezależnie od kolejnych powieści - świetnie opowiedziana historia o braterskiej miłości, pokusach i trudach dorastania na amerykańskim Południu, trudnych relacjach z rodzicami. A jak napisana. No co jak co, pisać ta kobieta potrafi.

Powieść 'Linie krwi' opowiada o braciach bliźniakach mieszkających w Bois Sauvage w stanie Missisippi. Wychowuje ich schorowana i niewidoma babka, ich matka wiele lat temu przeniosła się do większego miasta, by tam zarabiać na siebie i synów. Po ustatkowaniu miała ich do siebie zabrać, nie zabrała, za to regularnie przysyła pieniądze. Ojciec jest od dawna nieobecnym w życiu synów ćpunem (w książce Piaskowy, w opisie Sandman 🙊). Joshua i Christophe kończą szkołę średnią i z ekscytacją wchodzą w okres "dorosłości". Znajdą pracę, zaczną zarabiać pieniądze, staną się niezależni. Sama fabuła co prawda idzie trochę sztampowych torem, ale to jak Ward opisuje Południe.. no cóż.. jeśli myślę o amerykańskim Południu w literaturze od razu myślę o Ward.

To wyjątkowa proza. Gęsta, surowa, a przy tym czuła. Skoncentrowana na bohaterach w bardzo konkretnym settingu. W podziękowaniach Ward dziękuje swojej agentce, za to że uwierzyła w nią od pierwszej linijki. No i co ja będę się tutaj rozpisywać, sami zobaczcie:

"Rzeka była młoda i mikra. U źródła sączyła się z czerwonej, gliniastej ziemi sośbiaków południowego Missisipi, po czym wiła się wśród sosen, brązowa, ospała, korytem wyścielonym drobniutkimi szarymi i ochrowymi kamykami, tu płytka na dłoń, tam głęboka na trzech stojących chłopa, aż do piaszczystych, zielonych nizin nad Zatoką Meksykańską."

[Celeste Ng]

Though this is a devastated landscape, there's so much love and beauty here, and Ward's gorgeous writing lets you see it. The author's love for her characters is so palpable throughout. You can feel her carefully guiding them through their lives, sometimes raising them up, sometimes letting them stumble, but always for a reason, and always with tenderness.

[Sharon Metcalf]

4.5 stars
Jesmyn Ward cast a spell over me with her writing. A spell that transported me to Bois Sauvage near New Orleans, helped me inhabit the minds and bodies of her characters so I could see, feel, smell and experience everything they did. The writing was powerful yet gentle. Like butter, her words were soft and smooth, yet capable of sizzling under heat, of scorching the skin with its touch. And just like butter on a chunk a fresh bread, her words took the everday and turned them into something to savour.

Where The Line Bleeds is the first of three novels set in Bois Sauvage (The much raved about Sing, Unburied, Sing being the third). This story is based around identical twin brothers Joshua and Christophe who have been raised by their grandmother, Ma-mee, since the age of five. It is clear from the outset the boys have an inseperable bond, one of those special twin relationships that goes well beyond sibling friendship. They can read each other perfectly, can communicate without words and do everything together. Ma-mee has raised them to be respectful young men. They are affectionate toward her and as she has gradually lost her vision they have become ever more protective of her. Set in 2005 when the boys are 18 we experience their struggle to find work and we come to understand first hand just how easily poor life decisions can be made. The tension was palpable and those inseperable bonds were severely strained and tested as one brother found himself doing things against his better judgement, feeling ashamed of his actions, allowing himself to drift apart from the people he loved most due to his own poor choices. This was a slow paced but beautiful coming of age story rounded off with the additional challenge of mixed feelings at best, and violent animosity at worst, towards their previously absent parents.

Where The Line Bleeds book was a delight to read and I sincerely thank the author for sharing her talent, the publishers Simon & Schuster and Edelweiss for the digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jesmyn Ward is such a reliable writer. She has a strong voice, clear direction in her storytelling, and crafts vivid characters. Even from this, her debut novel, she seems to have a fully formed sense of her role as an author. This universe in which her first three novels all take place—the fictional town of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi—feels real. And having recently read her memoir, Men We Reaped, you can imagine, especially in this story, how much inspiration she took from her life.

The story follows twins, Christophe and Joshua, who have recently graduated high school and are looking for jobs. In the summer before Hurricane Katrina, the young men search for their place in society with little resources to help them along. They also grapple with the absence of their mother, having been raised by their grandma, and the reappearance of their father, a drug addict, in their small town.

There's a tension that permeates the story. It is as palpable as the muggy weather in their Mississippi town. Ward writes about nature so well, you can smell it, feel it, see it in your mind's eye. As the summer winds lazily along, we follow the twins as the do what they have to to make ends meet. It's not a plot-heavy story, focusing more on the characters, but I found it utterly compelling.

[Faith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the author's first novel and it was republished in 2018. While I liked this book, I much preferred her later book "Sing, Unburied, Sing". The story is set in rural Bois Sauvage, Mississippi during the summer of the high school graduation of twins Joshua and Christophe, who were raised by their diabetic and blind grandmother. Their feckless parents, Cille and Samuel, had only sporadic contact with the boys. Joshua manages to find a physically demanding job working on the docks. Christophe is embarrassed by his failure to find a job and contribute to the family, and he becomes a small time drug dealer.

There wasn't much plot in this book and the story was too meandering for me. The writing was very good and the brothers and their grandmother were realistic and likable characters. I also liked the close relationship between the brothers that survived the challenges set before them. However, the story was too slow and uneventful for me to love it. There was an awful lot of hair braiding going on.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

[Albus Eugene Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore · Rating 5 out of 5]

«... una lingua unica per raccontare la tragedia di una comunità disgregata che pure vuole e deve sopravvivere.»

Anche questo romanzo, dove la Ward racconta fatti che precedono quelli narrati in Salvare le ossa e Canta spirito canta, è ambientato nella cittadina di Bois Sauvage, rappresentazione fittizia di DeLisle, sulla costa del Golfo (soprannominata Wolf Town dai primi coloni), dove è nata e cresciuta e dove vive oggi.
I due gemelli protagonsti del racconto si chiamano, non a caso, Christophe e Joshua DeLisle.
Nel corso di un’intervista del 2018, alla domanda sul perché avesse scelto di raccontare la realtà odierna dei neri poveri del Mississippi, la Ward risponde: «Chi è al potere negli Stati Uniti è impegnato a santificare e cancellare il passato, negando il suo impatto sul presente. Continuano a insistere che il razzismo non esiste, che ci sono condizioni di parità. Che tutti nasciamo con le stesse opportunità. Se le persone scrivono sulla schiavitù, credo sia perché vogliamo opporci a questa narrazione. La narrazione serve a loro. Fa sembrare che abbiamo scelto la nostra povertà, o che ci meritiamo la nostra povertà; ci meritiamo i nostri parchi giochi mal attrezzati e pericolosi, e ci meritiamo la nostra orribile istruzione e ci meritiamo di avere fame.».
La Ward racconta in maniera vivida e poetica insieme cosa significhi ancora oggi essere poveri e neri nel sud rurale dell'America.
Nella stessa intervista, afferma: «Il Mississippi moderno significa dipendenza, povertà generazionale, vivere a stretto contatto con l'eredità della schiavitù, di Jim Crow, del linciaggio e di un razzismo incontrollabile.».
Leggendo, pensavo che Jim Crow fosse un personaggio letterario, un politico, un attivista. Sono andato a cercare e su Wikipedia ho scoperto che... “le Leggi Jim Crow furono delle leggi locali e dei singoli Stati meridionali degli Stati Uniti d'America emanate principalmente per mano del Partito Democratico statunitense tra il 1876 e il 1965. Di fatto servirono a creare e mantenere la segregazione razziale in tutti i servizi pubblici, istituendo uno status definito di "separati ma uguali" per i neri americani e per gli appartenenti a gruppi razziali diversi dai bianchi.”.
Nella sua nota finale, la traduttrice Monica Pareschi scrive: «L’accesso al laboratorio dove l’autrice ha sperimentato gli esiti di quell’impasto sapiente di motivi alti e bassi, di epos degli ultimi e di liricità che attinge direttamente ai suoni teneri e tragici di una terra che è a un tempo Egitto e Terra Promessa, conduce alle fonti primarie del racconto di Ward: fonti più che mai letterali se pensiamo alle maestose immagini fluviali e marine che caratterizzano l’incipit e il finale di La linea del sangue. Se non c’è ritorno dalla terra degli schiavi, come non c’è remissione apparente dal peccato originale americano, l’alternativa possibile è la costruzione identitaria che mescola corpi e terra, sistema circolatorio e idrografia, dove carne martoriata e terra dissodata, sangue e acqua danno origine a un’unica lingua, e a una lingua unica per raccontare la tragedia di una comunità disgregata che pure vuole e deve sopravvivere.».
Alcuni dei personaggi minori di questo romanzo, Skeetah, Marquise, Big Henry, li ritroveremo in Salvare le ossa.
So, nothing further Your Honor... hanno detto tutto loro, per fortuna.

[Jenni Ogden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another superbly written book by Jesmyn Ward. For me it was not a page turner in the sense that "Salvage The Bones" was, but it was more an experience to savour. Jesmyn's ability to get inside her characters' heads is phenomenal. I don't think I have ever come across an author who can do it better. By the end of the book I felt as if I knew the twins, Joshua and Christophe, and their beloved Ma-mee intimately, and had gained many new insights into a world that is far from my own experience. Her ability to evoke place is equally stunning; the steamy Mississippi Gulf Town is, in this book, another character. This is also a book that every writer of literary fiction should read. Studying Jesmyn Ward's technique and the way she attends to every wonderful sensory detail to draw her vibrant characters, could be a better investment than going to a year of MFA classes

[Donna Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ward is a force to be reckoned with, a literary power house whose books everyone should read. I read the third book in this trilogy, the National Book Award winning Sing, Unburied, Sing last summer, and then I knew I had to read everything else she had ever written. When I saw that this title, the first in the same trilogy, was being released again and that review copies were available, it seemed like Christmas. Many thanks to Net Galley and Scribner. This book was released again last week and is now for sale.

Twins Christophe and Joshua are graduating from high school, exuberant and full of plans for the future. The sole source of tension, a longstanding one that is integral to their deepest senses of self, is whether their mother, Cille, will put in an appearance. She lives in Atlanta, but she might come home to see them walk. Then again, she might not. They assure each other that really, only Ma-mee matters. Ma-mee is their grandmother, but she is the one that raised them since they were tiny; in fact, their grandmother really wanted them, and their mother really didn’t.

When their graduation present arrives—a used but still nice car for the two of them to share—they snicker to one another and say this means Cille isn’t coming. She’s done with them for sure now, bought her way out of a personal appearance. But Joshua still hopes; Joshua still longs for her.

Their father, Samuel, lives locally, and it is at him their anger is unequivocally directed. Known as the Sandman, he is beneath the contempt of even the most humble local citizens, a meth addict with a mouth full of rotting teeth that will do anything, no matter how humiliating or unprincipled, for even the smallest sum of drug money. Samuel has never pitched in a dime to help Ma-mee raise them, but now that they are adults—at least officially—he has come sniffing around. The twins’ rage toward him is measureless.

The thing that makes this story so visceral, so moving, and so deeply absorbing is the character development and the complexity of the relationships between and among the twins and the two women. Cille’s insensitivity makes me punch my pillow a couple of times. Can she not see how little food they have, despite their proud claim to be fine, just fine? Every gesture, every word is weighted with meaning. No statement, no financial transaction, no arrival or departure is without weight. The blues festival Cille has planned to attend as part of her vacation—to which the twins are of course not invited—and the money carelessly dropped on a rental car could go so much farther to help her elderly mother, who is legally blind now, but instead she leaves Ma-mee her eighteen year old sons to care for. They both assume they will be able to get jobs once they have high school diplomas; they have no police record, and they’re not too proud to apply at fast food outlets and other retail locations.

The best jobs to be had are on the docks, but not everyone can get one. Their cousin observes, “Everybody and they mama want a job at the pier and the shipyard. Everybody want a job down there can’t get one.”

And so “reality [rolled] over them like an opaque fog…” Joshua, the lighter of the twins, is hired, but Christophe can’t get a job there or anywhere else. And so a new division is born, and a new source of tension develops. Joshua feels guilty, apologetic, and yet as time goes on, as he sweats for long hours in the Mississippi summer sun carrying chicken guts and who knows what else, his brother absents himself and comes home high; he sleeps into the day, and sometimes shows up late to pick Joshua up from work. He’s given in to his cousin’s invitation to deal drugs, and that puts everyone at risk.

Over and again, I can see that the twins are still children. Young men don’t grow up quickly anymore. They are children emotionally and developmentally until their mid-twenties, and yet this burden is Joshua and Christophe’s to carry; the choices they make are not the choices of criminals or saints, but the choices of children. Yet they carry the burdens of men, and they are aware this is because of the defection of their mother.

Ward’s more recent work is even better written than this one, and yet it’s harsher, too; I had to put it down from time to time, because it was getting dark out there. This story in contrast is one I could read for hours on end, and I did. There’s violence aplenty as well as tragedy, but this is a reality I can look at without flinching, and that’s worth a great deal too.

Highly recommended to those that love outstanding literary fiction, African-American fiction, Southern fiction, and family stories.

[N · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this amazing debut novel by Jesmyn Ward proves that she is a master of spare, unflinching and unsentimental prose just as she is a wizard of innovative, shifty and lyrical language as found in her more famous "Salvage the Bones". For me, I found this novel to be just as much an emotional experience and one of the most beautiful stories about brothers that can get.

Twins Joshua and Christophe are handsome, popular with girls, and recent high school graduates in the Bois Savage countryside; but unemployment is high, and Hurricane Katrina is looming. Joshua succeeds in obtaining a job with the docks, while Christophe resorts into selling weed part time with the hopes of eventually catching up to his more resourceful and lucky brother. Life isn't easy for these two: They live with their loving and doting grandmother Mamee; abandoned by their wayward and selfish parents who resurface just as the twins are trying to find themselves: Cillie, their mother, and father, the drug addicted Samuel "Sandman".

Each sentence is filled with longing, sharp brutal prose that is deceptively simple but can cut with razor sharp brutality. You care so much about Joshua, Christophe and Mamee so much that they are eventually a part of who we are as a collective whole. Like Esch and Skeetah in "Salvage the Bones", you will never forget this.

[Olga Kowalska (WielkiBuk) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Portret współczesnego amerykańskiego Południa. Do bólu szczery i szczerze przygnębiający.

Od „Lini krwi” wszystko się dla Jesmyn Ward zaczęło i od tamtej pory kontynuuje znajome wątki, prowadzi czytelnika przez zwodniczą deltę Missisipi, podgląda życie zwykłych Amerykanów, którzy próbują przetrwać. Chociaż przetrwanie w niemal dwadzieścia lat po huraganie Katrina wciąż nie jest wcale łatwe. W jej debiutanckiej powieści poczucie rosnącej beznadziei rozkwita pośród młodych ludzi, roznosi się jak zaraza, zatruwa dusze, tłamsi wiarę w to lepsze jutro. Nie ma warunków do dorastania, nie ma szansy na bezproblemową dorosłość – każdy kolejny krok to przeprawa, to walka, to próba utrzymania się na powierzchni.

Ward niezmiennie zachwyca, chociaż to zachwyt pozbawiony ślepej euforii, a raczej naznaczony smutkiem, przemyślanym przygnębieniem. Jej „Linie krwi” to ciszy gotyk amerykańskiego Południa, pełen rozerwanych rodzinnych więzi, naznaczony przemocą, spowity narastającym niepokojem. Dwóch braci, których ścieżki łączy delta nieśmiertelnej rzeki oraz cierpka, bolesna proza, której ciężki emocji nie sposób zapomnieć.

[Jenna Bookish · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my second book by Jesmyn Ward. I picked it up after really enjoying Sing, Unburied, Sing when I read it with my book club. I had fallen in love with Ward's style when I read that book. Where the Line Bleeds fell a little bit flat in comparison. 

Set in the rural south, Where the Line Bleeds has a similar feel to Sing, Unburied, Sing. The story follows twin brothers living in Bois Sauvage, Mississippi. Christophe and Joshua are struggling to find their footing after high school graduation. While Joshua finds work relatively quickly, Christophe does not, and starts selling drugs to bring in money for the family.



While I found Sing, Unburied, Sing to be quite lyrical and beautiful, Where the Line Bleeds often just felt excessively descriptive. There are lots of long, drawn-out descriptions of actions that could have been much more succinct, and the level of detail included does nothing significant for the story. I think Ward was struggling to develop the evocative, poetic language that comes in her later novel. The end result here is that the pace feels overly slow. 

The strength in this novel is in its exploration of familial relationships. The boys, like most twins, have been extremely close to one another for their entire lives. This makes the conflict brought on by Christophe's decision to sell drugs all the more painful for both of them. As the boys start to pull away from each other, they are each experiencing a sense of isolation unlike anything they've encountered before. The boys were raised by their grandmother; they have had a strained relationship with their mother and no relationship to speak of with their father. These varying parental relationships all come into play throughout Where the Line Bleeds. 

The plot, unfortunately, feels rather thin. I spent a good deal of the book waiting for something climactic to happen, and while there is a definite climax, it feels like there is disproportionate buildup before we get to it. This is primarily a story about relationships and coming of age; there are no twists and turns to keep you hooked into the story.

Where the Line Bleeds isn't a bad book. There was plenty to like about it despite the slow pace. Overall, however, it really called to attention just how far Ward has come as an author between this book and Sing, Unburied, Sing. If you haven't read any of Ward's work, I wouldn't start here. 

You can read all of my reviews at my blog, Jenna Bookish!
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[lise.charmel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mi viene difficile spiegare perché ho amato tanto questo libro, che su di me ha avuto un effetto “risucchio”, precipitandomi dentro il luogo e le situazioni come se guardassi un film.
Siamo sempre a Bois Sauvage, luogo immaginario di anche altri romanzi di Ward, nel Sud degli Stati Uniti, in una cittadina misera, dove le persone nella maggior parte dei casi tirano a campare con impieghi di basso livello o illegali, non ci sono opportunità per i giovani e il consumo di alcol e droghe è considerato la normalità.
La storia è quella di due fratelli gemelli, due bravi ragazzi cresciuti con la nonna, perché la madre si è trasferita ad Atlanta in cerca di una vita migliore (ma si fa rivedere alle festività e manda i soldi a casa), il padre li ha progressivamente abbandonati, diventando tossicodipendente.
Ward non ci dice mai espressamente che i ragazzi sono neri: lo dà per scontato per l’ambiente, per le situazioni.
Il romanzo comincia nel giorno della consegna dei diplomi e si dipana poi per l’estate successiva, in cui i due cercano un lavoro, rivedono i genitori e le dinamiche del loro rapporto evolvono.
Il punto forte di questo romanzo è la scrittura.
Ward riesce ad evocare magnificamente i paesaggi del Mississippi, la loro bellezza a volte crudele, certi tramonti incendiari, il fiume che sembra placido e soprattutto il caldo. Durante tutte le oltre 300 pagine del libro il lettore non dimentica mai che fa un caldo intollerabile, che i due ragazzi si muovono sotto temperature insopportabili, che la nonna (personaggio magnifico) cucina sudando già dalla mattina presto, che tutti dormono svestiti e che molti tengono l’aria condizionata altissima.
I personaggi sono tutti splendidamente autentici, pieni di difetti ma anche di qualità e si amano proprio perché sono reali, perché in alcuni casi, anche quando sbagliano, quegli stessi errori potremmo averli fatti noi.
Il tema del romanzo sono le circostanze. Le circostanze che ti trasformano in quello che sei, indipendentemente dalla materia prima di partenza: per diventare una persona onesta oppure no a volte basta un piccolo dettaglio, uno scarto, un’occasione (mancata).
Altro elemento fondamentale è il “punto di vista degli altri”: in questo romanzo i personaggi spesso vengono visti dagli altri senza accorgersene: un fratello guarda l’altro mentre dorme, oppure osserva la madre mentre lo attende in aeroporto, ci sono porte socchiuse, specchi, corridoi, la bellezza “negli occhi di chi guarda”, ma anche e soprattutto la bellezza che se ne va.
Infine, ma non per ultimo, questo romanzo ha una splendida struttura circolare che lo porta al termine dove tutto era cominciato, con un finale di bellezza mozzafiato e un bellissimo messaggio che mi ha emozionata tantissimo e al quale non riesco a smettere di pensare.

[Dolceluna ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nei confronti del terzo volume della trilogia di Bois Sauvage le aspettative erano alte, molto alte.
I personaggi e i temi si sono rivelati, in realtà, molto simili a quelli già incontrati nei due precedenti volumi, per quanto si parli di due famiglie diverse: abbiamo un padre cocainomane e violento, una madre giovane e un po’ persa, che compare e scompare senza riuscire a dare ai figli l’affetto e la comprensione di cui hanno bisogno, e una nonna anziana dal cuore buono, il focolare di casa, depositaria di tanto bene e di sane tradizioni. E al centro i protagonisti, due fratelli gemelli, Joshua e Christophe, che si affacciano all’adolescenza con tanti progetti e tanti desideri ma che poi devono fare i conti con una crescita dolorosa, quella di due giovani afroamericani in una zona economicamente difficile come quella di Bois Sauvage. Un mondo assetato, stanco e affamato. Tutt’attorno, i boschi, le palude, i fiumi fangosi di un’America nascosta e marginale e al contempo stranamente affascinante che conferiscono alle pagine quel sapore di selvaggio che tanto avevo adorato anche nei due libri precedenti. E infine c’è lei, la scrittura magnetica, aspra e poetica, di Jesmyn Ward, capace di farmi sentire il sudore dei personaggi sulla mia stessa pelle.
Insomma, non manca niente. Eppure…eppure tra i tre romanzi della trilogia questo è quello che, emotivamente, mi ha coinvolta meno. Perché la storia sa troppo di sentito e risentito, perché non accade nulla di memorabile, perché l’esistenza dei fratelli va avanti, in modo apparentemente diverso ma in realtà molto simile, ma nessuna scena mi si fissa nella mente, come quella dell’uragano in “Salvare le ossa”.
In definitiva, il fratello minore “non riuscito” come i primi due, anche se a mio avviso resta comunque una prova apprezzabile di buona letteratura.

[Wojciech Szot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Znam ten numer, pomyślałem spoglądając na okładkę “Linii krwi” Jesmyn Ward.
Nie pierwszy to raz wydawnictwa po kilku świetnych książkach danego autora sięgają po jego nigdy nie wydawany debiut.

Debiuty te przeważnie - jak przystało na debiut - odstają literacką jakością od późniejszych dzieł, ale fani kupią wszystko. Ostatnio mieliśmy z tym zjawiskiem do czynienia przy okazji Sally Rooney, której “Normalni ludzie” zachwycili po równo krytykę jak i czytelników, a wydany po sukcesie książki debiut irlandzkiej pisarki, “Rozmowy z przyjaciółmi” rozczarowywał banałem. Ale się sprzedało. Zatem ostrożnie i z niechęcią podchodziłem do lektury “Linii krwi”. Jak się okazało - niesłusznie.

Jak ja bym chciał takich debiutów w polskiej literaturze!

Więcej TUTAJ - https://www.empik.com/empikultura/ksi...

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so surprised by how much I really enjoyed this book.
It tells such a raw, honest story and I couldn't help but become invested from the first chapter. The writing is so great and the author is so talented. I felt the plot was very authentic and didn't shy away from being gritty. The plot itself wasn't action packed but I didn't think it was boring or unbearably slow. It was very engaging and I read the entire book in just a one sitting.

[Old Man JP · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Jesmyn Ward, what a writer. First of all, I had a difficult time moving past the opening paragraph because it was so beautifully written that I kept going back and rereading it. Once I got past it, however, I enjoyed the rest of the book just as much. This is the story of a pair of twins who are trying to navigate life after high school in the poverty stricken Gulf Coast Mississippi. They have been raised by their Grandmother after being abandoned by their mother and father. Wards writing is so lyrical and descriptive that it puts the reader right in the middle of the story.

[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would guess that with being a twin means struggling with the tension between closeness and separation, intimacy and betrayal, good and bad – and Jesmyn Ward seems to agree. Where the Line Bleeds starts out shortly before Christophe and Joshua's high school graduation, with them being tight as tight can be:

Christophe squinted at Joshua, at the face that was his own, but not, full lips, a jutting round nose, and skin the color of the shallows of the water below that named them twins. If he leaned in closer, he could see that which was different: freckles over Joshua’s cheeks and ears where Christophe’s skin was clear, Joshua’s eyes that turned hazel when the sun hit them while Christophe’s eyes remained so dark brown they looked black, and Joshua’s hair that was so fine at the neck, it was hard to braid. Christophe moved closer to his brother, and when his arm slid along the length of Joshua’s forearm, for a second it was as if Christophe had touched himself, crossed his own forearms, toucher and touched. (Kindle 61)

Their tightness makes it difficult initially to distinguish between Christophe and Joshua, but that's the point, right? And, when Joshua gets called for a job and Christophe does not, Christophe experiences an existential crisis: "Now, he would have to find his way alone" (Kindle 808). Those of us who are not twins may not frame individuation so dichotomously; we can be different without being bad, separate without betraying and being alone. Nonetheless, both betrayer and betrayed – which is which? – grieve the loss.

That back that was his own yet was something else, that back that he knew better than his own had walked away from him and become an alien thing: it made him feel like he was perpetually on the verge of crying. (Kindle 1201)

Separation may be more difficult in a small, interconnected community and extended family, as in the Creole community of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi where this book is set – and Ward's next two. Is it safe and acceptable to step off the accepted path? Why would someone do so? As Christophe and Joshua's parents each disappeared early in the twins' lives, Ward offers several answers: easy money, drugs, chronic poverty and unemployment, and emotional immaturity.

The central characters of Where the Line Bleeds and their interactions are intimate and often sweet (Joshua and Laila, for example, or the twins and their grandmother). The twins, in particular, are fully-described, challenging our (my?) stereotypes of a dealer and his family. Even while Christophe is dealing, he is also contributing to the family budget, washing dishes, driving Joshua to work, and making decisions with his grandmother in mind.

Where the Line Bleeds is not a fast-paced book, but it lets us peak into worlds that aren't usually drawn this sympathetically and makes us (me?) want to be welcomed in.

[migheleggecose · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sono il più piccolo di tre fratelli e so cosa voglia dire vivere con il peso delle aspettative addosso: bisogna mantenere gli standard a cui i tuoi predecessori hanno abituato le persone, altrimenti poco importa quello che fai, lo fai male. Ricordo ancora il primo compito in classe affrontato nelle stesse scuole medie fatte da loro anni prima: il mio pur buon voto fu accompagnato da un lapidario “i tuoi fratelli non avrebbero mai fatto un compito del genere”, venni etichettato come il fratello meno capace e arrivederci, i restanti due anni e mezzo di scuole medie potevo anche non farli.
A causa di questa cosa ho sviluppato una discreta capacità nel non fare mai confronti, nel cercare di giudicare quello che ho davanti per quello che è senza il bisogno di stare sempre a imbastire improbabili paragoni con gli altri.

E quindi, cosa fai quando dopo due libri meravigliosi come Salvare le ossa e Canta, Spirito, Canta la NN Editore ti porta finalmente anche La linea del sangue, tassello mancante della Trilogia di Bois Savage in Italia? Cerchi di fare ricorso a questa capacità affinata negli anni e non paragonarlo ai suoi fratelli.
Sì, perché sull’uscita de La linea del sangue bisogna fare una piccola precisazione ai lettori: come già avvenuto per la trilogia di Kent Haruf, trattandosi anche in questo caso di una trilogia concettuale e non di seguiti diretti, NN ha deciso di stravolgere l’ordine di pubblicazione e pubblicare prima i due libri vincitori del National Book Award e lasciarsi per ultimo il primo, che è assai meno conosciuto. La linea del sangue è infatti l’esordio di Jesmyn Ward, e non l’ultimo come verrebbe naturale pensare.

E quindi, noi italiani si torna a Bois Savage, nel Mississipi rurale, per la terza e ultima volta. I protagonisti di questa storia sono due gemelli, Joshua e Christophe, che vivono insieme alla nonna cieca che li ha cresciuti da quando la madre si è trasferita ad Atlanta per lavoro. Il padre, Sandman, è invece un tossicodipendente e si fa vedere solo saltuariamente in paese, evitando i figli.
Neo diplomati, Joshua e Christophe si ritrovano improvvisamente catapultati nel mondo degli adulti con tutte le difficoltà che questo comporta: la nonna che non può più prendersi cura di loro, la dura ricerca di un lavoro, la dura vita nella provincia rurale, l’amore non corrisposto. Se uno riesce a mettere una pezza alla propria vita con un lavoro che non gli piace, l’altro si trova invece invischiato in un traffico di droga insieme al cugino e un amico comune. Mentre l’estate volge al termine, si fanno vivi anche entrambi i genitori per una resa dei conti generale tra tutti.

Ce l’ho messa tutta a leggerlo senza pregiudizi ma purtroppo, pur trattando i soliti temi interessanti (l’essere afroamericani in un paesino sperduto dell’america rurale, la condizione economica precaria, il facile passaggio alla criminalità, i legami forti che si creano e distruggono in famiglia), questa volta qualcosa non ha funzionato alla stessa maniera. La storia dei due ragazzi è forse fin troppo prevedibile e si muove su binari troppo canonici con una scrittura priva di particolari guizzi.
La linea del sangue non è assolutamente un brutto romanzo ma si percepisce che è l’esordio di una scrittrice che deve ancora trovare una sua strada. Se a rendere straordinari Salvare le ossa e Canta, Spirito, Canta sono stati la scrittura da tragedia greca e i paralleli con Medea nel primo e l’introduzione dell’elemento magico e del folklore afromericano nel secondo, La linea del sangue è privo di uno slancio letterario importante che renda la sua trama qualcosa di più di un normale racconto di provincia come la letteratura americana ne ha già proposti, e continua a proporne, moltissimi.

Vista la sua natura di esordio può essere un buon punto di partenza per cominciare a leggere la Ward? Sì e no. Sì, se lo leggete con la volontà di leggere gli altri due indipendentemente da quanto vi piacerà questo. Ma non essendo seguiti diretti e trattandosi di due libri così belli, io andrei dritto al dunque con Salvare le ossa e Canta, Spirito, Canta e leggerei questo solo in caso di voglia di completismo.

[Alicia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wish the story was as good as the cover and the title, but alas, I have been disappointed again. For my students, this just won't work, but I'll push it nonetheless and really won't need to because they will pick it up for the cover and because there's a bubble on the front cover that it's a recommended read for Essence readers.

Here are my problems with it (many of which are personal reading preferences): I do not like too much narrative description of the setting. In this case, too much about the weather, the area, the native wildlife and topigraphical features. Second, the twin boys in their senior year of high school could have been more drawn out. I felt like their relationships with others (although fine for some) did not give me enough to paint my own picture of them as individuals and people.

[Kristi Lamont · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda wrestling with how to put my reaction to Where the Line Bleeds into words....

On the one hand, it was a really good slice of life book that afforded me some insights into the world of Black adolescence in a certain place and of a certain time. On the other, it was as slow as freaking molasses. Not quite cause-me-to-pass-out-from-boredom-while-sober slow, but pretty dang slow.

On somebody else's hand--because I still have just two--the slowness felt appropriate in a lot of ways, both because the story is set in a small bayou town in Mississippi and plays out over the course of a hot Southern summer, and because I used to live in Mississippi and I read the book while sitting under a slow-moving ceiling fan in the screened porch on a hot Southern summer day. I'm thinking that having the life experienes I've had, both in Mississippi and Louisiana, and that having sort of an immersive reading experience added to my enjoyment.

Definitely want to read Jesmyn Ward's other books.

PS
Came back to this Book Report to add that even though this is labeled as No. 3 in the Bois Sauvage series, it's the first book Ms Ward wrote that was set there. And I highly, highly recommend reading it first, then Salvage the Bones, and then (and only then) reading Sing, Unburied Sing.

[Adrienna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was captured by the title, after reading her other book in a club read selection "Savage the Bones," then I decided to read her other work. This is her debut novel. While reading nearly halfway, you are able to picture fraternal twins with slightly different traits but want to do things together--basketball, even work, or get the interview as a unit. However, Joshua gets it and makes Christophe frustrated and thinking he only has one route to go--sell weed. I recall my teen years around this age group after high school and plans to go to college, but had a difficult time getting a job once I relocate to dad's and this was an avenue I was offered but so glad I turned it down. Seems like our teens can easily get caught up with this option instead of keep pushing and looking for job opportunities or see how the schools could have prepared or told them about summer work for teens.

Then, I get to page 109, and see characters from the other reading "Savage the Bones" where there is Skeetah and Marquise with their pit bills. Now I see how it easy goes into her next novel. This book had some humorous parts to me, p. 110 about gay dog joke by Javon for example. I was laughing out loud! Then, the basketball scene seemed so real and brought back memories when I used to play or watch the boys in the neighborhood play a game.

This writer is unique in her own mind, not like other writers I have read, and writes about a place she lived brings a different talent underlined. I get to see what it is like in Mississippi but more importantly she captured the mindset and lifestyle of men coming of age with an absentee father, mother who leaves them behind at five years of age and allows her mother to raise them. Some would find this normal in the South, or in black generations, where the aunts, uncle, grandmother, or other relatives raise the young-ins when I think we need to bridge the gap and parents become responsible people and be a part of their children lives. This has a major effect on our young generation, sometimes it can work out for one's good but other times, a negative atmosphere and community!