Literary Fiction by People of Color discussion

Kathleen, Aubrey and I plan to start reading and discussing Jesmyn Ward’s memoir, Men We Reaped, in this thread starting Sunday, February 24th or so. The title comes from Harriet Tubman:

We saw the lightning and that was the guns; and then we heard the thunder and that was the big guns; and then we heard the rain falling and that was the blood falling; and when we came to get the crops, it was dead men that we reaped.

If you’re of a mind to join us, please do.

Any takers?

Here’s a NYTimes review to tempt you.

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/18/bo...

And one of my favorite photos of Mississippi-born, Stanford-educated, Ms. Ward.
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2013/...

I started today. So far, I'm liking this a lot better than Sing, Unburied, Sing, which bodes well.

I will join since this has been on my TBR for a while. It will be my first book by Ward so I look forward to seeing if I like her writing style. I've been meaning to read Salvage the Bones as well so maybe this is the nudge I need to pick up her books.

That is encouraging, Aubrey. And thanks for the article, Carol! I am curious about the double consciousness mentioned. Must read Du Bois.

In the Prologue, she mentions going backward and forward in time, and I'm anxious to see how she puts this together. She says telling the story is the hardest thing she's ever done. I believe it.

I will be peeking in on the discussion.

I read this book several years ago and I hope you like it as much as I did.

It was a 5 star read for me.

My favorite book by Jesmyn Ward though it’s non fiction. Very dramatic but beautiful.

It’s great to read the lingering love this book engenders.

Beverly and Electra: did you love it from page one, or did your appreciation grow after you finished it, or something in between?

Carol wrote: "It’s great to read the lingering love this book engenders.

Beverly and Electra: did you love it from page one, or did your appreciation grow after you finished it, or something in between?"

That is a hard question for me to answer as I read this book in 2014.
But if I had to guess - it was probably early on as I remember thinking while reading it - it read like a novel so had to remember this was NF.
One of the things I like about her writing is the powerful sense of place.

Here are a couple of youtube videos where Jesmyn Ward is reading from book or talking about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjqNA...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTe2X...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgLKW...

Thanks for the video ! I love her style so of course I was fond of it from the start but it grew deeper as the portraits came along and her own story throughout. One of my favor books of all time.

I'm a little over a third of the way through and I find it fascinating. I would say I am enjoying it, but enjoyment doesn't seem like the right word given the sadness and desperation in the lives of Ward's friends and family. It interests me that she chose to tell her own story chronologically while she tells of the deaths of the five men in reverse order. I don't know yet if there is meaning in that choice.

Beverly wrote: "Carol wrote: "It’s great to read the lingering love this book engenders.

Beverly and Electra: did you love it from page one, or did your appreciation grow after you finished it, or something in b..."

These links are great and thanks for sharing them. I’ve watched one and am saving the others to space them out and reward myself.

I just finished the chapter about the dogs. Very disturbing … but so much more.

I guess because she is writing like a novelist, it feels like she lays things out without giving us neat conclusions. She lets us come to them ourselves. And that sort of lets her pack more in. After just this one chapter, my head is spinning with the contrast of California versus Mississippi, family dynamics, sibling love, and varieties of violence.

The dog chapter was disturbing. It's incredible how easily Jesmyn could have died if she hadn't fought back and her great aunt had not been around to fight the dog off. It is also sad that her father had such skewed priorities like buying a motorcycle instead of saving to buy land like he promised his wife. I was glad to see that his own father told him off, but really Jesmyn's father is a chip off the old block with his girlfriends.

I finished Rog’s chapter. I need to hug my dogs and my daughter.

I finished a couple of days ago. It was so hard to read about her brother dying. I can't imagine the pain of a sibling dying when he is only 19. I hope writing this book gave Jesmyn and her family some necessary catharsis. Ultimately it is amazing that Jesmyn has chosen to return to Delisle to live and raise her children. It is both a place of comfort and great sorrow for her, but obviously the feeling of home and family win out over the negative aspects.

Laurie wrote: "I finished a couple of days ago. It was so hard to read about her brother dying. I can't imagine the pain of a sibling dying when he is only 19. I hope writing this book gave Jesmyn and her family ..."

My husband is from Mississippi and he misses it daily, although he isn’t wanting to move back. My impression is that of all Southern states, Mississippians possess an intense sense of connection to place, home, the past and that sense of belonging exists nowhere else for them. If they leave, there’s a hole in their hearts. If they return or stay, reminders of the past are all around.

That image, when Jesmyn came home from Stanford on break and curled up in bed with her sister and cried, struck me as indicating how much she missed Delisle, her people, her friends, even as she knew to take advantage of the educational opportunities she had earned...

Just so sad.

Thanks for sharing about Mississippi, Carol. I can only imagine, but the way Jesmyn describes it I can feel the allure and specialness of the place.

I agree about the scene with her sister. So many gut punch scenes in here. I wish it was a novel. It's hard, but she makes you feel this real pain with her. By taking us back through her childhood we see these boys as their peers saw them, and that makes us feel the dread and hopelessness too.

The CJ chapter really got to me.

I finished and am sort of digesting the book now, thinking about Carol's question above. I think I liked this from the beginning, but am experiencing a growing appreciation of it now that I'm done. It sort of seeps in.

It's my first book of hers, but from this I have to say I like her style--the simple, honesty of it, with all that emotion underneath.

How are you doing with it, Carol?

Kathleen wrote: "I finished and am sort of digesting the book now, thinking about Carol's question above. I think I liked this from the beginning, but am experiencing a growing appreciation of it now that I'm done...."

I’m just under 100 pages in. I love her writing style. I am impressed that the manner in which she organizes and presents her story is so effective and probably more effective and more interesting for me than if she’d penned a standard chronological narrative.

I’m managing the sadness, OTOH, by managing my reading, eg putting it aside for a couple of days, then reading two chapters, rinse, lather, repeat. That’s not really an ideal reading experience.

My question for others who have read Ward’s several books is, is this overwhelming sadness a constant or is this memoir more intense because of its innately personal nature?

Ward has become one of my top 5 favorite authors this year.