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The story opens with JoJo, a 13 year old boy celebrating a birthday, living with his grandparents Pa and Mam in their house on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and much younger sister Kayla. Leonie, his mother, lives there also though frequently absent and a drug addict albeit one who is holding down a job in a bar. JoJo's father, Michael, has been serving a term in Parchman Prison for making meth and on this day calls to announce his release. Leonie grabs the kids and with a friend sets off to drive to northern Mississippi to pick him up, this journey setting the basic plot line. That journey is of course filled with incident. Other important elements are that Mam is dying of cancer, nearing the end, and members of this family have what I liken to a touch of the sight, similar to the Irish. In some members it is an ability to see into the future, in others it is hearing animals and plants talk, in others it is seeing actually ghosts, those who have died but not yet crossed over for one reason or another. And some members of the family have no extra abilities - it seems.

On its surface, this is the story of a road trip by a family to pick up the father when he is released from Parchman prison and the disruption to the family this causes. In reality it is an exploration of death and the family history that imprints each successive generation. It is also a summary of contemporary american black history and racism in the deep south, one leaving the reader uncomfortable and troubled. In fact, as I read the final pages, what came to my mind and lingers there is poet Caroline Randal Williams' Op Ed in the NYTimes on June 26, 2020: You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body is a Confederate Monument. Here in this one family we see and experience Deep South Black American History from mid-20th Century to the last decade and how it left an indelible and real legacy on each successive generation, a collective memory that never gets left behind, and thus becoming a ghost story as well.

It is also a coming of age story, for both JoJo and in a way, his mother, Leonie.

It is also just beautiful writing. Somehow, really beautiful writing describing really terrible things just makes the horror of the act or incident or language that much more horrible.

BTW, I don't see this as truly fitting Magical Realism, probably because the elements everyone seems to say make it magical realism is the presence of ghosts and psychic abilities -- and maybe the climactic final scene. To me it's just weaving a ghost story and enhanced abilities into the story.

I could not give this a full 5 stars for a couple of reasons. I found some parts confusing -- each chapter is a different point of view chapter, jumping between JoJo, Leonie and one of the ghosts. As between JoJo and Leonie, there was a name confusion that confused me far too deep into this short work (222 pages) -- JoJo refers to his baby sister as Kayla, Leonie uses Michaela her full name, for example. By the end I had it sorted out but I really think the author could have set that up a bit better in the first chapter for each character. I also had trouble keeping the time periods referenced by the different character's stories in mind. Although by the end I realized this was most likely deliberate as the author was making a point about the flow of black history being an endless river flowing from generation to generation, that there is a timelessness to it all and to this family saga. I found myself working out a timeline -- (view spoiler)[ JoJo born around 2000 with most of the events happening aroudn 2013, Leonie born in the 1980s around 30 at time of story, Pop in Parchman around 1950 at age 15 when met Richie and witnessed the lynchings. Thus covers mid-20th Century, late 20th Century and early 21st Century (hide spoiler)] and it brought home just how little had actually changed (view spoiler)[ (Leonie's brother Given's murder which according to the timeline I set out occured around 1999 and was reminiscent of lynchings witnessed by Pop. (hide spoiler)].

This was the first Jesmyn Ward I have read. It won't be my last.

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What a wonderful review. You did such a good job detailing the "story" - of southern black family and the wrenching situation of Parchman. I love this author - she has taught me so much through the years. Thank goodness others learn from her. Thanks for the review and the memories. Makes me want to reread the book - it is not her best. Thanks again. peace, janz

Great and insightful review, Theresa.

I did give it the full 5 stars and suspect that it made my top 10 list for the year I read it. It seems that I failed to write a review for it.

I love Jesmyn Ward's writing.

Oh I wanted to mention that my copy had an excerpt of an excellent interview in it: Ghosts of History: An Interview with Jesmyn Ward by Louis Elliott. It not only talks about this work but her broader goals and the novel she is now working on.

Definitely worth googling to read it both if you have read Sing, Unburied, Sing or just interested in her writing in general.

I just realized that I never mentioned in my review that this is a mixed race family. Michael is white and Leonie white thus making JoJo and Kayla mixed race. While it certainly plays into the story, clearly I did not find it critical to it. Another reason for my taking off a star? Maybe.

Wonderful review! This was a full 5 star read for me. Her writing is just luminous in this book. I agree that it makes the tough scenes more vivid and memorable too, but that was OK with me. There was one section about the little girl getting carsick. It was a little tough, sure, but it’s real. It revealed the tenderness of her brother. It revealed a lot about the whole family actually.

It’s magical realism, with a focus on the realism. She makes it feel honest and spiritual, not like a paranormal fantasy story. Louise Erdrich does this too. Her culture believes ghosts are real, and she writes them respectfully. It’s not just a trope or gimmick.

I’ll look for that interview. I read this a few years ago, and now i want to read it again. Maybe I’ll read Salvage the Bones

I heard the author speak a few years ago and was really impressed by her. So when my bookclub decided to read this book, I was looking forward to it. But when it actually came to reading it .... it was just too much for me at the time. I own the book though, so hope to get back to it some day.

Doughgirl5562 wrote: "I heard the author speak a few years ago and was really impressed by her. So when my bookclub decided to read this book, I was looking forward to it. But when it actually came to reading it .... it..."

It was for me much lighter and easy to read than I initially expected. I kept putting it off month after month thinking it would be too serious or disturbing. (It had been in my TBR for some years but needed to read it for PS prompt winner of Anisfield-Wolfe award.) In fact, while reading it I was reminded a bit of Black Water Sister, though that is about asian diaspora and dealing with family history, kegacy, and ghosts rather than a history of violence and racism.

How lucky to hear her speak!

Theresa wrote: "This was the first Jesmyn Ward I have read. It won't be my last.

I liked this one, but I actually prefer Ward's non-fiction to her fiction.