Sing, Unburied, Sing

a PACIFIC READS selection

By: Jesmyn Ward

Category: Fiction

Published: 2017

Recommended by:

Kathlene Postma, Professor of Creative Writing and Literature and recipient of the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching. She writes and publishes primarily in the realm of fairy tale literature.

I have a shelf at home where I put books that have changed me. This one holds pride of place. From the first page, when meet the sweet and endearing Jojo, we know Jesmyn Ward is taking us into a haunted landscape where love, suffering, loss, and joy will be wound up in an epic tale that puts an African-American boy and the legacy of Mississippi's history at the center. Ward's use of finely tuned fantastical elements makes for a ghost story unlike any I have ever read. Her hypnotic use of language reaches a crescendo by the end. Every sentence in this story sings. The structure of Sing, Unburied Sing provides a brilliant lesson in how to write a novel. It's no surprise this astounding achievement in storytelling won the National Book Award.

PACIFIC READS are books recommended by the faculty and staff at Pacific University