Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (514)

Content

Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated Sing, Unburied, Sing in Books

Oct 3, 2017

Sing, Unburied, Sing

Jesmyn Ward | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry

8.5

(6 Ratings)

Book Rating

A Toni Morrison novel updated for modern times

This is no doubt a modern day version of reading a Toni Morrison novel. From the magical realism aspect to social issues affecting African Americans, this novel is both haunting and almost poetic.

The story follows a family on their way to a prison, in which the children's white father is due to be released. The teenage boy and his three year old sister are mostly dependent on one another as well as their grandparents Pop and Mam. The mother Leonie is absent, and rather aloof in their upbringing, forcing her son, Jojo to bring up his kid sister. In between are disturbing stories featured in flashbacks and ghostly apparitions, The novel explores interracial relationships, police brutality and even post traumatic stress disorder to a degree.

While it can seem haphazard, going back and forth in time, and random narratives appearing throughout, it leaves the reader with a sense of unease and despair at the violent nature of society. A truly intriguing read.

Kudos

David McK (3425 KP) rated Dead Beat (The Dresden Files, #7) in Books

Jan 28, 2019 (Updated May 10, 2020)

<2020 update>

Sue the Zombie T-Rex :-)

That is all.

<2016 update>

This is the Zombie-themed one, that ends with Sue the Tyrannosaur and also (I think) has the first appearance of Waldo Butters as one of the main players. In this, Thomas is also now lodging with Harry, who has now found out his relationship to the former, with Thomas trying to change his lifestyle. Karen Murphy is also absent for most of the novel, off on holiday with Kincaid.

<2011 notes below>

Magic - it can get a guy killed

Book number 7 in Jim Butchers Harry Dresden series, this is one where I think it is highly advisable to have read the previous entries first, as it ties several plot lines from those earlier novels into the events of this one.

Having said that: this is, as always, a good read, but maybe not the best in the series so far (which, to use an over-coined term, seems to be getting progressively 'darker' in tone)