Salvage The Bones

SALVAGE THE BONES
by Jesmyn Ward

 Award: National Book 2011

 Dates Read: September 9, 2012 & April 4, 2019

Ward is an exquisite storyteller, able to convey longing, suffering and desire in such a quiet way that it's almost deafening.

It's no mistake we don't learn Esch's name, the narrator of the novel, until the third chapter. She is almost invisible, even to herself, never asking for what she really wants, never daring to hope for more. She lets life wash over her, never putting up obstacles. She is the water and life and everyone else's desires the wave. Only at the end of the novel does she scream out for acknowledgment and her heart's desire.

 Ward is fearless in bringing to light taboo topics that have been vilified by society - dog fighting, teen pregnancy, adultery, abortion. She provides a glimpse into a world that is all too familiar to some and foreign to others - life in the South, poverty, and the community of blackness in America.

The imagery that is most vivid for me throughout, although I would imagine some would argue it's the comparisons Esch makes to Medea, is Skeetah's dog, China. Not only is she capable of such brutality, but she elicits such tenderness and a boundless capacity for love, so similar to what each of the kids are experiencing. Randall, Skeetah, Esch and Junior are all cast into a brutal reality, yet are fierce in their loyalty and protection of each other.

Looking Forward: Sing, Unburied, Sing.

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