On the Southern Literary Trail discussion

Comments on this board are made with the assumption that readers have finished the book and may include spoilers.

I read Sing Unburied Sing over two years ago and as I reviewed my highlights of the book, I recalled how it was equally painful and joyous. I see that no one has yet commented here. I’m hoping that’s because many had read it when it came out in 2017. If not, I highly recommend it. It tells a story of 3 generations of a Rural Mississippi Black family, the two children, a 13 year old boy and a toddler girl, their drug addicted mother, who cares about her children but can’t raise herself above her needs, the grandparents, “Mam” and “Pop”, who have lessons to teach if only they can be received, an imprisoned White father and the White grandfather and the Ghosts that permeate the story. If for no other reason, read this wonderful book for its lyrical language.

“I left him sitting in the passenger seat as the sun softened and lit the edges of the sky, rising.”
“ Sometimes the world don’t give you what you need, no matter how hard you look. Sometimes it withholds.”
“ carved a rose that looked like a muddy puddle”
“ I hear Pop through the door, hear his voice threading through the keyhole.”
“ His voice is molasses slow.”

Agree with your comments Sherril. I remember the last chapter of this book completely blew me away.

I am about to start a reread of this

This novel was hard reading, with lots of aspects to it that I found difficult, despite it's poetic prose. In the end, I gave it four stars, because of the novel's big idea -- giving voice to the voiceless victims of our country's legacy of racism.

This one was a 3 star to me until the end, and the death scene and final chapter earned it another star.

That is exactly where I was, Diane. It wasn’t until the very end that it pushed from three to four.