Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Reason I bought this #1: It takes place in Mississippi, where my mom's family is from. Parchman is specifically mentioned in the blurb on the back, and I have visited Parchman farm a time or two, as I have family who worked there (and lived on the grounds).
Reason I bought this #2: They had some books 2 for $30 at the Montreal airport, and I am a sucker for books.
The back of this book sounded good--part ghost story, part road novel--and it was good, it just took a little bit for me to get into. Still wasn't a book I couldn't put down, though.
This is told from three perspectives: Jojo, Leonie, and Richie. Jojo is a thirteen-year-old boy. He has a three-year-old sister named Kayla, and his parents are sucky. They live with his grandparents, Pop and Mam, near the coast in Mississippi. Jojo loves his grandparents and his baby sister, but not so much his parents. His mother has made it apparent that his white father who is in the penitentiary for drugs is more important than he and his sister ever will be.
Leonie is Jojo's mother, but she's one of those women who should never be a mother. She doesn't really care about her kids. It kills her that her daughter loves Jojo more than she loves Leonie, but that is the bed she has made for herself. She takes her children and her dope fiend friend, Misty, on a road trip to Parchman farm when her boyfriend is released from prison. She even lets her young son be handcuffed and have a gun pointed at his head when they are pulled over. What kind of crappy mother does that?
Richie is the spirit of a friend of Pop's from his days when he was incarcerated at Parchman. Not everyone can see Richie, but Jojo and probably Kayla can. Richie needs Pop to tell his Parchman story to the end so that his spirit can move on.
It's not terribly hard to follow, and, obviously, there's more going on, but once you get into this, you do want to see how things turn out.
Monday, November 26, 2018
Monday, November 19, 2018
Injustice Still Lives...Unfortunately
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
Books like this are hard for me to talk about. Why? Because I am a middle class, white woman, and this book is about a young, black man who comes from poverty. There's no way I can relate to his struggles, and if I express any empathy at all, there are those who will say it's because of "white guilt." I would like to say that they are wrong, but I don't know that they are. Why shouldn't I feel "white guilt"? I know where I come from, and it's not pretty. I have family who are most definitely racists. My own grandfather used to tell people that he was the Grand Dragon of the KKK in Mississippi, as though that is something to be proud of. It's not. My parents tried really hard to raise my brothers and me to not be racists. I'd like to believe that they did a good job.
I loved this book. It made me think. It makes me want to try even harder to make this world a better place.
Justyce is a senior in high school. He's on an academic scholarship at a fancy prep school. At the beginning of the book, he is arrested for being black. Honestly, that's what it boils down to. He was trying to keep his (ex)girlfriend from driving drunk, and when the police rolled up, they thought he was trying to rob her (or worse). They only thought these things because he was black, and they wouldn't listen to anything he had to say.
Later, we see Justyce's schoolmates are racists, although they don't see it themselves. They seem to think that just because they are friends with black men, that means they aren't racist. They don't hear the things that come out of their mouths, and when they are called on it, they don't understand how it's considered racist. These comments lead to Justyce and his best friend, Manny, going for a drive one day instead of going hiking with friends. On this drive, they are listening to music, and the driver in the car next to them says it is too loud. This driver ends up shooting Justyce and Manny. Manny dies, and Justyce is critically injured. Oh, and the shooter is an off-duty cop.
Unlike most of the similar cases in the news at the time this story takes place, the cop in this instance is indicted, so Justyce has to go to trial. He has to relive that horrible day, all while doubt is being cast simply because he is black.
This book is powerful. It's relevant. It needs to be read--by everyone.
Books like this are hard for me to talk about. Why? Because I am a middle class, white woman, and this book is about a young, black man who comes from poverty. There's no way I can relate to his struggles, and if I express any empathy at all, there are those who will say it's because of "white guilt." I would like to say that they are wrong, but I don't know that they are. Why shouldn't I feel "white guilt"? I know where I come from, and it's not pretty. I have family who are most definitely racists. My own grandfather used to tell people that he was the Grand Dragon of the KKK in Mississippi, as though that is something to be proud of. It's not. My parents tried really hard to raise my brothers and me to not be racists. I'd like to believe that they did a good job.
I loved this book. It made me think. It makes me want to try even harder to make this world a better place.
Justyce is a senior in high school. He's on an academic scholarship at a fancy prep school. At the beginning of the book, he is arrested for being black. Honestly, that's what it boils down to. He was trying to keep his (ex)girlfriend from driving drunk, and when the police rolled up, they thought he was trying to rob her (or worse). They only thought these things because he was black, and they wouldn't listen to anything he had to say.
Later, we see Justyce's schoolmates are racists, although they don't see it themselves. They seem to think that just because they are friends with black men, that means they aren't racist. They don't hear the things that come out of their mouths, and when they are called on it, they don't understand how it's considered racist. These comments lead to Justyce and his best friend, Manny, going for a drive one day instead of going hiking with friends. On this drive, they are listening to music, and the driver in the car next to them says it is too loud. This driver ends up shooting Justyce and Manny. Manny dies, and Justyce is critically injured. Oh, and the shooter is an off-duty cop.
Unlike most of the similar cases in the news at the time this story takes place, the cop in this instance is indicted, so Justyce has to go to trial. He has to relive that horrible day, all while doubt is being cast simply because he is black.
This book is powerful. It's relevant. It needs to be read--by everyone.
Saturday, November 17, 2018
And Then There Were...A Few
An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena
I picked this up at the airport in Montreal on my way to Paris last week. I had no idea that Lapena had another book coming out, so I knew I had to pick this one up. Some would say these aren't the best-written thrillers out there, and maybe they are right, but I enjoy them.
The premise is fairly simple: several people go to a hotel for a weekend away. People start dying, and the guests at the hotel aren't sure if the killer is one of them or someone on the outside.
In many ways, this is like Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. The reader gets to be in the mind of each of the killers, and, honestly, you don't know who did it until the end. In that way, it's well done. Most of the time when I read thrillers or mysteries, and figure out the guilty party before I hit the halfway point. With this one, I had no clue who it could be.
This would've been a faster read for me under normal circumstances, but lately, I just haven't felt like reading.
I picked this up at the airport in Montreal on my way to Paris last week. I had no idea that Lapena had another book coming out, so I knew I had to pick this one up. Some would say these aren't the best-written thrillers out there, and maybe they are right, but I enjoy them.
The premise is fairly simple: several people go to a hotel for a weekend away. People start dying, and the guests at the hotel aren't sure if the killer is one of them or someone on the outside.
In many ways, this is like Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. The reader gets to be in the mind of each of the killers, and, honestly, you don't know who did it until the end. In that way, it's well done. Most of the time when I read thrillers or mysteries, and figure out the guilty party before I hit the halfway point. With this one, I had no clue who it could be.
This would've been a faster read for me under normal circumstances, but lately, I just haven't felt like reading.
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Murders at Sea
Escaping From Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco
Took longer for me to get into than it should have, but I think that was me and not the book in this case. I just haven't felt like reading much lately. Once I had some time to just sit and read, like on my flight to Paris, I was engrossed.
Picking up right after the second book in the series, this one sees Audrey Rose and Thomas onboard a ship bound for America. Also on board is a traveling circus, of which Harry Houdini is a part. Everyone is enthralled with the circus at the start, but then a young lady is killed right next to Audrey Rose. Her death was spectacular, but not in a good way, and seemed to reflect a tarot card. Every night of the cruise, someone is killed, and it is up to Audrey Rose to figure out who the killer is.
To top things off, Liza, Audrey Rose's cousin, has gone missing. She later turns up on the ship, under the thrall of Houdini. And the circus master wants Audrey Rose to himself, which makes her question what, or rather who, she wants.
In order to solve the crime, Audrey Rose has to learn from the circus master, Mephistopheles, how to do tricks so that she can infiltrate the performers to find clues. It's not until the killer takes Thomas that she finally figures out who the murderer is.
As with the predecessors in this series, there are a lot of twists and turns. My only complaint is that Houdini plays such a small part in a book that bears his name.
Took longer for me to get into than it should have, but I think that was me and not the book in this case. I just haven't felt like reading much lately. Once I had some time to just sit and read, like on my flight to Paris, I was engrossed.
Picking up right after the second book in the series, this one sees Audrey Rose and Thomas onboard a ship bound for America. Also on board is a traveling circus, of which Harry Houdini is a part. Everyone is enthralled with the circus at the start, but then a young lady is killed right next to Audrey Rose. Her death was spectacular, but not in a good way, and seemed to reflect a tarot card. Every night of the cruise, someone is killed, and it is up to Audrey Rose to figure out who the killer is.
To top things off, Liza, Audrey Rose's cousin, has gone missing. She later turns up on the ship, under the thrall of Houdini. And the circus master wants Audrey Rose to himself, which makes her question what, or rather who, she wants.
In order to solve the crime, Audrey Rose has to learn from the circus master, Mephistopheles, how to do tricks so that she can infiltrate the performers to find clues. It's not until the killer takes Thomas that she finally figures out who the murderer is.
As with the predecessors in this series, there are a lot of twists and turns. My only complaint is that Houdini plays such a small part in a book that bears his name.
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