Salvage the Bones
When I found Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward on a kindle daily deal I had to grab it. I had been reading ALOT of good things about her new book Sing Unburied Sing and initially regretted that I chose Little Fires Everywhere for my September Book of the Month selection when Ward's new book was also an option. And of course there was a long wait for Sing Unburied Sing through the Saint Paul Public library's Overdrive app.
However I was not disappointed by reading Little Fires Everywhere at all. I found it a very beautiful novel that was very difficult to put down and purchased Celetse Ng's Everything I Never Told You immediately upon completing the book. In the interest of not spoiling the ending of this character driven novel I will say that the ending is both beautiful and tragic in a way that an aspiring writer like myself wants to break apart and emulate.
And the timing of reading Salvage the Bones could not have been more perfect. The setting is in the midst of hurricane Katrina and the plot revolves around a family's means of survival. Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Harvey are only in the baby steps of their aftermath right now. Only a few weeks ago our eyes were on the news witnessing these natural disasters our country was experiencing. My husband's grandparents live in an area where Hurricane Irma hit. (They are okay, they were able to find a shelter to stay in during the storm). Through my day job at a major financial institution I have customers in this part of the country and had a customer call me while she was preparing to flee from her home.
So there was something about reading the details about what the family did before and during the storm that seemed even more real to me in light of recent news. Sometimes I do seek out books that seem appropriate to current events like I did after the Charolette Town riots. I love "reading" my way through seasons and right now as September is coming towards an end and the month of Halloween is coming up I am enjoying my absolute favorite time of year with horror movies and novels. But this choice about reading through Hurricane Katrina was purely coincidental.
There is something about reading a book of fiction that taps into the emotional reality of an event that nothing else can. When it comes to trying to get the facts of an event emotion can actually a detriment and can color the perspective that someone takes on their life or an event in a way that leads away from accuracy.
But a well told story is an invitation not just into an event but into a person's life. And there is something powerful about feeling like I am in a person's shoes in light of an event that is based in trying to survive the plot of humanity versus nature. While there are many other stories untold about the battle with hurricanes this story helped me understand what the moment of being in a hurricane may be like. The book gave me a tiny piece of understanding what the stories behind the current news could be.
However I was not disappointed by reading Little Fires Everywhere at all. I found it a very beautiful novel that was very difficult to put down and purchased Celetse Ng's Everything I Never Told You immediately upon completing the book. In the interest of not spoiling the ending of this character driven novel I will say that the ending is both beautiful and tragic in a way that an aspiring writer like myself wants to break apart and emulate.
And the timing of reading Salvage the Bones could not have been more perfect. The setting is in the midst of hurricane Katrina and the plot revolves around a family's means of survival. Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Harvey are only in the baby steps of their aftermath right now. Only a few weeks ago our eyes were on the news witnessing these natural disasters our country was experiencing. My husband's grandparents live in an area where Hurricane Irma hit. (They are okay, they were able to find a shelter to stay in during the storm). Through my day job at a major financial institution I have customers in this part of the country and had a customer call me while she was preparing to flee from her home.
So there was something about reading the details about what the family did before and during the storm that seemed even more real to me in light of recent news. Sometimes I do seek out books that seem appropriate to current events like I did after the Charolette Town riots. I love "reading" my way through seasons and right now as September is coming towards an end and the month of Halloween is coming up I am enjoying my absolute favorite time of year with horror movies and novels. But this choice about reading through Hurricane Katrina was purely coincidental.
There is something about reading a book of fiction that taps into the emotional reality of an event that nothing else can. When it comes to trying to get the facts of an event emotion can actually a detriment and can color the perspective that someone takes on their life or an event in a way that leads away from accuracy.
But a well told story is an invitation not just into an event but into a person's life. And there is something powerful about feeling like I am in a person's shoes in light of an event that is based in trying to survive the plot of humanity versus nature. While there are many other stories untold about the battle with hurricanes this story helped me understand what the moment of being in a hurricane may be like. The book gave me a tiny piece of understanding what the stories behind the current news could be.
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