“Sing Unburied Sing” by Jesmyn Ward: The Song of Life Sung

Jesmyn Ward’s award winning novel “Sing Unburied Sing” ties into the themes life, death, and love. Every one of Ward’s books begins with a quote or two that foreshadow the themes of the book. The following quote by Eudora Welty in “One Writer’s Beginnings" stands out in this edition: “The memory is a living thing—it too is in transit. But during its moment, all that is remembered joins, and lives—the old and the young, the past and the present, the living and the dead.” Photo Creds: Rosalyn Rabinowitz

Rosalyn Rabinowitz, Editor-In-Chief of The Powderhorn

A song filled with sorrow, love, and desperation. A song of life. A song with high notes, low notes, and always slightly off key. Jesmyn Ward, an award winning author, examines the nuances of life through the eyes of her characters in “Sing Unburied Sing”. Like many of Jesmyn Ward's other novels, “Sing Unburied Sing” earned a National Book Award. While it delves into an intensely emotional story surrounding the boundaries between the living and the dead in the rural south, the characteristic of this book that makes it stand out is Ward's writing. 

Jesmyn Ward has an intensely different writing style compared to other authors who write historical fiction novels. Ward includes high levels of figurative language and creative structure, and her books often read like poems or, in this case, a song. This style draws in readers and allows for a unique reading experience where it feels almost impossible to not annotate. 

In this particular book, the main thing that stood out about her writing was her use of foreshadowing. Through the storytelling of Pop and Leonie and the curiosity of Jojo, readers learn the past of many of the characters, a past that also reflects a current event happening in the story. The use of foreshadowing in this context emphasizes the importance of knowing history in order to not repeat it. This is especially true for the main character JoJo, a young black man in the rural south whose uncle died around his age due to a hate crime. 

This foreshadowing adds layers to Ward’s writing making each character's story personal and moving. “Sing Unburied Sing” doesn't just tell a story of a family, but it tells a story about life for many black families in the rural south by examining the hardships and cycles that are prevalent during this time. 

Each character represents a different hardship, a different character trait, and a different note to the song that is life. 

Jojo was forced to grow up quickly, often taking care of his younger sister without active parents in his life. He represents independence.

Pop has stepped up as a grandfather raising his children's kids. He is hard-headed and doesn't show emotion but is constantly haunted by his past. He illustrates trauma.

Mam is a large hearted woman who cares for all. She has a gift of being able to find natural remedies for every sickness except her own. She embodies the impacts of cancer.

Leonie is the mother of Jojo. She is often absent dealing with major substance abuse issues. Her story focuses on addiction. 

Given was a student athlete killed in a “hunting accident” caused by hurt pride symbolizing the cost of racism.

Michael is the father of Jojo, absent because he was serving time for feeding Leonie's addiction. He allies with confinement. 

Independence, trauma, cancer, addiction, racism, and prison are the hardships represented within Jesmyn Ward's novel. This representation draws attention to these issues, and though these characters have many flaws, Ward presents each with a certain complexity that allows the reader to see the outside factors and issues that make each character the way they are. Ward may have written celebrated novel, but she also wrote something that teaches every reader a lesson that we as humans too easily forget: to give grace to others around us without knowing their backstory. 

This novel dissects not only the nuances of life, but also the nuances of the afterlife, emphasizing the thin line between life and death and the effect others' pain and death have on us. Leonie and Jojo share the special gift of being able to see the dead. They see people who have unfinished stories to tell and people who had particularly violent ends. Through this gift, Jojo and Leonie learn about the importance of love and family. These lessons eventually help them allow Mam to pass on, bringing the story full circle. The heartbreak experienced in this book is deep, but so is the love. Love is the main theme in this song of life. 

Many of Jesmyn Ward's books contain a supernatural element, but the addition of it in this book makes the reading experience feel slightly like a fever dream. There are so many stories and events happening all at once throughout this book, it becomes slightly chaotic but in the best way. This chaos emphasizes the chaos in life, in growing up, in figuring out who you want to be and who you are. That's what this book is all about: growth. 

Ward writes about the song of life: “I hear it. Sometimes. When the sun. Sets. When the sun. Rises. The song. In snatches. The stars. A record. The sky. A great record. The lives. Of the living. Of those beyond. See it in flashes. The sound. Beyond the water.”