Salvage the Bones
Book | Jesmyn Ward
Family portrait – with hurricane.
Jesmyn Ward's vivid second novel, Salvage the Bones, counts down the days until the arrival of Hurricane Katrina through the watchful eyes of its narrator, Esch, a precocious, passionate girl of fourteen who is growing up too fast in a world of boys and men. Without her mother or any female friends to look out for her, Esch becomes easy sexual prey for her older brother's friends and soon finds herself pregnant. Meanwhile, as the storm closes in, her alcoholic father is feebly attempting to prepare for the hurricane that nobody believes will actually hit them, and Esch's brother Skeetah is raising a litter of pit bulls that his beloved dog China has birthed, in the hope of raising some money for the family. Ward is adept at evoking mood and atmosphere, and her characters, from major to minor, are all effectively delineated and singular. Yet Ward's writing bogs down the slender plot with details that, while poetic and sensual, too often seem to exist for their own sake. Quibbles aside, Ward has made her mark with Salvage the Bones. Her next book should be something to look forward to.
-
Books Profile
Alice Walker Feminist Mystic
By Damian Van DenburghCommitted activist and spiritual pilgrim.
>> -
TV & Film Profile
David Simon Baltimore-based Writer
