Leonie, within ‘Sing, Unburied, Sing’ has a lot of rage and anger swelling inside her that comes out in quick bursts. Within her blog as well she goes from the sad current to the past in moments of reflection. She did want to help people at some point and improve upon herself. This is seen in her recurring dream about everyone drowning and not being able to save them all. I tried to represent that with her posts about the regret she feels about how she treated Jojo because she’s a very cold and non-emotional person towards her children, but when in her perspective the reader gets a lot more realness and humanity to the seemingly heartless mother. The pictures she shares are a representative of her thoughts and how she relates to the words within them and their sadness. She even explains her own connections as I feel she would normally as this would not be seen by anyone she knows. It’s her own way to vent and feel free. Her blog is dark in theme and ideas and she uses memes with pictures in them to reflect serious themes as she never wants to face her own demons directly throughout the novel. She always has something to blame or someone better to focus on such as Micheal. I also tried to represent her love for Micheal in the truly dependent state it’s at by the end of the book. She needs him to be her rock and keep her standing when she’s shaky. As well as her need to be loved and appreciated by everyone that comes her way. She’ll treat Big Joseph with respect even though he’ll never respect her because she still wants a shot with him.  Her violent thoughts were also repeatedly mentioned and brought up. so I tried to get behind the reasoning in them and how mams death and not being needed by Jojo truly affected her. I think by the end of the book she’s a broken shell of person who relies on drugs and this blog is a way of showing her path of self-destruction. She is self-aware enough to realize it but not enough to stop it. 

September's #girlybookclub selection is ridiculously poetic and poignant. 💖 "Sometimes the world don't give you what you need, no matter how hard you look. Sometimes it withholds." #singunburiedsing #jesmynward #bookstagram #bookphotography #books

Congrats to Jesmyn Ward for winning the @nationalbookfoundation #NBAwards for fiction. SING, UNBURIED, SING just happened to be next on my reading list so that’s a happy coincidence and will fill my weekend with award winning prose 😄. Here’s some more on this lovely book. . Jojo and his toddler sister, Kayla, live with their grandparents, Mam and Pop, and the occasional presence of their drug-addicted mother, Leonie, on a farm on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Leonie is simultaneously tormented and comforted by visions of her dead brother, which only come to her when she's high; Mam is dying of cancer; and quiet, steady Pop tries to run the household and teach Jojo how to be a man. When the white father of Leonie's children is released from prison, she packs her kids and a friend into her car and sets out across the state for Parchman farm, the Mississippi State Penitentiary, on a journey rife with danger and promise. Sing, Unburied, Sing grapples with the ugly truths at the heart of the American story and the power, and limitations, of the bonds of family. Rich with Ward's distinctive, musical language, Sing, Unburied, Sing is a majestic new work and an essential contribution to American literature. . . . #booklr #bookstagram #bookish #bookblog #bookblogger #currentlyreading #bookphoto #bookphotography #booksandbeans #booksandtea #booksandcoffee #igreads #booksofinstagram #bunchofbookbaristas #booknerdigan #booknerd #bookworm #booklove #booklover #bibliophile #lit #badassbookbabes #amreading #singunburiedsing #jesmynward

I took this picture yesterday and thank goodness for it because today’s been quite gray & that’s a big no for good natural lighting. Anyways, this is current reading pile with the exception of The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night which I finished last night & really enjoyed it. I’ll have a review of it in the next few days. • • I’m still reading The Amber Spyglass & I started Sing, Unburied, Sing two days ago. It’s my first time reading Ward and so far, so good. Her writing style is phenomenal. • • What’s your current read? 🍂🍁 • • • • • • • #singunburiedsing #theamberspyglass #thebeginningoftheworldinthemiddleofthenight #leoyrecomiendo #igreads #bookstagram #libros #bookworm #booksbooksbooks #stackofbooks #readersofinstagram #bookstagramfeature #booksofig #bookstagrammer #instareads #currentreads #bookcommunity #bookhoarder #libraryofinstagram #becauseofreading #bookishfeatures #bookclubcollective #booksoutside (at Leganés)

I have gained a few kilos over last week, I think. Now looking forward to the holiday weight. 🎅 🎄 🎁 - - My reading life is almost at a standstill. I have been reading Snow by Pamuk for over a month now! And it is still not finished. I cannot wait to start this stunning copy of Sing, Unburied Sing by Jesmyn award, kindly sent by @scribnerbooks . I have been hearing such high praise for it. - - Did you participate in the Dewey’s readathon this weekend? Or perhaps read a book? Or participating in #autumnreadathon ? No to all three questions from my side. 😢 . . . #bookworm #singunburiedsing

This #signedsunday I'm thinking back to last weekend and how exciting it was to be a part of #natbookfest this year. Meeting Jesmyn Ward, Michael Eric Dyson, and Roxane Gay was both a thrill and an extreme pleasure 📚❤️🖋 #books #read #reading #bookish #booklover #booklife #bibliophile #authorevent #jesmynward #singunburiedsing #salvagethebones #menwereaped #michaelericdyson #tearswecannotstop #roxanegay #ayiti #essay #memoir #shortstories #writersofcolor #bookstagram #booksofinstagram

Thank you so much @simonandschuster // @scribnerbooks for sending me and Advanced Readers Copy of 'Sing, Unburied, Sing' #singunburiedsing by Jesmyn Ward @jesmimi_ It releases September 5, 2017. This will be a fascinating one to curl up with. This book definitely has triggers and heavy subject matter, but it deals with hard truths. It seems very vivid and raw. You can add this to your diverse reads list! 👌🏽Here's the synopsis: . Ward brings the archetypal road novel into rural twenty-first-century America. Drawing on Morrison and Faulkner, The Odyssey and the Old Testament, Ward gives us an epochal story, a journey through Mississippi’s past and present that is both an intimate portrait of a family and an epic tale of hope and struggle. Jojo and his toddler sister, Kayla, live with their grandparents, Mam and Pop, and the occasional presence of their drug-addicted mother, Leonie, on a farm on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Leonie is simultaneously tormented and comforted by visions of her dead brother, which only come to her when she’s high; Mam is dying of cancer; and quiet, steady Pop tries to run the household and teach Jojo how to be a man. When the white father of Leonie’s children is released from prison, she packs her kids and a friend into her car and sets out across the state for Parchman farm, the Mississippi State Penitentiary, on a journey rife with danger and promise. Sing, Unburied, Sing grapples with the ugly truths at the heart of the American story and the power, and limitations, of the bonds of family.

Happy #SockSunday everyone! B and I are doing a Harry Potter marathon this weekend and today we’ll be checking out Prisoner of Azkaban and, my favorite, Goblet of Fire!!! You know you truly love someone when you’re quoting HP together 😍😚😊❤️. . I’m also getting more into SING UNBURIED SING which feels like the reality of poverty in the US. I’ve been thinking on this and right now the book’s takeaway is more than just race and slavery but the truth of many Americans living in poverty. They work super hard but somehow those ends don’t meet and let’s not talk about the mental health of these folks as well. Man, if anything this story is a huge truth bomb and eye opener. I think that’s what I can take away. . . . #book #booklr #bookstagram #bookish #bookblog #bookblogger #currentlyreading #bookphoto #bookphotography #booksandbeans #booksandtea #booksandcoffee #igreads #booksofinstagram #bunchofbookbaristas #booknerdigan #booknerd #bookworm #booklove #booklover #bibliophile #lit #badassbookbabes #amreading #singunburiedsing #jesmynward