7.6 /10 1 Votes
Originally published 30 August 2011 Genre Fiction | 3.8/5 Goodreads | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Awards National Book Award for Fiction Similar National Book Award for Fiction winners, Fiction books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Salvage the bones by jesmyn ward book review
Salvage the Bones is a 2011 novel by Jesmyn Ward and was the 2011 recipient of the National Book Award for Fiction. The novel explores the plight of a working class African American family in Mississippi as they prepare for Katrina and follows them through the aftermaths of the storm. Ward, who had lived through the Katrina, wrote the novel, after being very "dissatisifed with the way [Katrina] had receded from public consciousness".
Contents
- Salvage the bones by jesmyn ward book review
- Jesmyn ward on salvage the bones and the national book award
- Reception
- References
In an interview with the Paris Review, Ward said she drew inspiration from, Medea and the works of Faulkner.
Jesmyn ward on salvage the bones and the national book award
Reception
As a winner of the National Book Award for Fiction, the novel received a largely positive reception. The LA Times described the novel as an "under-the-radar" second novel, which deserves the award. The reviewer described the book as a successful depiction of Southern life and culture and "an intense book, with powerful, direct prose that dips into poetic metaphor." Similarly the New York Times Sunday Book Review called the novel "a taut, wily novel, smartly plotted and voluptuously written." The Washington Post wrote that " it’ll be a long time before its magic wears off" and that the novel has the "aura of a classic about it."