Salvage the Bones

It takes a lot nowadays for me to rate any Fiction book 5 stars. I read way more non-fiction, and usually only read highly recommended fiction, or some that's given to me. There are plenty of other reviews here that tell you how it's not a "happy" book (why that matters i dont know), so i wont go on about that part. I dont base my reading choices on whether they have a happy fantasy story. This story is very real. The writing is really good. I have several points that i use to rate a book: the story itself, the actual writing style, the 'entertainment' value, the emotions it brings out - laughter, sadness, etc., and if it's very memorable - either by being very different than anything i've ever read, or by something else about it being very different. The only point out of all of those that i wouldnt give a 5 would be the writing style/prose - which i'd give a 4. It's very good, but not "amazing" to me like some authors are. The author brought me into the characters - where i could feel what they were feeling, and i understood why they did the 'bad' things they did - totally. I felt the way they lived, the area, the poverty... As the story progressed, i stayed up one night for HOURS wanting to know what happened - until the sun rose actually. As the finale was coming - which i had no idea would be the way it was - i was literally gripping the book with both hands and holding it up to my face. I realized this and laughed to myself since i hadnt even noticed. Then - i sobbed thru the last 20 pgs - i havent cried from ANY fiction for a long time. Yes, i get into books and really let them take me away, but this book has a special kind of writing and a special story that i never expected to effect me sooo much. The author THEN does something so amazing at the very end - when i couldnt believe it could get any better. I KNEW what i wanted to happen - and i kept thinking to myself, "no, it wont - because it will just seem to corny if it does." (Even tho i wanted it so much.) She made it happen in a special way, without making it corny but while bringing me the hope and good feeling i needed after all the sobbing. (I dont want to give anything away just in case you dont know the story.) This book scores an A+. If you love good, moving, American fiction you will love this.

著者ジャスミン・ウォードは３２歳の黒人女性作家。わずか２冊目が全米図書賞を受賞して話題になった。ハリケーンカトリ―ナという題材が受賞を後押ししたとも言われる。しかし多感な１４歳の少女エッシュの性と生を描いて秀逸だ。まちがいなく読む価値がある。 エッシュの目下の悩みは妊娠だ。相手は兄の仲間マニー。男の中で育った彼女は、拒否するより受け入れる方が簡単と、求められるまま身体を許す。しかしアモラルなわけではない。真実の愛は必ずそれと知れると確信している。彼女の真実の愛とは、次兄スキータが闘犬チャイナに注ぐ慈しみの愛。しかし妊娠相手のマニーは彼女を「やらせる女」としか思わない。やがて巨大ハリケーンが一家を襲う。 黒人女性作家といえば、社会派のアリス・ウォーカーやトニ・モリソンを思い出す。彼女たちは暴力的な南部の未開を怨嗟した。しかし、この本には罵倒も否定もない。むしろ南部の若者の闘犬にかける愛や、そのためには盗みも辞さない一途さが肯定的に描かれる。都市文化に嫌気のさした読者が、今、未開の中にこそ救済を見たとして不思議ではない。 勿論著者は南部へのオマージュだけでは終わらない。彼女は登場人物の身体に傷を描き込むことで現実の暴力性を鮮明にしてみせる。マニーの頬に残る痛々しい傷跡。スキータの脇腹の血のにじむ傷。父親は作業中３本の指を切断、回想の母の手のひらにも釣り針の傷跡が残る。生きることは、身体に傷をつけることなのかもしれない。 タイトルと地名にあるsalvageとsavageは著者の好きな言葉だそうだ。一家が住むのはBoir Sauvage未開の森。その未開こそ豊饒のシンボル。その森では、放し飼いの鶏が卵を取られないによう隠すので、知らぬ間に孵化して鶏の数が増えるという。その卵を捜して、森を歩きまわる死んだ母親の姿を、エッシュは印象的に回想している

Amazing book . The writing is lyrical and difficult to put down.

Il libro è arrivato in condizioni pietose insieme ad un altro che avevo acquistato. Stracciati entrambi e bucati. Sembrava ci avessero conficcato delle forbici dentro. Due stelle e non una perché almeno dopo aver chiesto il cambio sono arrivati in condizioni normali.

I read this novel, along with nine others, for a college literature course. Of the ten, this was the only book to elicit a strong emotional reaction from me. There were moments when I hung my head in frustration, threw up my hands in respect (God bless Ward’s writing style), and wiped my face of tears and snot after crying my eyes out. An incredibly moving and poignant novel. The novel opens with its narrator Esch, fourteen years old and pregnant. She often follows her brothers around, and is constantly surrounded by men as well as the gruesome society of dog-fighting. Esch’s predominant male surrounding is, perhaps, the main influence that encourages her to sleep with her brother’s friends, and to submissively pine for the one boy, Manny, who unforgivingly mistreats her. Though Esch’s character was impeccably frustrating, and borderline stereotypical and archetypal, her faults lie with a motherless young girl, who wants to be wanted and loved. Both frustrating and annoying, this characterization was, at times, unlikable, yet that is exactly what made Esch so human. I applaud Ward’s lyrical writing style, as well her ability to write such gruesome and honest depictions that made me literally cringe when reading. Ward is able to effortlessly incorporate poetic language into her novel that, at times, made me set the book in both awe and envy, knowing I would never be able to produce such a product. I did find there to be a disconnect between the poetic language and the colloquial diction. That’s to say, I found it a bit unbelievable that Esch would speak so poorly to her family and friends, yet express herself so eloquently in her narration. Regardless, I found the poetic language to be successful and moving. I knew before reading the book that it was centered on Hurricane Katrina. However, I was surprised that the novel was centered on the build-up to the hurricane. Katrina itself is more or less twenty pages. The chapter pertaining to the hurricane, as well as the aftermath of the hurricane, were the sections of the novel that I found most captivating. Living through the hurricane with Esch and her family was difficult to read, which is perhaps why Ward chose to limit its description. That said, I wish I had more of Katrina and its aftermath. I waited for the hurricane for 200 pages, and it seemed to end as soon as it started. Though I was unsatisfied by the ending, I appreciated that the novel was a work that was not so much about Katrina as it was about survival and family. I was captivated by Ward’s poetic writing and honest characters. I will definitely be on the lookout for her other works, as well as an avid recommender of this novel.