They heard it on the radio. A hurricane is coming, threatening the town of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi. Esch's hard-drinking father can feel it in his bones. Esch and her brothers are trying to help prepare, but there are other worries too. Skeetah is watching his prized pit bull, helpless as her new litter dies one by one. Randall, when not preoccupied with basketball, is busy looking after the youngest, Junior. And Esch, fifteen and motherless among men, has just realized that she's pregnant. The children of this family have always been short of nurture, but they are fiercely loyal to one another. It is together that they will face building storm- and the day that will dawn after.
They heard it on the radio. A hurricane is coming, threatening the town of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi. Esch's hard-drinking father can feel it in his bones. Esch and her brothers are trying to help prepare, but there are other worries too. Skeetah is watching his prized pit bull, helpless as her new litter dies one by one. Randall, when not preoccupied with basketball, is busy looking after the youngest, Junior. And Esch, fifteen and motherless among men, has just realized that she's pregnant. The children of this family have always been short of nurture, but they are fiercely loyal to one another. It is together that they will face building storm- and the day that will dawn after.
Tough but good. Just check trigger warnings before starting.
4 stars
This was a bit of a rough read for me due to the dog fights, but Ward has such a way with describing her characters and their emotions/thoughts. I would recommend this one because it really pulled me in and had me rooting for the family when Katrina was rolling in. But just make sure you're in a place to handle the animal violence/gore and the not-so-happy events that occur.
This was a bit of a rough read for me due to the dog fights, but Ward has such a way with describing her characters and their emotions/thoughts. I would recommend this one because it really pulled me in and had me rooting for the family when Katrina was rolling in. But just make sure you're in a place to handle the animal violence/gore and the not-so-happy events that occur.
Salvage the Bones is a beautifully written, harrowing story of the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina, told by the teenage Esch. Her widowed father is feebly attempting to prepare for the hurricane and is virtually ignored by his children, who are absorbed in their own pursuits: Randall with basketball (which may give him with opportunities that don’t otherwise exist); Skeetah with his dog, China (whom he loves without measure and who seems to love him back); Junior with his need for physical contact and affection; and Esch, who has just learned that she’s pregnant.
Esch longs for the love of her baby daddy (a friend of one of her brothers) even though he is clearly a jerk. She (and her brothers) long for the love of their mother. They try to recall things she has taught them and told them. Skeetah has already forgotten what her voice sounds like. …
Salvage the Bones is a beautifully written, harrowing story of the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina, told by the teenage Esch. Her widowed father is feebly attempting to prepare for the hurricane and is virtually ignored by his children, who are absorbed in their own pursuits: Randall with basketball (which may give him with opportunities that don’t otherwise exist); Skeetah with his dog, China (whom he loves without measure and who seems to love him back); Junior with his need for physical contact and affection; and Esch, who has just learned that she’s pregnant.
Esch longs for the love of her baby daddy (a friend of one of her brothers) even though he is clearly a jerk. She (and her brothers) long for the love of their mother. They try to recall things she has taught them and told them. Skeetah has already forgotten what her voice sounds like. Junior never knew her.
The only actual “mother” in the story is China, who has just given birth to her first litter. But don’t think that she’s portrayed as the angelic mother figure. There's a depiction of a dogfight that was horrific to read, as was another gasp-inducing event involving China.
The family survives Katrina (no spoiler here; the final chapter is titled “Alive”). Although this is a work of fiction, it gives us a view to what it was like inside those houses that we saw on TV in 2005. As grim as the circumstances are, Esch shows us the calm after the storm. Loyalty and hope win out.
* * * * * * * *
I have a teensy-tiny quibble with some of the author's metaphors. In chapter 4 she tells us that the dog's bark was "like a shovel dragged along asphalt wearing away to stones." Later, in chapter 12, Skeetah’s "voice sounded like a rake being dragged over rocks". The first quote was poetic; the second felt like a retread.
