Read Women discussion

This is the thread for our November Non-Fiction group read, Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward. Anita will lead our discussion.

Here's a link to Jesmyn Ward's 2013 NPR interview.

https://www.npr.org/2013/09/24/225389...

Here's also a 2017 Vulture article covering Ward's development as an author, and references each of her books, so it includes spoilers for Men We Reaped, for those who don't know its core premise.

https://www.vulture.com/2017/08/jesmy...

and my fave review - this from the NYTimes:

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/18/bo...

I read Men We Reaped last year. I am unable to re-read it because its impact is long-lasting, but I highly recommend it.

I read Men We Reaped earlier this year. It is such a powerful story and the way Ward tells it, it flows smoothly like fiction. Unfortunately the deaths of the young men were only too real. I agree that the impact is long-lasting and it is well worth a read. I won't be rereading it either, but I hope others in the group will participate.

Thank you, Carol.
Here's the goodreads blurb for the book:

...And then we heard the rain falling, and that was the drops of blood falling; and when we came to get the crops, it was dead men that we reaped.' Harriet Tubman

In five years, Jesmyn Ward lost five men in her life, to drugs, accidents, suicide, and the bad luck that can follow people who live in poverty, particularly black men. Dealing with these losses, one after another, made Jesmyn ask the question: why? And as she began to write about the experience of living through all the dying, she realized the truth--and it took her breath away. Her brother and her friends all died because of who they were and where they were from, because they lived with a history of racism and economic struggle that fostered drug addiction and the dissolution of family and relationships. Jesmyn says the answer was so obvious she felt stupid for not seeing it. But it nagged at her until she knew she had to write about her community, to write their stories and her own.

Jesmyn grew up in poverty in rural Mississippi. She writes powerfully about the pressures this brings, on the men who can do no right and the women who stand in for family in a society where the men are often absent. She bravely tells her story, revisiting the agonizing losses of her only brother and her friends. As the sole member of her family to leave home and pursue high education, she writes about this parallel American universe with the objectivity distance provides and the intimacy of utter familiarity.

I also read, Sing, Unburied, Sing and was compelled to read more Jesmyn Ward from it.

I'm joining you in this month's read, hope I'll be able to discuss it with you soon!

Kristin wrote: "Carol wrote: "Here's a link to Jesmyn Ward's 2013 NPR interview.

https://www.npr.org/2013/09/24/225389...

Here's also a 201..."

I recommend viewing them first, but, in the interest of full disclosure, that's my approach to any nonfiction or memoir or even Shakespeare. I like to have a fair amount of context before reading, and I tend to prefer understanding how book X fits into an author's body of work, too. In this instance, it leads to a fuller experience, IMO, but I can imagine that others who have a concern about "spoilers" and the like might disagree.

I hope that's helpful.

Carol wrote: "Here's a link to Jesmyn Ward's 2013 NPR interview.

https://www.npr.org/2013/09/24/225389...

Here's also a 2017 Vulture arti..."

Those were really good articles Carol, thank you. Even though I just started this book, I'm very intrigued by The Vulture's reference to her upcoming fiction "set in New Orleans at the height of the domestic slave trade."

The way the author staggers the chapters, telling her childhood stories sandwiched between chapters named in memoriam, really drives home the sadness of her losses, of the communities losses. I have to agree that this is impactful, and yet it does read very smoothly, like a fiction as Laurie said.

The book is considered a memoir, but I think that she somehow manages to objectively write about her own life in such a way that the focus is on the men around her, giving their lives the most color.

Anita wrote: "The way the author staggers the chapters, telling her childhood stories sandwiched between chapters named in memoriam, really drives home the sadness of her losses, of the communities losses. I hav..."

I agree. The organization and presentation of each man's story with Ward's own was masterful. It could have been a fail in a less talented author's hands. It also gives the reader chapters that let her catch her breath in between the ultra-sad.

Anita wrote: "Carol wrote: "Here's a link to Jesmyn Ward's 2013 NPR interview.

https://www.npr.org/2013/09/24/225389...

Here's also a 201..."

This Feb 2018 Publishers Weekly article provides a mite more flavor, excerpted below.

The as-yet-untitled adult novel, Simon & Schuster said, will take place at the peak of the American slave trade, and follows an enslaved woman sent south from the Carolinas to New Orleans, site of the country’s largest slave market. A middle-grade novel, billed as "a magical adventure with a black Southern female protagonist who possesses special powers," will follow from Dlouhy, although no publication date has been set for either work."

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...

Here's a link to a PBS newshour interview with Jesmyn Ward on Men We Reaped, this is part 2, on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/CTe2X8t60T0
The reason this stood out to me is because the interviewer asks her about the role of women, which is something I thought about while reading the book.
About halfway through the book, she finally delves into her relationship with her mom, and her mom's life before and after kids. I was really looking for it in other chapters, and wondered why it seemed like she was avoiding discussing her mom's role too deeply, but then she did.

Towards the end of the first interview segment, she discusses how the deaths of the men in her life are still connected, even though they all died in different ways.
He's a link to that also on YouTube from the PBS Newshour:
https://youtu.be/urNJGdtc1Sg

I haven't finished the book just yet (I'm very close), so I'm not sure if she explicitly discusses her views on the economical and racial structures that connect their deaths in the book. I just finished reading about the death of her brother, and the sentencing that followed. The interview ties in right here with her sentiment that society is constantly saying that their lives are worth less, that their deaths are connected by that.

Thanks so much for the PBS Newshour links Anita.
I read the book and it almost felt like a novel rather than non-fiction. I liked the approach she used to tell the stories. Jesmyn is an incredibly talented writer. I've had Salvage The Bones on my Kindle for a while but I think I will wait and do some lighter reading before I tackle that one.

I just finished reading it. I’m overwhelmed. This was my first time reading a Jesmyn Ward’s book and, oh God, how beautiful her writing style is!

I’m not American, never been there in my life but still, the struggles black people living in the Deep South experience look pretty similar to what happens in France. I don’t remember the numbers by heart but here’s too, people of color have shorter life expectancy and are neglected by scholar institution. Institutional, epidemic racism is everywhere.

I’ll definitely read the author’s interview to know more about her history. This book is a must read, thank you for this recommendation.

Holidayre wrote: "I just finished reading it. I’m overwhelmed. This was my first time reading a Jesmyn Ward’s book and, oh God, how beautiful her writing style is!

I’m not American, never been there in my life but..."

So glad you enjoyed the book! Her writing is very beautiful, and I do recommend you check out all the links above, especially the newhour interview. They're very short, I believe 5 and 3 minutes. I think it's nice to hear from the author about their own work sometimes.