Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward captures a poverty stricken families’ life as they prepare for Hurricane Katrina. Esch, 15 years old finds out that she is pregnant at such a young age, lives a life of promiscuous behavior by giving herself away to too many young boys in her brother’s circle of friends. She attempts to keep her pregnancy a secret despite the signs of pregnancy—morning sickness, sensitivity to smells and taste. With no true guidance, parenting, and role modeling, Esch reminisces when her mother was still alive. Her mother is dead; her father an alcoholic, Skeetah, her brother places all his nurturing attention to his pitbull, China, as she gives birth to puppies.

Jesmyn Ward entices the reader with her descriptive detail and use of imagery as she depicts the flaws of a family, and illustrates the struggle of a family living the day to day hardships of poverty, and the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s path of destruction.

Ward allows the readers to connect with the overarching theme of how all walks of life are similar; we struggle with love, loyalty, fear and loneliness. There were parts that I found pretty intense, brutal, and painful to read; however, I was spellbound…I couldn't stop. As Katrina came closer, the intensity of the character’s experiences increased.

 
Jasmyn Ward surely did not sugar coat her book. Because of the content, rawness, and brutality of the book I personally would not have this book as part of my class library. Although it is geared more to high school, I would still be very cautious in freely allowing students to read it. For me personally, this is more for 11^th-12^th grade and college student good reads.