Salvage the Bones
By Jesmyn Ward / Narrated by Cherise Boothe
Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
Hard, harsh, beautifully written
This is the second time I’ve listened to Salvage the Bones, and I must say that I didn’t find it to be as brutal as the first listen. This is PROBABLY because I was expecting all that happened, so there were no nasty: Oh my GODs! Plus, I listened at x1.25/x1.5 speeds, which very much helped with the pacing as I felt it kind of dragged the first go-around.
Esch is a motherless 14-year old girl living in a world of men and limited options. She longs for warmth; she longs for love; she longs for strength. Even though she’s so young, she’ll give herself/her body to anyone who asks because it’s easier for her to do that than to say no. And during the book, there’s one person who makes it so that she’ll actually say no because a step away from them is one step closer to him.
But he doesn’t care for her as she cares for him and because of him, there’s a secret so heavy to bear that she aches and at times almost breaks.
There is a harshness, a brutality to Salvage the Bones that is almost impossible to bear. And maybe I should’ve mentioned it up front: If you’re a lover of animals, expect the brutality to carry over to them. There’s some pretty graphic depictions of dogfighting here. I’m an animal lover, but I know what’s what: If I don’t keep myself informed, I’m simply allowing it all to continue. But it’s not for those whose toes curl easily. China, the white pitbull, is a fighting dog. And she’ll do whatever Esch’s brother Skeetah asks of her. Sometimes it seems that the only real love in the book is between young man and dog—everybody else has so much on their plates that they don’t think of each other.
Then too, there are bad situations which become worse. Like they weren’t bad enough already? Esch’s family lives in poverty with little hope, few choices; things need to get worse?
But Ward writes that way, doesn’t she? She doesn’t pull any punches, and we the listeners are left speechless, watching suffering that exists just next door, one state, one county, one block over.
It’s beautifully written, almost amazingly so. I would, however, sometimes roll my eyes because there are soooo many similies and metaphors that the narrative almost stops flowing at times. A hurricane is like a tired child, hungry and striking out. A back is a closed door. There’s a lot; but see? It’s hard to get too crotchety about it all because look at those lines: Are they brilliant, or what?!?
Then too, Cherise Boothe narrates slowly, with pregnant ponderous pauses between lines, as though the listener isn’t going to catch the beauty of the prose without her giving us time to savor the language. Galling, yes, but easily remedied with an uptick in speed. Seriously: x1.25 or x1.5 is best.
Get ready for a rough and violent journey. But get ready for the ending too. Where after the worst has hit, after Life and Hurricane Katrina have done their damage, there is hope; there is beauty; there is the preparation for love to walk in the door.
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