Ward (Jesmyn)

So what to make of the turn toward the mystical and magical in the third "movement" of Jssmyn Ward's Sing, Unburied, Sing? It's her novel and obviously the inclusion of ghosts (who speak and appear to some characters and not to others), visions of totems such as a white snake, knowledge of mysterious healing herbs and roots (again, a gift some have and others don't) is important to her as a writer and as a chronicler of life in black communities in the Deep South. But I can't help but feel that the mysticism that predominates at the end of the novel is a narrative alright of hand. To take the main example, the ghost of Richie appearing to learn at last how and why Riv aka Pops abandoned him at parchman prison decades before. In my view it would be a more powerful narrative has Pops confessed all to grandson Jojo- it would be a human story, emotional, rather than the confusing mishmash of voices and symbols. Resorting to mysticism can be a narrative copout, tho I don't think that's the case w Ward, for whom the mystical and communication w other worlds and belief in the gift of communion w spirits is central to her work, to her understanding of life in the community she depicts. You have to take her writing as a whole - tho I do wish she'd have more trust in her characters: she does a great job up to a point in having them narrate their own stories, but once she starts having them communicate w ghosts and spirits she lets go of the reins: once you rely on mysticism the narrative is unbridled, it can go anywhere, and it seems too easy a way to wrap loose plot strands. Why not more dramatic face-to-face confrontations like Michael confronting his racist father? That should be the source of the conclusion of this novel - family reconciliation despite tragedy and bigotry - rather than the expiation induced by a ghost.

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