I‘m looking forward to reading others by Jesmyn Ward. Her prose is beautiful, and her characters are provocative. I loved the structure - counting down the ten days prior to Hurricane Katrina - and Ward‘s main character, Esch, is richly drawn.

I enjoyed this book. It was very sad, hearing about the author‘s life as a child growing up in an unstable environment. I loved his grandmother; she‘s a fully drawn character who surprised me page after page. I also liked his reasoning for the turn of “hillbillies” from the Democratic to the Republican party. The story towards the end got choppy, and I questioned some of his narrative choices, but overall, I enjoyed this book.

Just finished teaching this book for the first time, and I enjoyed teaching it as much as I enjoyed reading it. “Hell is the absence of people you long for.”