Award-Winning Books of 2017
The biggest prizes in the book world come out
in fall. Here's the best of the best for your to-read list.
By Mark Athitakis
1 of 6
Sing, Unburied, Sing
By Jesmyn Ward
304 pages;
Scribner
A drive through the heart of Mississippi becomes a journey into the legacy
of racial violence in Ward's powerful third novel, winner of this year's
National Book Award for fiction.
Mother and son Leonie and Jojo alternately narrate the novel. Leonie has a drug
habit and devastating memories of her brother, who was killed in a racially
motivated crime. Jojo, only 13, has to act as the grown-up of the family, not
just for his neglectful mother but also for his toddler sister. Into these complex
relationships, the author weaves in a third narrator, the ghost of a black
prisoner killed decades before. Ward's style recalls Morrison and Faulkner, but
her ability to confront modern issues like addiction, policing and the prison
system creates a heartbreaking story that tells "tales we need to hear with rare clarity and power," as
Edwidge
Danticat writes.
— Mark Athitakis
Published 11/17/2017