Men We Reaped: A Memoir Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B00HJCAL9M | Format: PDF
Men We Reaped: A Memoir Description
"We saw the lightning and that was the guns; and then we heard the thunder and that was the big guns; and then we heard the rain falling and that was the blood falling; and when we came to get in the crops, it was dead men that we reaped." (Harriet Tubman)
In five years, Jesmyn Ward lost five young men in her life - to drugs, accidents, suicide, and the bad luck that can follow people who live in poverty, particularly black men. Dealing with these losses, one after another, made Jesmyn ask the question: Why? And as she began to write about the experience of living through all the dying, she realized the truth - and it took her breath away. Her brother and her friends all died because of who they were and where they were from, because they lived with a history of racism and economic struggle that fostered drug addiction and the dissolution of family and relationships. Jesmyn says the answer was so obvious she felt stupid for not seeing it. But it nagged at her until she knew she had to write about her community, to write their stories and her own.
Jesmyn grew up in poverty in rural Mississippi. She writes powerfully about the pressures this brings, on the men who can do no right and the women who stand in for family in a society where the men are often absent. She bravely tells her story, revisiting the agonizing losses of her only brother and her friends. As the sole member of her family to leave home and pursue higher education, she writes about this parallel American universe with the objectivity distance provides and the intimacy of utter familiarity.
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 8 hours and 42 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Recorded Books
- Audible.com Release Date: December 26, 2013
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00HJCAL9M
MEN WE REAPED is very well written and in a style that feels as if the author is right there with you having a conversation. The prose is beautiful, and the descriptions are vivid and make the scenes come alive.
The author revealed her life very eloquently even though her life growing up wasn't very eloquent. Jesmyn had to suffer through a premature birth, a father who wasn't true to her mother, a dog mauling, poverty, drugs, drinking, and deaths of loved ones.
The book was enlightening as well as heartbreaking to hear the narration of her life and her family's struggles.
I normally do not read memoirs, but I am glad I read this book. It is an eye opener. Thanks for writing this book, Ms. Ward.
This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review
By Silver's Reviews
I bought this book because our local newspaper ran a favorable article on the author. Additionally the idea for the memoir was interesting. However its execution was disappointing. I felt like I never got to know these men. There is no chronological progression of time making it difficult to form a picture of these men as they progressed from boyhood to early adulthood. I wanted to know more about their makeup...their character, their hopes and dream, their struggles....the basic details of a life. Instead I came away with the impression of young men who liked to drive around, take drugs, and drink. So if the author wanted me to feel compassion for these young men and their life difficulties. she failed and in the end short-changed the memories of her friends.
By Sharon A Byron
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