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Men We Reaped: A Memoir (2013)

by Jesmyn Ward(Favorite Author)

3.98 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

160819521X (ISBN13: 9781608195213)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Bloomsbury USA

review 1: I've been reading a lot of books lately about race in America. It's important I think to do so. Far as we've come since I was a child, it's not far enough and the central issue is poverty. In the case of Ward's subjects it's rural poverty. I was reminded of times of "Praying for Sheetrock" which was more political. And though Ward's point is race and racism and gender roles and feelings of worthlessness, I was reminded of other books like "Methland" and even one about rural New Mexico. Race is a way of cutting people from the pie, but I think at this point in history a large part of the problem is the idea of the pie and what it's become. Poverty is the underlying root of the evil, across races. The loss of jobs that provide a living wage to the lower middle class. Some ... moredignity. So guys like Josh and C.J. And others drift and deal and the dreams they harbor seem impossible to reach. When are we going to wake up and realize trickle down doesn't work? Okay - I think you can tell my roots are union and I think Lyndon Johnson's efforts with the War on Poverty and civil rights were steps in the right direction. That Reagan was not the great communicator but the great fraud. I liked Ward's book, it is personal and real and makes the consequences of attitude come to life. I see it as a useful book to be part of a bigger curriculum. But I want the more political aspects addressed too.
review 2: This was a difficult book to read. A heart-breaking story of the deaths of five young men either related to, or friends of, the author. As she tries to make sense of their deaths, she interweaves their stories with her own biography. Her conclusion is that being poor and black in rural Mississippi condemns young men to a life of poverty with limited choices, leading many of them to make bad decisions. I found the reverse chronological order of the deaths of the young men confusing and had to re-read their stories in order to understand the buildup of the author's grief and rage. Also, as two of the deaths were automobile accidents, that seems to belie her thesis that all the deaths were caused because they were poor and black. However, reading this book at the time of Michael Brown's killing in Ferguson, Missouri, was indeed painful, and gives credence to her story. less

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