Looking for something fun and uplifting during this difficult time? Then look elsewhere. While this is a beautifully written novel, it is sometimes hard to read for the portrayal of race and poverty and addiction in a family in rural Mississippi. Jojo is a young boy who narrates most of the chapters, but his mother who is an addict and qualifies as the worst mother ever writes some of the others. Jojo, his mother, and his baby sister all pile into a car (along with his mother's white girlfriend) and head to Parchman Prison to pick up Michael, Jojo's father. It seems almost half of this book takes place inside of this car. I won't go into the details, but the author puts the reader on this ride and you truly feel you are with them. It's incredibly written.
My only complaint is that there are several ghosts in the book. I can believe in spirits, but these ghosts kind of get in the way of the rest of the book. I found myself anxious for them to move on.
So summing it all up - addiction, abuse, death, ghosts, more death, racial tension. Yes. But still a great book. - June
