Men We Reaped
Men We Reaped is a very good, very difficult book. It will break your heart without offering any hope or comfort. There are no solutions to the problems presented here, just hope that knowledge of the problems might lead to change. Over the course of five years, Jesmyn Ward lost 5 of her friends and family members. They were killed by drugs and guns, by drunk drivers and personal demons. They were killed, ultimately by a nameless, faceless "they", a society that couldn't be bothered to care whether they lived or died. Ward approaches the story from two directions. She presents the deaths in reverse chronological order, alternating with chapters of her childhood in Mississippi. This structure allows her to build to the heart of her grief: the death of her brother when he was 19 years old. Killed by a drunk driver who ultimately served 5 months in jail for fleeing the scene. The structure lends itself very well to the story. As the deaths advance back in time, Ward b...