I came across Jesmyn Ward looking at the Wikipedia page of National Book Award winners for things to add to my reading list. I had never heard of her before; Liz tells me I am extremely out of the loop. But this book was a great story, and a quick and easy read. Sad, but great. The narration tells one linear story, but alternates perspectives between two of the characters; I thought this was done really well.

I want to read more stories like this, although I’m not quite sure what genre this is - generational stories about black families in the United States? The closest thing I can think of that I’ve read before was Long Division by Kiese Laymon. Things that happened 150, 100, or even 50 years ago seem so far away to me, but stories like this, told this way, help me understand how we inherit our past, and help me make sense of why things are the way they are now. That’s all very vague - I’m nervous to make too concrete of insight from a story that’s so different from my experience. But it was a great, new type of read for me.