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| Author Jesmyn Ward |
Ward, Jesmyn. (2011). Salvage
the bones. New York: Bloomsbury.
“She said there would never be another like Camille,
and if there was, she didn’t want to see it” (p. 218). But another is coming and her name is
Katrina. Esch Batiste lives in Mississippi
with her father and three brothers, a family struggling to thrive in the poorest
parts of the Gulf region, a family bound by love and forged by the memory of a
dead wife and mother. Esch is fifteen
and as the only girl, she is both protected and beloved by her brothers. Randall, the oldest at seventeen, hopes for a
basketball scholarship and spends his time shooting hoops and perfecting his
jump shot with his friends. Skeetah, sixteen,
focuses on his pit bull, China. She has
delivered her first litter of puppies and if they survive, Skeet can sell them
for $800 apiece. Junior is the baby
whose conception was “a happy accident” (p 217) but whose delivery resulted in
the death of his mama. He is seven, a
pesky nuisance in search of security and assurance. Esch loves poetry and mythology; she is
athletic and can run faster than any of the boys. She loves Manny, a golden skinned Adonis who
lives nearby—Randall’s best friend and basketball partner. Esch carries a heavy burden for a young girl
as the surrogate mother for Junior, the confidante for Skeet, the cheerleader
for Randall. She must placate their
father who has lost himself in the liquor since the death of their mother. She must face the reality that she is
pregnant.
Salvage the Bones occurs over twelve
days that both precede Katrina and are her aftermath. Each chapter focuses on one day and one
aspect of Esch’s life in Bois Sauvage, a fictional coastal town in Mississippi. The Batiste family dynamics are at the core
of the story; Esch is a brilliant protagonist, honest with herself and
realistic in her expectations yet young and innocent enough to dare to
dream. As the story unfolds, Skeetah’s
dog China and her puppies struggle to survive against the threat of
parvo-virus, worms and malnutrition, all easily rectified with proper
veterinary care and money—which Skeetah doesn’t have. At the same time, Esch and her brothers’
lives are threatened by the same poverty and lack of essentials. Their food is supplemented by the eggs Esch
and Junior can find in the woods and by the squirrels Skeet can shoot with his
gun. They scrounge supplies from the
disintegrating old home of their grandparents, now dead and buried. As Katrina approaches, their lives are lived
in the manner of children, centered on the present time and in their own
battles. For Esch, that means the
reality of the changes that are occurring in her body and the new hunger that
compels her to sneak food and to hide her morning sickness. For Skeet, the present is all about China and
her litter; for Randall it is the time to display his basketball skills to a
visiting scout. As the present begins to
collide with the future, the children confront the realities of their situation
and band together to survive. Their
father directs the hurricane preparation and they get ready for whatever awaits
them. When the house begins to shift off
its foundation, the family, huddled in the attic against the rising water, must
abandon their refuge and go into the storm itself.
“It is
terrible. It is the flailing wind that
lashes like an extension cord used as a beating belt. It is the rain, which stings like stones,
which drives into our eyes and bids them shut.
It is the water, swirling and gathering and spreading on all sides,
brown with an undercurrent of red to it, the clay of the Pit like a cut that
won’t stop leaking” (p 230-1).
When
Esch and her family emerge from Katrina, they are grateful to be alive and very
aware of the thin line between life and death.
China, ripped from Skeetah’s arms as they entered the storm, was last
seen swimming furiously for high ground.
The puppies are drowned, the Batiste home flooded and now encased with
mud and debris. Esch knows that Manny,
the father of her unborn child, will never love her and will never stand with
her against the maelstrom that is her life as her brothers and father have
done. Yet she knows she will survive
with her child and that she is not alone.
Salvage the Bones won the 2011 National Book
Award. The prose in this novel is beautiful
but could be daunting for younger or less experienced readers. The Batiste family is very genuine and their
language style and vocabulary are authentic.
The profanity is not excessive or extreme but rather an essential aspect
of the story. Esch is very aware of her
sexuality and enjoys that side of being a female; there are several scenes in
which she and Manny are engaged in sex and others that are remembered in Esch’s
mind. This novel is best read by High
School students and older due to mature themes and descriptions of violence in
the dog fighting sequences.
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