Oh wow where do I start. Jesmyn Ward is an incredible writer. Her upbringing, being the only minority in the face of institutions, constantly being the exception, was something I related to sooooo heavily.. All of the young men in her life she described felt so real, like I really knew them. Cultural aspects like pictures on shirts for funerals, repasts..I knew ALL too well. It really spoke to me and I loved loved loved the realness of the familiarity. She isn’t just breathing life to these 5 men’s stories but literally every other black man who died by unfortunate circumstances with such similar circumstances, backed into similar corners. She does justice by giving these men a story, immortalizing them for the few pages we’ll know them by. The relationship and understanding why her mother was the way she was… so good… I enjoyed the way this story was formatted with aspects of Louisiana and Southern history/ family stories, with stories of another man being loved and then lost folded in between. This was such a good read, it took a while to get through it from all the emotions that come with understanding stories like this but it’s something I’m so so thankful for reading. ♡