Salvage the Bones

Jesmyn Ward is a survivor of the hurricane Katrine and uses her experience to portrays the hopeless of the poor rural people who couldn't evacuate because they didn't have anywhere to go.

However, this book is more about the dynamics between the members of a family in the Missisipi coast.

The beginning of the story narrates the birth of a dog's babies, very roughly and savagely. Skeeter's dog is a pitbull and he uses her to win money in fights. With these babies, he hopes to get more money and helps his older brother Randall to go to basketball camp.

The book is told from Esch's perspective, the only girl in the family. Her sex encounters with one of his brother's friend are unemotionally portrayed, and as a consequence, ahe realises she is pregnant. Her drunken, wasted father is worried about the hurricane and he is trying to prepare the family for it.

During the narration, you can see how these characters feel the empty hours of the day, Skeeter's obsession with his bitch's babies, the lack of work around the area and their impossiblity to improve their lives: the family has been poor over generations,.

The beauty of the language makes this book a jewel, making regular lives important, making the experience of  peole who are outside the mainstream the central in a world that tends to ignore them and their needs.

In an interview, Ward explins the reality of the Mississipi coast after Katrina. She claims that many people have gone away after the hurricane destroyed their homes, but they were forced to return as their impossibility to economically sustained themselves. The government's reluctancy to acknowledge these people's needs and circumstances continues, keeping them in the outskirts of society.

Ana Ovejero

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