Salvage the Bones

Salvage the Bones
By: Jesmyn Ward

Esche is a young girl living with her family in an area of Louisiana that is about to be hit by Hurricane Katrina.  She is the only girl in a large African-American family, and has just discovered that she is pregnant.  Esche is just a teenager, about 14 yrs old, and is not prepared for life with a child.  When the book starts, we share in the birthing process that China, the dog of Esche’s brother Skeetah, is going through at the moment.  She is a fighting dog and Skeetah has bred her with another fighting dog so that he can sell the puppies for a lot of money.  Skeetah loves China and will do all that he can to protect her.  Esche sees a lot of herself in China…and identifies with the dog when it comes to her pregnancy.  Esche has spent a lot of time sleeping with other boys that live around her town, but she is in love with Manny, one of her brothers’ friends, and a boy that has little interest in her, save for sex.  Manny ends his friendship with Esche and her brothers when he takes the side of his cousin in a dog-fight against China.  He showed his true colors and that he really only cares about himself. 

Esche lost her mother when she was just 7, her mother was giving birth to Junior, Esche’s youngest brother.  Having lost her mother, Esche loses herself in books dealing with mythology and romance.  She sees herself in the roles of many goddesses, and when she is having sex, she imagines herself to be a mythological goddess that all men love.  Unfortunately, this is only in her head, and this leads to her pregnancy.  This book takes place in the time right before and when Katrina hits.  Many neighbors think that Esche’s father is crazy for boarding up the house and preparing for a hurricane, but in the end, their family is nearly destroyed when Katrina wipes away their home.  Esche and her family must start over, but she now knows that she will not be alone and that she has many people she can trust to help her.   

I picked this book from the same list that had “The Night Circus” listed on it, so I was hoping for a book that would similarly be great for my students.  However, though the book was really good, it would not be a book that I would choose for my students.  There was a lot of sex and violence within the book, and it would not have been the best to teach in class.  The underlying theme of strength is present in the character of Esche.  She has to deal with being the only girl in a very male-dominated southern home, becoming pregnant by a boy who has no interest in her, and has to survive a hurricane.  I do love the strength that she portrays, but the irresponsibility is not something that I would share with any middle-school aged student.  This book would be more appropriate for college-age students that are taking undergrad literature courses.  I did think that this book would be great for cross-curricular activities.  There is so much front-loading that could be done with the subject of Katrina, Fight-Dogs, Teen Pregnancy, and the aftermath of a catastrophic storm.