This is poetry written in a novel form. It is literary fiction and magical realism. There’s elements of southern gothicsm. This is culture in the deep south. It is a beautifully written and takes you into the deep bayou of the south.

I loved Jojo. I love his relationship with Pop (maternal GF) and kayla (little sister). He was very protective of, Kayla, Pop, and Mam (maternal GM). He no longer considered his birth mama his mother but called her Leonie and his father, Michael. It started when she left him both physically and emotionally and he cut himself on a can. This symbolized her disconnect with him as a mother. She always put herself first, even when her children were hungry, she buys herself food and a drink and keeps the chain. The father is just the same, as destructive and unable to be a father. Neither of them stand up for Jojo when he got handcuffed and the gun was out pointed at his 13 year old head. He was just a child and no one stood up for him. The kids are always an afterthought.

The story became too lyrical for me. You can’t but submerge yourself in her imagery but it could get a bit much. Especially towards the end when something is happening with one of the characters, it just would not stop. There were words upon words and I got distracted by everything but the book and found myself skimming. I really needed her to get to the point.

I did not relate to Leonie but I didn’t hate her. I sympathized with her and like Jojo, ther were times I would think “this is it, she’s going to show them love and compassion…” but in the end even Mam said it “She ain’t never going to feed you.” I was disappointed by her character development. First of all, it was unbelievable that a drug addict that acts like a child with a temper and impatience can have such beautiful well articulated thoughts in her mind but when she spits out her words, she sounds so cruel and unappealing. In the end, when I was still rooting for her…she failed me. And seems like everyone else has failed her too.

3 POVs. I would have preferred if it was POV of Jojo, Leonie and another person such as Pop. It was really difficult to follow the ghosts perspective with so much imagery, and the descriptionso would go on and on.

It was anticlimactic although there were some devastating answers to some questions. The book does not end with healing but leaves the some wounds wide open. This must be what the author is trying to convey what life can be like in the deep Mississippi ,that it doesn’t always get better. There’s not always answers and you just go on with life…..

“Sometimes, the world don’t give you what you need, no matter how hard you look. Sometimes, it withholds.”