First published in 2008; reprint edition published by Scribner on January 16, 2018
Where the Line Bleeds is Jesmyn Ward’s first novel, and the first of three that are set in Bois Sauvage, Mississippi. Like the generations before them, Joshua and Christophe DeLisle have grown up in Bois Sauvage. Their mother left her twins when they were five to search for a better life in Atlanta, but she shows up occasionally to add a dysfunctional element to the family story. The twins haven’t seen much of their drug-addicted father, but he’s released from prison and makes a sudden appearance midway through the novel. The twins still live with their grandmother, Ma-Mee, and they have no plan to leave the only place that feels like home.
Joshua and Christophe graduate in the summer of 2005 and begin to look for work, applying at fast food restaurants and Wal-Mart and Piggly Wiggly. When Joshua gets a job at the docks and Christophe doesn’t, Christophe faces a difficult choice about his future.
Some of the novel’s dramatic tension comes from the relationship that the twins have with the father and mother, but most of the story’s interest results from uncertainty about the twins’ ability to remain close to each other as they confront their individual problems. Issues of conflict involve a woman who seems to take an interest in both brothers, and a well-meaning cousin who helps Christophe earn money in a way that displeases Joshua.
Issues of race lurk in the background (faded David Duke signs send a deliberate message to blacks about the racist intent of property owners), but the novel is not explicitly about race. It is about the strength of family ties as two young men struggle with hardship and other issues, some financial and others familial. Where the Line Bleeds is also about survival. Both Joshua and Christophe are challenged in many ways following their graduation. How they deal with those challenges will determine whether their lives move forward.
Dialect and atmospheric descriptions of food and music create a strong sense of culture and place. Jesmyn Ward’s prose is smooth and graceful, but not flashy. She avoids literary trickery and lets the story tell itself. The novel derives its power from its simplicity. The truth it tells about family as a counterweight to poverty and hate is timeless.
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