Mudbound | Hillary Jordan | Language and voices tell the same story

Mudbound | Hillary Jordan | Mudbound people and relationships

books:

Mudbound

	Mudbound Hillary Jordan Algonquin Books, 2008 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 36 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

In Jordan's prize-winning debut, prejudice takes many forms, both subtle and brutal. It is 1946, and city-bred Laura McAllan is trying to raise her children on her husband's Mississippi Delta farm?a place she finds foreign and frightening. In the midst of the family's struggles, two young men return from the war to work the land. Jamie McAllan, Laura's brother-in-law, is everything her husband is not?charming, handsome, and haunted by his memories of combat. Ronsel Jackson, eldest son of the black sharecroppers who live on the McAllan farm, has come home with the shine of a war hero. But no matter his bravery in defense of his country, he is still considered less than a man in the Jim Crow South. It is the unlikely friendship of these brothers-in-arms that drives this powerful novel to its inexorable conclusion.

The men and women of each family relate their versions of events and we are drawn into their lives as they become players in a tragedy on the grandest scale. As Kingsolver says of Hillary Jordan, "Her characters walked straight out of 1940s Mississippi and into the part of my brain where sympathy and anger and love reside, leaving my heart racing. They are with me still."

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Language and voices tell the same story

Hillary Jordan brings the story of Mississippi delta bigotry and honor together through the voices of her main characters. She deftly weaves each character's perspective into an intriguing tale of love, commitment, racism, and passion that speaks volumes about what humans can both inflict and endure.

Jordan's skill in capturing the nuances and tones of each character's personality makes this book a very enjoyable read. At times the characters might seem stereotypical and the plot somewhat predictable, but the novel carries the story off very well, and in the end Jordan succeeds admirably, leaving the reader with a tragic yet hopeful conclusion. Such skill requires courage to attempt and much talent to achieve, but Jordan does so brilliantly.

This is great, quick read you won't want to miss.

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Mudbound people and relationships

Hillary Jordan has written a beautiful and challenging novel about the struggle of individuals and a society to break free of their human and cultural limitations. The literary structure of telling the same story from the perspective of the different characters has become popular to the point of stale but was essential to this story. The Jackson and McAllen families have a great deal in common in terms of prejudices, hopes and fears and though there is growing insight, they are not yet able to step outside of their world view. The theme of "who has a voice and who chooses to use it" is well developed and we see clearly the problems that result when people are afraid to enter into conversation about things that matter.The only person who was not allowed to speak was Pappy ~ the man most representative of the established order was marginalized. The behaviors and beliefs of this era were never acceptable, righteous anger suppressed, and for too long people felt that the the land would never produce anything different. The events of this novel seem to have served the same purpose as the plow ~ churning up the hardened ground for the sowing of next year's crop. Though the ending was somewhat predictable and equivocal, it was consistent in its support of the ongoing interplay of circumstance and choice that each of us faces. This is an impressive debut novel that would be an excellent choice for a book club or for a student discussion.

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Compelling, gripping and tragic as fierce, brave women emerge

The story is compelling, the plot gripping but, as a woman, it is the female characters that evoked the greatest response in me. Both Laura and Florence are strongly protective of their families, work as hard or harder than the men, and yet are able to fight for (even demand) what is morally right for their children, their neighbors (of both races), and themselves. At a time when race relations after World War 2 were terrible, it is the women who fought for change, not by trying to be one of the boys, but by doing what is right. There's a lesson in this book for fundamentalist women masquerading as tomorrow's world leaders and change agents. The lesson? We can make this country a better place by first taking care of our children, our neighbors and our communities.

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Mudbound is bound for the movies

Mudbound was the best read of the summer. Well written and penetrating. I hit the middle of the book and "bam"! Stayed in my pjs till I finished it. Loved the lay out of the chapters. They were divided into the voices of each character except the grand father. A must read for anyone who loves southern novels.

A Bit Shy of Originality

Both Jordan's prose and character development in this debut novel are quite satisfying. Though, the story itself, of social injustices on a farm in the Jim Crow South, seemed "familiar" and did not explore new territory....making it a bit dull. I will look forward to reading more of Jordan's works but hope they elicit a little more creativity and originality.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

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