willemite

A family tale set in Mississippi between the 1930’s and the 19??s

Jordan uses multiple narrators to offer varying perspectives on the happenings of the story. Laura is on the fast track to old maid-hood after her 30th birthday when she is introduced to Henry. He is smitten, and she likes him well enough. Marriage is fine with her, but when a death in the family throws long-term plans onto the scrapheap, Henry announces that in two weeks they will be moving to a remote part of Mississippi to take over a farm. It comes to be called Mudbound, for obvious reasons. The novel tells of race relations in the deepest south, offering several views of the hardships of farming life.

Two soldiers return to town from World War II in Europe. Henry’s brother Jamie is a much (19 years) younger man, charming, a pilot, damaged by his war experience, (turning to alcohol to try to smother his recent visions of war and his still-sharp recollection of a near-death experience he had as a child) and of dubious character in any case. (Is there really any there there?) He becomes friends with Ronsel Jackson, the black son of one of Henry’s tenants, a successful, handsome member of a black tank corps. He had been a hero in Germany, was accepted there and in other parts of Europe as a man, not as a black, but back home, the deep south remains the deep south and bigotry defines the limits of civilization.

This was a very fast read, a page-turner. Jordan does a nice job of slowly ramping up the tension until the climactic action. I cannot say that that action was enjoyable, per se, but it did make sense in the universe of the novel.

Jordan has given us a portrait of a particular place in a particular time, the Jim Crow deep south circa WW II. There are references to the current age, but I do not believe it to be her purpose to tell a tale of the contemporary time.

Although one might see Laura as the core of this story, I believe it is Jamie around whom everything else moves. His relationship with Laura, the up and the down, help her define her relationship with Henry and with the world. His relationship with Ronsel is crucial to the dramatic events that follow. It is in the light of his personality that others see themselves more clearly.

There is much here about being heard, who can speak, and who, ultimately, is silenced.

I have seen criticism about the use of stock characters here, and that is not without merit. Southern bigots are given only one coat of paint, as are strong black characters. Nonetheless, and in particular considering that this is a first novel, it is forgivable. This is not great literature, but offers no pretense to that. It is a fine read, well worth the ride.