WINNER OF THE BELLWETHER PRIZE FOR FICTION
Mudbound by Hillary Jordan (Book Review)
This debut novel Mudbound has rightly won many literary awards and praises from literary critics. It is published by Windmill and its ISBN is 0099524686. The book begins with a grave scene and each character tells in their own voice the story of how they arrived at the pitiless burial of their father. The farm Mudbound is situated in Delta in the US in 1946 at the end of World War 11 and deals with family dynamics and racism. Two heroes Jamie and Ronsel return from war with their own scars but face their own battles on homeland. The two brothers in arms form a friendship based on mutual respect for fighting for their country. But in a small and bigoted rural land the black man Ronsel is delegated to a boy and is segregated from the whites. The two ignore orders to stop mixing and there are terrible consequences. Both families’ lives are changed forever. “Sometimes it is necessary to do wrong, sometimes it is the only way to make things right.”There are sad and disturbing accounts of violence and racism but it needs to be said and said loudly to learn from past mistakes, we all are equal. It is a sad recall of a time past of racialism and war and how it can have devastating and lasting harm on people. It is a sad but beautiful portrayal of many characters points of view white and black, male and female. Each in their own voice tell their own tale. I highly recommend this tale. Reviewed by Annette Dunlea author of Always and Forever and The Honey Trap.
Book Trailer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S3AFk... ( )

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan was an exquisite piece of modern Southern literature. In her debut novel, Jordan crafted a story of family, race and farm life set in 1940’s Mississippi. Heart-wrenching, Mudbound will leave any reader stunned by the tragedy of the American South from not too long ago.

The book has several narrators: Laura, a Memphis belle who reluctantly moved to her husband’s farm; Henry, her husband who loved his farm more than anything; Hap, one of Henry’s tenants; and his wife Florence, a superstitious midwife who could smell trouble a mile away. Added to this mix were Jamey and Ronsel – veterans who came home with a restlessness that could not be resolved on the farm.

At the root of this story was the racial injustice prevalent in the 1940’s South. Hap, Florence and Ronsel experience racism every day of their lives– from deferring to their white neighbors to using the back door at the local store. Ronsel, after fighting for his country, could not readjust to the white-centric society. After discovering he fathered a child with a woman in Germany, Ronsel realized that the time to go was now.

However, the white people of this farming community had a different plan for Ronsel, who they found uppity and disrespectful. I don’t want to give away too much, but Ronsel’s ordeal was heart-breaking. He was a character I was rooting for, and I was disgusted with how he was treated by others.

Jordan’s characterization was spot-on. There were characters you loved, ones you felt sorry for and others you hated. It saddens me that racism is part of Southern history, but I believe it’s important to read stories, such as Mudbound, to remind ourselves about this struggle for equality. I highly recommend Mudbound to Southern book lovers everywhere. ( )

Too many stories. Started with interesting perspective on post-WWII generation of housewives and following husband’s dictates and dreams, but cluttered with (albeit interesting) issues of returning vets, racial trauma. ( )

A story of "rage and lust, of recklessness and selfishness and betrayal" in the Mississippi Delta of the 1940s. The book, which builds towards a climax which we know from the start is going to be tragic, describes the interlinked stories of two families - one being a dull but dependable farmer, his city-bred wife, his cantankerous father and flighty brother, and the other one of their tenant farmers - a black family whose son has just returned, highly decorated, from fighting in Europe. I bought this on the strength of the Barbara Kingsolver puff on its cover, and like The Poisonwood Bible one of its strengths was the sympathy it had for its characters - each one took turns in narrating, which helped the reader to understand the motivations of each one. I particularly liked the character of Florence, the clear-sighted, no-nonsense wife and mother of the tenant farmer family. The weakness of the book was that it didn't feel very original - each element of the story was familiar to me from any number of other books - and so it was a little predictable. ( )

It’s hard to say that I loved a book that deals with such tough subject matter as prejudice, hatred, and violence but when the author is so skilled in evoking emotion, you gotta love it.

When Laura McAllen’s husband Henry drops the bombshell on her that they are leaving her city home and all of her family behind and moving to the Mississippi Delta in a week, I was angry at his lack of consideration for her feelings and sympathetic to Laura and her difficulty in adapting. I’m not sure I could go from having a shower in my home to bathing once a week and then having it be such a chore that it is turned into something that must be done rather than an enjoyment.

The profiles of the racism and prejudice are difficult but they are moving. It’s a sad journey back into our past where these events took place but, as with other painful historical facts, it is necessary to revisit them to keep the memories alive so that the learning continues.

I was really drawn in by Mudbound, much more than I expected to be. I would recommend this to lovers of historical and/or southern fiction. There are also WWII elements to this story but they are played out to a lesser extent. ( )