KIN

Kin by Tayari Jones is a novel sharing stories about loss, dreams, ghosts, family, and treks. Jones writes about yard work folks and house folks and how class continues to define experiences and language.
The primary characters are Vernice and Annie. The two are close friends growing and surviving in the 1940s and 1950s of the American South.

Crackers abound with the stink of racism and sweat all round them. As Vernice and Annie navigate life they each have aunts or Grannies to provide food and shelter. The two girls become women and find love in the most colourful places. Mothers seem to appear and disappear; there is violence and neglect at play in the dusty place called home; Honeysuckle Louisiana. Atlanta Georgia pops up and the journey for the two chasing destiny takes them to dive bars, brothels, Spelman College, and a number of churches.

Jones’ writing provides clarity and beauty throughout her novel. I share the following as spoken by Vernice:
“A magnificent magnolia tree, known as the Sojourner, dropped a heavy cone bursting with ruby seeds. It grazed my shoulder and I caught it as it tumbled toward the sidewalk. As I turned the spiky cone in my palm, it seemed significant. Each seed, jewel red, nestled in its own nook, tethered by a delicate cord.” P. 152.
Such is the nature of magnolias and young women, tethered. Vernice and Annie share stories in chapters that alternate words of Vernice, then Annie. There are overlapping conversations when both are drawn together by chance, fear, love, or desperation.

KIN is a novel filled with conversations and so much that remains unsaid. I highly recommend this work and ask the reader to hear the voices and identify the ghosts. The ride in a broken-down sedan is well worth the aching backside!