Jesmyn Ward wove the lives of the American poor of two different generations into one beautiful and raw story that will stick in my head for a long time. Ward uses the first person perspective in a shudderingly realistic way using idiom and reflection of voice, and vivid imagery of the environment and character emotion. While I did read this book for school, I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. However, I did find some of the parts to be a little winding and lethargic, and had a bad habit of skipping over some key details. It's very important for a reader to really read every part of Ward's tale, because missing even half a page will make you confused later on. (While most books are, of course, intended to be read for every word, but sometimes a word or page or two just goes in one eye and out the other. However with this book in particular, it is important to keep those little skips in reading to a minimum.)