Salvage the Bones
American novelist, born 1977. Won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2011 and 2017.
Salvage the Bones is a 2011 novel by Jesmyn Ward. It won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2011.
In family saga, Black American
On 2 of the 15 lists it was eligible for.
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At a glance
- Author
- Jesmyn Ward
- First published
- 2011
- Length
- 272 pages (UK paperback)
- Awards
- National Book Award for Fiction winner, 2011
- Genre
- Literary fiction, Black American, Family saga, Class and society
Is Salvage the Bones worth reading?
2 of the 15 best-of lists it could have made include it: the National Book Award for Fiction and The 100 best books of the 21st century (The New York Times).
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| National Book Award for Fiction (winners and finalists) (National Book Foundation, 2011) | Winner | See the list |
| The 100 best books of the 21st century (The New York Times, 2024) | No. 33 | See the list |
Best edition of Salvage the Bones
The edition we link to is the Bloomsbury Publishing paperback (2017), 272 pages.
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing (paperback, 2017)
- Pages
- 272
- ISBN
- 9781408897720
How critics, prizes and readers rate Salvage the Bones
Prize juries and critics rate it about equally: it earned 25% on prize lists and 22% on critics' lists, against 0% on readers' and booksellers' lists.
Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work
Books like Salvage the Bones
If you liked Salvage the Bones, try Sing, Unburied, Sing.
