MUDBOUND

MUDBOUND by Hillary Jordan

From the back of the book:

Sometimes it's necessary to do wrong.  Sometimes it's the only way to make things right.


In this award-winning portrait of two families caught up in the blind hatred of a small Southern town, prejudice takes many forms - some subtle, some ruthless.  Mudbound is the saga of the McAllan family, who struggle to survive on a remote ramshackle farm, and the Jacksons, their black sharecroppers.  When two sons return from World War II to work the land, the unlikely friendship between these brothers-in-arms - one white, one black - arouses the passions of their neighbors.  As the men and women of each family tell their version of events, we are drawn into their lives.  Striving for love and honor in a brutal time and place, they become players in a tragedy on the grandest scale and find redemption where they least expect it.

I had read a lot of good reviews of this book, and it definitely lived up to them.  I loved how each chapter was told from a different character's viewpoint.

The book began with the digging of a grave with a hint of an unnatural death.  The remainder of the book told the story leading up to this point.  Not having lived in the South during the time of segregation, it was hard to read about the poor treatment of blacks - having to enter and leave stores by the back door, not being able to ride in a car with white people among other things.  This book was an eye-opener for me; I know racism still exists in this country, but I hope it never returns to this degree of hatred.