Salvage The Bones Chapter Analysis

Salvage the Bones and Peace like a River are both very unique novels. Salvage the Bones, by Jesmyn Ward, is about Esch and her family getting ready for a hurricane, while also facing other personal challenges. Peace like a River, by Leif Enger, is about Reuben Land and his family trying to find his brother, Davy, while also being the only witness to his dad’s miraculous events. There are plenty of aspects that I liked about the books, however, there are also many parts that I disliked. There are many features in Salvage the Bones that I liked, for instance, the excellent use of details that provided a clear picture for me. In chapter one, Esch had a flashback of China and thought, “When she was a big-headed pit bull puppy, she stole all the
Some of my favorite parts of Peace like a River were when Swede’s poems would be included. I loved to read her poem “Sunny Sundown Delivers the Payroll”, so I was hooked from the first line which was, “The men who worked the Redtail Mine were fed up with the boss…” (26). Besides the poetry, I also really liked how loyal Reuben was to his family. Reuben said, “Don’t misunderstand, I backed my brother all the way” (248). Even throughout all of the wrong choices that Davy chose, Reuben was always there to back him up. He would also always back up his dad and Swede if needed. Although I really liked this book, there were some parts that I didn’t like. One of the things that I did not like about this book is that I would get confused at times when talking about his dad’s miracles. For instance, he said,“I waded ashore with measureless relief” (300), which got me very confused on what was going on. Another part that bothered me about the book was that fact that Waltzer was never caught. In the final chapter, Reuben shares, “You should know that Jape Waltzer proved as uncatchable as Swede’s own Valdez” (309). I hate how he was pretty much the cause of Jeremiah Land’s death, but never got