“Salvage the Bones” is an intense book, with powerful, direct prose that dips into poetic metaphor. The result, this year, was that an under-the-radar second novel rose to the top of the pack. In the case of the National Book Awards, five judges read 315 fiction submissions in a small window of time and choose their favorite. While major film and music awards are based on the votes of a large group - meaning there is a general consensus or popularity - book awards are frequently selected by just a few people. Now, however, this novel about a poor Mississippi family in the weeks leading up to 2005’s Hurricane Katrina has a prominent place in bookstores and boasts the gold medallion that comes with winning the 2011 National Book Award.īook awards are marvelously idiosyncratic. If it had not caught the attention of a handful of important readers, Jesmyn Ward’s “Salvage the Bones” would most likely have quietly faded into obscurity many worthy books do.
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