50bookchallenge, 15000pages
Book #105 -- Mikel Schaeffer, Lost in Katrina, 365 pages.
As a departure from most Katrina books, which focus on New Orleans, this book examines the equally tragic events that took place in St. Bernard Parish. St. Bernard Parish, for those unfamiliar with Louisiana geography, is immediately east and south of New Orleans. The Parish seat of Chalmette is less than 10 miles from New Orleans proper. Because St. Bernard is primarily rural, it did not get the media attention afforded to New Orleans, but the destruction there was at least as devastating, and in places even moreso, than that of New Orleans. St. Bernard is also where the now notorious St. Rita's Nursing Home was located. The nursing home's decision not to evacuate lead to the deaths of more than half of their 60 residents. This story, and many many others, are told in Lost in Katrina primarily through the narratives of dozens of individual residents. Although the narratives are told in third-person, a plethora of direct and indirect quotes brings out the unique voice of each individual, painting an intimate picture of the residents of St. Bernard and the horrors they faced during the storm and its aftermath.
The main drawback to this style of narrative, however, is that there are so many people mentioned that they are hard to keep straight. The book attempts to keep the narratives chronological, with each chapter subtitled with a date from Sunday, August 28, 2006, the day before Katrina made landfall, to Saturday, September 3, seven days later, and the day by which, finally, the vast majority of residents who survived had been evacuated. While the chronological order allows the reader to get a sense of the time scale of the tragedy, it has the side effect of confusing the flow of the individual narratives, in that the author is constantly skipping from person to person and back again as he tries to tell multiple stories at once. The constant parade of names, most of whom are introduced only once and thereafter merely mentioned by name, without a reminder of who they are and what their story is when it is picked back up again. The index is in this case invaluable, as it is nothing more than a list of names and the pages in which their story is told, allowing one to quickly flip back to previous sections and refresh one's memory on just who each of these people are.
Narrative difficulties aside, this is a personal and poignant account of a section of the population whose stories have been largely overlooked by both the media and the other Katrina-related books. For that reason alone it is an extremely worthwhile contribution to the body of Katrina literature.
Progress toward goals: 309/366 = 84.4%
Books: 105/150 = 70.0%
Pages: 28011/50000 = 56.0%
2008 Book List
cross-posted to 15000pages, 50bookchallenge, and gwynraven
As a departure from most Katrina books, which focus on New Orleans, this book examines the equally tragic events that took place in St. Bernard Parish. St. Bernard Parish, for those unfamiliar with Louisiana geography, is immediately east and south of New Orleans. The Parish seat of Chalmette is less than 10 miles from New Orleans proper. Because St. Bernard is primarily rural, it did not get the media attention afforded to New Orleans, but the destruction there was at least as devastating, and in places even moreso, than that of New Orleans. St. Bernard is also where the now notorious St. Rita's Nursing Home was located. The nursing home's decision not to evacuate lead to the deaths of more than half of their 60 residents. This story, and many many others, are told in Lost in Katrina primarily through the narratives of dozens of individual residents. Although the narratives are told in third-person, a plethora of direct and indirect quotes brings out the unique voice of each individual, painting an intimate picture of the residents of St. Bernard and the horrors they faced during the storm and its aftermath.
The main drawback to this style of narrative, however, is that there are so many people mentioned that they are hard to keep straight. The book attempts to keep the narratives chronological, with each chapter subtitled with a date from Sunday, August 28, 2006, the day before Katrina made landfall, to Saturday, September 3, seven days later, and the day by which, finally, the vast majority of residents who survived had been evacuated. While the chronological order allows the reader to get a sense of the time scale of the tragedy, it has the side effect of confusing the flow of the individual narratives, in that the author is constantly skipping from person to person and back again as he tries to tell multiple stories at once. The constant parade of names, most of whom are introduced only once and thereafter merely mentioned by name, without a reminder of who they are and what their story is when it is picked back up again. The index is in this case invaluable, as it is nothing more than a list of names and the pages in which their story is told, allowing one to quickly flip back to previous sections and refresh one's memory on just who each of these people are.
Narrative difficulties aside, this is a personal and poignant account of a section of the population whose stories have been largely overlooked by both the media and the other Katrina-related books. For that reason alone it is an extremely worthwhile contribution to the body of Katrina literature.
Progress toward goals: 309/366 = 84.4%
Books: 105/150 = 70.0%
Pages: 28011/50000 = 56.0%
2008 Book List
cross-posted to 15000pages, 50bookchallenge, and gwynraven