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dellaposta's review against another edition
4.0
Great memoir about the author’s complicated relationship with her family and her home city of New Orleans before and after Hurricane Katrina. Broom is great company as a writer, and her book is full of sharp and poignant observations on a variety of topics.
icoltman7036's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
3.75
Strong in some parts, long winded in others. Hard to grasp what the "point" of it was. It's not fair to call it pretentious. Many passages in this book provoked thought, some made me cry. I think if it was all a little shorter (as with Baldwin, who the author clearly takes inspiration) that would have massively increased the quality of the work.
missyjohnson's review against another edition
3.0
Good memoir for someone who is still very young. Sarah has an interesting family before Katrina, The Water, and a displaced, evolving but still interesting family after The Water. The affect on Katrina for NOLA families will certainly carry on for a long time. I especially liked Ivory and her wisdom. one particular quote about Ray Nagin that I liked, "how dumb can you be an still breathe!"
This book will have me thinking about how cities and governments can look at progress without considering the people who live there nor the consequences of those actions. I will think about what it means to hold memories as a family. What is means to be "from" a place and the influence the place has on our being. When Sarah was in Burundi she said that foreignness could become a geography and a job, as could the perpetual search for a haven. Interesting book.
This book will have me thinking about how cities and governments can look at progress without considering the people who live there nor the consequences of those actions. I will think about what it means to hold memories as a family. What is means to be "from" a place and the influence the place has on our being. When Sarah was in Burundi she said that foreignness could become a geography and a job, as could the perpetual search for a haven. Interesting book.
jenniferwallini's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
A really excellent memoir that isn't just one person or even one family, but really a collection of people and places that come together to create something unique and universal all at once.
passionyoungwrites's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
5.0
The Yellow House is a memoir that gives an account of the authors family history, their hometown and the authors journey in knowing those that came before her. She weaves all of this information into this novel with extensive research, conversations and allows the readers to journey along with her.
Broom tells us of her family’s ancestry, all the way back to her maternal great - grandmother. We learn of each generation in great detail and their spouses all the way down to her own generation. Broom is the youngest of twelve children, having never met her father - he died when she was six months old.
💛
I really don’t pick up nonfiction fast, however I do enjoy stories that highlight actual people and actual events. As a memoir, The Yellow House takes you on a wild ride. Along with family history, Broom shares how her family made it through Hurricane Katrina, how they separated, and came together. It also gives us a deeper look into New Orleans from a political standpoint.
Broom also gives us an account of how the Yellow House became to be, how it had a lasting impact on her family, and how it shaped them as individuals - even when it was no longer standing.
Broom tells us of her family’s ancestry, all the way back to her maternal great - grandmother. We learn of each generation in great detail and their spouses all the way down to her own generation. Broom is the youngest of twelve children, having never met her father - he died when she was six months old.
💛
I really don’t pick up nonfiction fast, however I do enjoy stories that highlight actual people and actual events. As a memoir, The Yellow House takes you on a wild ride. Along with family history, Broom shares how her family made it through Hurricane Katrina, how they separated, and came together. It also gives us a deeper look into New Orleans from a political standpoint.
Broom also gives us an account of how the Yellow House became to be, how it had a lasting impact on her family, and how it shaped them as individuals - even when it was no longer standing.
tristan_turquoiseheart's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
tildahlia's review against another edition
4.0
I found myself appreciating this book more after a bit of distance from it, when I was better able to take it as a whole and get what it was trying to do. It was a slow and lyrical meditation on family, place and displacement without fuss or adornment. I appreciated that she resisted high drama around Katrina as I found it was ultimately more powerful to focus on the aftermath; the fragmentation of family and lost connections to home. She was incredibly evocative of New Orleans, which speaks to excellent writing skills. I loved the sections on her time in Burundi.