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moonpiegeorge's review against another edition
4.0
Good read, this book really gives you a sense of what it must have been like to survive hurrican katrina.
branchingoutinjax's review against another edition
5.0
I don’t even know where to begin with how much this book absolutely enveloped me. I couldn’t put it down. It is quite a bit outdated now, as of my reading in 2020, so I’m curious to do a little online research to see how St. Bernard Parish has recovered. When it came time for my book challenges this year, one of the prompts was to read a book about a natural disaster and educating myself more on the effects of Hurricane Katrina, especially on the bayou country, became apparent. Ken Wells, being a native of Louisiana and the bayou country himself, told the stories of the residents of St. Bernard Parish beautifully.
I owe my interest in reading it to a dear and surviving person in my life who evacuated his hometown in Mississippi and came back to it utterly devastated by Hurricane Katrina. We’ve had many conversations surrounding what he saw, what the coastal communities in Mississippi and Louisiana endured, why and how some people wouldn’t or couldn’t leave, and of the outside/federal influences which made things invariably worse. On top of those conversations, he has always talked, with a sparkle in his eye, about the bayou country and the way of life along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and Louisiana. Between that and Ken's enigmatic writing about the communities in St. Bernard, it gives me, someone who hasn’t even visited, quite the expectations when I finally do.
I owe my interest in reading it to a dear and surviving person in my life who evacuated his hometown in Mississippi and came back to it utterly devastated by Hurricane Katrina. We’ve had many conversations surrounding what he saw, what the coastal communities in Mississippi and Louisiana endured, why and how some people wouldn’t or couldn’t leave, and of the outside/federal influences which made things invariably worse. On top of those conversations, he has always talked, with a sparkle in his eye, about the bayou country and the way of life along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and Louisiana. Between that and Ken's enigmatic writing about the communities in St. Bernard, it gives me, someone who hasn’t even visited, quite the expectations when I finally do.
sariggs's review
5.0
I would have loved to read this book about the history of St. Bernard Parrish even before Katrina. Within the context of the storm, its heartbreaking.
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