Destination: New Orleans, LA, United States
Book: Nine Lives, Death and Life in New Orleans by Dan Baum
Just in case you think this book has something to do with how a tourist survives a Sazerac hangover, forget it. The latest addition to my traveler’s library tells about the lives of real people who survived Hurricane Katrina.
A New Orleans friend mused, “I wonder how this book has gotten so much attention with all the hurricane books that have been written?” But perhaps he answered the question himself, when he said, “I didn’t want it to end.”
Dan Baum makes the readers of Nine Lives voyeurs who learn details of more than ‘life in New Orleans.’ We watch every move of nine people–through things they are proud of and things they are not so proud of. It is true life to the extent that memory is true and to the extent that anyone who has lived in New Orleans all his or her life can tell a story without a bit of embellishment. Because we become voyeurs, we want more details of each life.
However, being a stranger to New Orleans myself, I had had quite enough of some of these people by the time the book ended. Some were not the kind of people I wanted to hang around with for long periods of time. And yet one character who spent most of his life in prison and the rest getting in trouble, delivered some of the most memorable observations.
Which is not to say I did not enjoy the book. And, oh my, how much I learned.From the history and importance of the Black Indian Tribes of Mardi Gras to the importance of high school band classes in the city of music. I learned to appreciate the poetry in ghetto speak. I learned more about the fragmentation of the unique class system of New Orleans.
My own enjoyment was enhanced by the fact that this book is totally based on interviews–over 100 people helped tell the stories of the nine. A friend and I have just completed a biography of Navajo artist Quincy Tahoma which was largely based on interviews. So I appreciated the authors’ research methods and the delicate balance one must walk in trying to tell the truth based on people’s oral history.
I highly recommend this book for your traveler’s library if you want to understand New Orleans. Just keep in mind that there are some people leading less dramatic lives, as well. It is just that in New Orleans, high drama is more the norm.
As prototypical criminal type, Anthony Wells, says of his expulsion after the storm, “I missed walking around. In New Orleans, you walk around. You sit down. You see people. You talk. There’s noise all the time–wreck on I-10, the pool hall, somebody playing on a saxophone. Gunshots. Yeah, man. I even missed the gunshots.”
Photography by Vera Marie Badertscher, all rights reserved