trudilibrarian's review
This one looks really interesting; LOVE the title and the setting!
I had such high hopes for this one but just couldn't get lost in it (which was the experience I was hoping for). Excellent writing, but the odd magical elements and the jumping around in time and with characters kept me shut out of the story. I may come back to this one at another time. I may...
I had such high hopes for this one but just couldn't get lost in it (which was the experience I was hoping for). Excellent writing, but the odd magical elements and the jumping around in time and with characters kept me shut out of the story. I may come back to this one at another time. I may...
cinnachick's review against another edition
4.0
This is NOT an uplifting book, however it is fascinating as it is heartbreaking. It's delightful to see New Orleans streets and geography how it was more than 100 years ago and to see how similar and yet how different it is now. The characters are complex, the environment is fantastical, but believable because of the complexity of the characters. It was a fascinatingly depressing book to read.
beeriley's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Abortion, Death of parent, Rape, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
thecirclek's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
jatridle's review against another edition
3.0
Since I live in New Orleans, it’s hard for me to be objective about books, movies and TV shows that are set here. In fact, I normally avoid them like the plague. It’s apparently hard to capture the essence of New Orleans without instead creating a silly exaggerated caricature of it, which drives me bonkers. Give me a cheesy detective novel set in L.A. or Miami or Boston or Timbuktu and I will gladly devour it. Give me one set in New Orleans and I’ll throw it across the room at the first mention of voodoo queens or Mardi Gras beads. When I started reading this book and saw it opened with a young mulatto boy with magical abilities and the quirky name Typhus Morningstar, (His father’s name is Reverend Noontime Morningstar, and his siblings are Malaria, Cholera, Diphtheria and Dropsy.) I thought, Oh crap. Here we go again. A few pages in, however, the story and the writing had me hooked, so I kept reading.
It’s not a cheesy detective novel, by the way. It’s more of a modern extension of New Orleans folklore and myth, weaving magical realism with historical events and figures to create an often beautiful and engaging novel with some terrifically vivid scenes. The chapters with Antonio Carolla in his jail cell, for instance, made me feel like I was there with him. And the story of the murder of police chief Hennessey and the vigilante lynchings that occurred at Orleans Parish Prison in its aftermath is one I didn’t know. So, I learned something, and enjoyed doing so. Malvina Latour, the voodoo queen in the book, was a real person as well, taking the much more famous Marie Laveau’s place after she stopped practicing. I’m not sure if I knew this or not before reading this book, but if so, I had forgotten and was glad to learn about it again. And, of course, cornetist Buddy Bolden, so essential in the early development of Jazz, is possibly my favorite New Orleans historical figure. (I took a trip to Holt Cemetery a few months back to look for his grave marker. Sadly, no one really knows where his actual grave is since he was buried as a pauper.) But, anyway, it was fun for me to see him appear as a character in this book even though he was depicted as a jerk.
Though there is a central story that flows through the book and holds it together, much of what I enjoyed were the many smaller stories and sub-plots that populated it. I liked the “love affair” between Typhus and the picture of a woman he never met and never intended to meet and the initial logic behind it. I liked the story of the Morningstar family’s mysterious benefactor leaving gifts and provisions for them at night. And though the quirky, over-the-top names of the Morningstar kids almost made me put the book down and find something else to read when I first started it, the logic behind the names was actually quite spiritual and beautiful. (I never did truly warm up to those names though.)
The sections I had the most trouble with were the more voodoo-y ones. I simply found them a bit “much.” They didn’t make me fling the book across the room, but they did cause me to put the book down for a day or two then come back to it a couple of times. And though this book does nothing but reinforce pretty much every New Orleans stereotype in existence, I did, for the most part, enjoy reading it.
It’s not a cheesy detective novel, by the way. It’s more of a modern extension of New Orleans folklore and myth, weaving magical realism with historical events and figures to create an often beautiful and engaging novel with some terrifically vivid scenes. The chapters with Antonio Carolla in his jail cell, for instance, made me feel like I was there with him. And the story of the murder of police chief Hennessey and the vigilante lynchings that occurred at Orleans Parish Prison in its aftermath is one I didn’t know. So, I learned something, and enjoyed doing so. Malvina Latour, the voodoo queen in the book, was a real person as well, taking the much more famous Marie Laveau’s place after she stopped practicing. I’m not sure if I knew this or not before reading this book, but if so, I had forgotten and was glad to learn about it again. And, of course, cornetist Buddy Bolden, so essential in the early development of Jazz, is possibly my favorite New Orleans historical figure. (I took a trip to Holt Cemetery a few months back to look for his grave marker. Sadly, no one really knows where his actual grave is since he was buried as a pauper.) But, anyway, it was fun for me to see him appear as a character in this book even though he was depicted as a jerk.
Though there is a central story that flows through the book and holds it together, much of what I enjoyed were the many smaller stories and sub-plots that populated it. I liked the “love affair” between Typhus and the picture of a woman he never met and never intended to meet and the initial logic behind it.
Spoiler
Though at the end it got beyond weird. So very, very weird. So very, very, very, very, very, very weird.The sections I had the most trouble with were the more voodoo-y ones. I simply found them a bit “much.” They didn’t make me fling the book across the room, but they did cause me to put the book down for a day or two then come back to it a couple of times. And though this book does nothing but reinforce pretty much every New Orleans stereotype in existence, I did, for the most part, enjoy reading it.
bree_zee's review against another edition
5.0
I loved every minute. Wonderfully crafted. I couldn’t put it down, I’m sad that it’s over, and I can’t stop thinking about it. Engaging, touching and horrifying all at once.
micahcastle's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
haudurn's review against another edition
5.0
This is a rich tale in a vibrant city featuring brilliant characters that face harrowing events. I love the beauty of the characters in the face of the suffering they endure. I want more Louis Maistros novels please!
erikahelios's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Sumptuous world building by this amazingly creative author.
mattleesharp's review
5.0
From the opening chapter I knew this was a book that I'd need to take my time with. Every character is burdened with a weight they never asked for. Even the city is bloated with the dead. Some of the imagery is unsettling, but I found the less incredible the fiction, the more uncomfortable I felt. The only refuge in the book is found in the magical elements. The human drama was brutal. This is not a book for everyone. It wraps a little too tidily. It tries a little hard to be shocking. But I've never read another book like it. I felt, reading this book, like I have felt with at most a dozen other books in my life --- like I was reading something wholly new.
More...