A review by somanybookstoread
1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina by Chris Rose

4.0

The audience for this book is the people of New Orleans. I liked that about it. The author didn't write to make outsiders understand this very special place. He wrote this for New Orleans. Readers who aren't from New Orleans or don't know it intimately will sometimes struggle with his geographical or cultural references. I've decided that I'm glad I was made to feel like an outsider who couldn't quite understand what he was talking about. Because I am. Despite having been close to the forefront of Hurricane Sandy, I will never be able to understand what it means to be from New Orleans and have experienced Katrina.

Chris Rose's 1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina is a collection of his columns from the Times-Picayune written in the roughly one year period post-Katrina. These columns, which made him a finalist for the Pulitzer, serve as a series of vignettes that, when taken together, give profound insight into the psyche of a place obliterated by a Category 5 hurricane. New Orleans is dear to me. I love the spirit and culture and history of this place. All that shone through in Rose's work. As a writer myself, I admire his prose, which is tight, witty, provocative (if at times a bit self-serving).

To anyone interested in New Orleans and Katrina, this is one to add to your to-read shelf!