A review by ndgrad98
Glitter Bomb by Laura Childs, Terrie Farley Moran
2.0
Edit: nope nope nope. The only reason this got two stars is because Carmela is a remotely interesting main character, and I kind of liked her spunk. I could read more of her, as long as it's not set in New Orleans. Outside of being very repetitive, the book has way too many gratuitous New Orleans things thrown in. It feels like the author Googled 'New Orleans', made a list of anything that showed up as remotely being attached, and then crammed them all into this book whether or not they added value.
For instance, they went and got beers. Great. Did we need to describe them as Abita longnecks when there was no other reference to Abita or such in the rest of the book and it had nothing to do with the scene or following conversations? No we did not. Similarly, they had king cake. Yum. Did we need to describe multiple times it came from some made up New Orleans-sounding bakery, when a description of what a king cake is was enough? No we did not. (Oh and I have NEVER, EVER seen beignets come in a box. WTF? They are ALWAYS in a paper bag so you can dump in your powdered sugar and shake. You can order 50 beignets and you will get a whole lot of little bags with 3 beignets in them!)
But two things really got my goat more than that! (Can you imagine?) I am all for poetic license, but as a native New Orleanian, there are a few sacrosanct things about our city; Mardi Gras is one of them. This book portrays the French Quarter as the focal point for all things Mardi Gras and parade-related. While yes, a lot of partying takes place there, only ONE out of the many parades that roll across the metro area is in the FQ. Parades in the city are concentrated in the Uptown and Downtown areas, which are rich with culture and history that she could have written into the story!
The thing that really put me over the edge was when she described MG fever as sweeping through the city "like a dangerous hurricane". I've lived through numerous hurricanes passing through NOLA, including the Big K, and this was written in very poor taste (apologies to the JPL for writing this sentiment in the book! In ink!).
I won't be reading any more of Ms. Childs' books, and suggest she steers clear of writing about New Orleans until she gets someone who can better advise her on how to portray the Crescent City.
Original: Ok so y’all know nobody talks like this in New Orleans right??
I thought this would be a fun, light read after tackling House of Leaves. Maybe it will be, but I am having a helluva time getting past the nauseating speech and over the top, too much detail descriptions of life in Southern Louisiana. Where one coat of New Orleans would have been sufficient in describing a scene, we get about five coats instead. 🤢
New Orleans is not southern. New Orleans is not Cajun. New Orleans is a blend of so many things that this book hasn’t captured so far. Maybe this overtop treatise ok for those who don’t know better but it’s driving this native nuts.
For instance, they went and got beers. Great. Did we need to describe them as Abita longnecks when there was no other reference to Abita or such in the rest of the book and it had nothing to do with the scene or following conversations? No we did not. Similarly, they had king cake. Yum. Did we need to describe multiple times it came from some made up New Orleans-sounding bakery, when a description of what a king cake is was enough? No we did not. (Oh and I have NEVER, EVER seen beignets come in a box. WTF? They are ALWAYS in a paper bag so you can dump in your powdered sugar and shake. You can order 50 beignets and you will get a whole lot of little bags with 3 beignets in them!)
But two things really got my goat more than that! (Can you imagine?) I am all for poetic license, but as a native New Orleanian, there are a few sacrosanct things about our city; Mardi Gras is one of them. This book portrays the French Quarter as the focal point for all things Mardi Gras and parade-related. While yes, a lot of partying takes place there, only ONE out of the many parades that roll across the metro area is in the FQ. Parades in the city are concentrated in the Uptown and Downtown areas, which are rich with culture and history that she could have written into the story!
The thing that really put me over the edge was when she described MG fever as sweeping through the city "like a dangerous hurricane". I've lived through numerous hurricanes passing through NOLA, including the Big K, and this was written in very poor taste (apologies to the JPL for writing this sentiment in the book! In ink!).
I won't be reading any more of Ms. Childs' books, and suggest she steers clear of writing about New Orleans until she gets someone who can better advise her on how to portray the Crescent City.
Original: Ok so y’all know nobody talks like this in New Orleans right??
I thought this would be a fun, light read after tackling House of Leaves. Maybe it will be, but I am having a helluva time getting past the nauseating speech and over the top, too much detail descriptions of life in Southern Louisiana. Where one coat of New Orleans would have been sufficient in describing a scene, we get about five coats instead. 🤢
New Orleans is not southern. New Orleans is not Cajun. New Orleans is a blend of so many things that this book hasn’t captured so far. Maybe this overtop treatise ok for those who don’t know better but it’s driving this native nuts.