Welcome to one of the TOP THREE books of the year, at least to me!
With the Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina upon us,
the book has come out at a perfect time.
I hope you enjoyed Joy's earlier guest post as well!
Synopsis: Nola Céspedes, an ambitious young reporter at the Times-Picayune, catches a break: an assignment to write her first full-length investigative feature. It’s a far cry from the club openings and plantation tours she usually covers and could become a story that will send ripples through New Orleans in the two years since Hurricane Katrina. The piece is about sex offenders who have fallen off the grid since the city was evacuated.
While Nola speaks with survivors, offenders (some still on the registry, others not), and experts, she also becomes fixated on the search for a missing tourist in New Orleans. As Nola’s work leads her into darker corners of the city, she has to hide her work from her friends and ultimately must re-visit her painful past of living in the housing projects as a Latina where there are few people of her ethnicity.
Vividly rendered in razor sharp prose, HELL OR HIGH WATER brings New Orleans to life in a riveting journey of trust betrayed and the courageous struggle toward recovery.
Review: The surprise about this book? That Castro is NOT from NOLA. Nope, not at all. Now her husband is, and she's spend a lot of time down here with him and his family, but still....it's the nuances of NOLA that she has nailed SO extremely well, that you'd swear she's lying about not being from NOLA. Like knowing about Terranova's grocery, how to properly pronounce 'muffaletta' (stress on the LOTTA), or that the NOLA 'interior home design ethic' MUST include a chandelier, marble fireplace, fleur de lis and 2 Louis XV chairs (I just about fell off the bed laughing so hard at that one, as it is SO true!), or that people who are actually from Jefferson (county right next to NOLA), when out of state, always tell people they are from NOLA (it's too hard to explain the proximity).
And that is really what the book is- a love poem to NOLA wrapped in a tight tale of learning who you are, what makes you you, and pulling aside the Magic curtain that shields the NOLA that tourists don't see. She literally casts aside the mirage- the differences between the French Quarter and Mid-City, the befores /afters of Hurricane Katrina, how servant quarters disappeared from plantation homes before they were made museums, or how there is SO much culture and things to do with kids in the city, but most of it is very pricey, and the lower classes can't afford it (which is why grants like Target Free Sundays at the Louisiana Children's Museum or free admission to the New Orleans Museum of Art on Wednesdays for Louisiana residents are so very important).
Her NOLA is honest- proud of its deficiencies, uniqueness and unrelenting perseverance. If Hurricane Katrina showed us nothing else, it showed us that survival is not just an eight letter word. If the human spirit/will is there, there will be survival. Did Katrina change NOLA? Yes and no. Like the characters in the book, the people and the land itself, dealt with the immediate problems, made necessary changes, adapted, overcame, and yet that deep abiding siren's song of tradition kept hold. The more things change, the more they stay the same in NOLA.
The stats that she shares about pre-Katrina crime and after are in one word scary. In another, real. How many sex offenders went off the grid after Katrina, and stayed there. happily a huge percentage are back, but not all. The stats on the amount o child molesters and rapists will chill you to the bones. As a parent, there is nothing scarier than reading about target ages of children. When she interviews suspects and therapists, you will realize that no matter how strict the legal rules can be, human nature is human nature, and getting around the rules will always happen.
In this dichotomy of the evil (sex offenders), the good (family and what the character loves about NOLA), that serve as a ying/yang to represent the human race as a whole. Castro weaves such a dynamic tale, full of such lushness of the environment that is NOLA, that it shrouds twists and turns in the story coming, so that you don't see them coming, you are SO caught up in the tale. Then when they do come, surprise, you react along with the characters, and are more in awe of Castro's prowess with the written word. (Note: When you're reading the book, go to Joy's website and check out Charles Gullung's photos- all the locations are there from the book! it's wonderful to see the places come alive, for those that don't already have mental images of them (from living/visiting NOLA)!
Sorry guys, this one is staying with my NOLA books, but I urge you BUY this book! if you want to know the true NOLA, THIS is the book to show it too you! And then when you come down to NOLA, you'll have a greater appreciation for the city and its charms, and the book will provide a great starting point to getting around the various local haunts of the city.
And that is really what the book is- a love poem to NOLA wrapped in a tight tale of learning who you are, what makes you you, and pulling aside the Magic curtain that shields the NOLA that tourists don't see. She literally casts aside the mirage- the differences between the French Quarter and Mid-City, the befores /afters of Hurricane Katrina, how servant quarters disappeared from plantation homes before they were made museums, or how there is SO much culture and things to do with kids in the city, but most of it is very pricey, and the lower classes can't afford it (which is why grants like Target Free Sundays at the Louisiana Children's Museum or free admission to the New Orleans Museum of Art on Wednesdays for Louisiana residents are so very important).
Her NOLA is honest- proud of its deficiencies, uniqueness and unrelenting perseverance. If Hurricane Katrina showed us nothing else, it showed us that survival is not just an eight letter word. If the human spirit/will is there, there will be survival. Did Katrina change NOLA? Yes and no. Like the characters in the book, the people and the land itself, dealt with the immediate problems, made necessary changes, adapted, overcame, and yet that deep abiding siren's song of tradition kept hold. The more things change, the more they stay the same in NOLA.
The stats that she shares about pre-Katrina crime and after are in one word scary. In another, real. How many sex offenders went off the grid after Katrina, and stayed there. happily a huge percentage are back, but not all. The stats on the amount o child molesters and rapists will chill you to the bones. As a parent, there is nothing scarier than reading about target ages of children. When she interviews suspects and therapists, you will realize that no matter how strict the legal rules can be, human nature is human nature, and getting around the rules will always happen.
In this dichotomy of the evil (sex offenders), the good (family and what the character loves about NOLA), that serve as a ying/yang to represent the human race as a whole. Castro weaves such a dynamic tale, full of such lushness of the environment that is NOLA, that it shrouds twists and turns in the story coming, so that you don't see them coming, you are SO caught up in the tale. Then when they do come, surprise, you react along with the characters, and are more in awe of Castro's prowess with the written word. (Note: When you're reading the book, go to Joy's website and check out Charles Gullung's photos- all the locations are there from the book! it's wonderful to see the places come alive, for those that don't already have mental images of them (from living/visiting NOLA)!
Sorry guys, this one is staying with my NOLA books, but I urge you BUY this book! if you want to know the true NOLA, THIS is the book to show it too you! And then when you come down to NOLA, you'll have a greater appreciation for the city and its charms, and the book will provide a great starting point to getting around the various local haunts of the city.
What could be better than this book? A sequel!
Joy recently delivered it to her publisher, and it's tentative title is Bad Shoot- let's hope for a Christmas release? Maybe, hmmmm?
About the Author: Joy Castro is a memoirist best known for her book The Truth Book: Escaping a Childhood of Abuse Among Jehovah's Witnesses, published in 2005. In addition to non-fiction, she also writes poetry and short fiction. She earned her B.A. at Trinity University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in literature at Texas A&M University. In 2007, she joined the faculty at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she is currently an associate professor with a joint appointment in English and Ethnic Studies. Joy's website: http://www.joycastro.com/ , plus follow her on Twitter and Facebook!
Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge, from Bookspar PR, for review purposes. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it.
Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge, from Bookspar PR, for review purposes. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it.
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