The Sound of Building Coffins

My review of an awesome book that everyone should read (now).

New Orleans in the late 18th to early 20th century.  A place full of death, hope, and rebirth, of yellow fever, voodoo, and the discovery of jazz.  This story is about the Morningstar family and a cast of others connected with them through fate, coincidence, or love.  It is hard to place Maistros’ book into one particular genre.  It is historical fiction, magical realism, and horror, but more importantly it is also literature at its very best.  

From the first page, the grotesque (a theme throughout) is evident as we are introduced to a nine year old boy carrying “a burlap bag, full of fresh fetuses.” The supernatural permeates the story; ghosts, zombies, and voodoo Queens.  Music is also important, one of the main characters is Buddy Bolden said to be the first man to front a jazz band.  But not just music in an abstract way, rather literally music - lyrics and sound - are central to the plot of this story.  In fact, the entire book is a sensual experience, encompassing the sights of turn of the century New Orleans, but also the sounds, smells, and even the texture of the city.  

Maistros’ novel is about people, the hard times they lived in and the difficult choices they had to make admist death, violence, and racism.  Ultimately, however, the author has produced a story about hope and rebirth (both literal and metaphorical).  Water is a key symbol of these themes whether in the form of the Mississippi River, the bayou, or the storms that bring flooding (both nurturing and destructive).  It is hard to imagine this book in a pre-Katrina era.  The motifs that take center stage here are ones expressed recently by residents of New Orleans who did not evacuate or those who left only to return because they could not stay away.

The Sound of Building Coffins is an amazing first novel, an amazing book in general that I would recommend to anyone no matter your usual tastes.  I won’t say that it is perfect of course.  There is some initial disconnect between Book 1 and Book 2 (it takes place several years after the opening scenes).  It took me a few chapters to get back into the story after the break.  Also the writing is at times disjointed, but for me this fit with the mood of the story. Others might find it off-putting. Regardless of these minor issues, this book is absolutely worth checking out!

The Sound of Building Coffins by Louis Maistros (2009)

NOLA - In Pictures

Just a few tidbits for now, will post more later.  Had a great time, saw some great and not-so-great presentations, ate a lot of food, and hung out with some locals -- but the last is definitely a story for when I have more time.
(p.s. below slideshow seems to work better when you click on the pictures and move them, rather than using the arrows at bottom)

The conference that was a vacation

Today is the big day.  In other words, off to N.O. for the AAA!! Panel is done tomorrow around 4pm, and then time for awesome food, music, and well free time.  At some point, I suppose I will actually attend the conference that I paid a ridiculous amount of money to go to (just talking about fees here,  if you include airfare, food, hotels...actually I don't want to think about it).

But isn't the point of the AAA that students are supposed to mingle and make professional connections? Well yeah, but I know I told you about the time that some grad student tried to talk to Maurice Bloch....

I will just take lots of pictures, especially of the sunshine.  B/c down South they have this thing called "the sun."  It is really hard to see up here in the tundra, especially when it is dark at 4pm.

Mostly I am happy to be finished with grants, turned in the last one yesterday! And to not be teaching for a few days, or worrying about school.  Though of course, when I get back I will have tons of catching up to do.  Like transcribing 2 hours of interviews!

Geaux Saints

Who dat won the SuperBowl?!! The Saints, the Saints!!

Ok, I am done. Just a moment of euphoria for the boys back home.

I might decide to wear Saint's colors tomorrow, some random combination of black and gold. To make things more interesting (and tacky) how about gold Mardi Gras beads? Hm....

Football Madness

As if everyone didn't already know - yes, the Saints for the first time ever are going to the Superbowl.

But I'm not going to tell you about that. The funnier story is how I have thought for the past year that my t.v. didn't work, but actually it does. I really am just a moron.

So, there was that stupid "digital t.v." nonsense, and I got a converter box. And I thought I followed the instructions, but apparently I am illiterate (though what would the word be if you can't read/understand pictorial instructions?).

I was talking to my mom about my lack of t.v., looked some up at a few stores on line, realized how expensive they were now, and decided not to worry about it. However, over the phone I should point out, mom was all like did you do x, y, z. And I was all like "my t.v. doesn't have that"....."oh, wait, yes it does." Mom - you should connect blah blah blah. Me "if this works you are not allowed to make fun of me." It worked of course. Mom- in the background trying oh so hard to pretend that she wasn't laughing hysterically b/c to make sure you understand I must point out that she has never seen my t.v. or this converter box thing.

On the positive side, I was all set to watch the Saints game (but actually watched it elsewhere and embarrassed myself even more by failing at a Wii game). On the negative side, watched random t.v. shows all afternoon. At least, I did get to see The Big Bang Theory, which is the funniest show EVER (no, I don't care if you disagree). And now I can see new episodes of Criminal Minds considering I became addicted over break. More ways to procrastinate - not a good start to a fun filled semester of supposedly writing 90+ pages. But it never is....

Random Pictures

Went to a famous local restaurant that supposedly has the best mufalettas, Liuzza's. The above drink was called a BushWhacker that consists of a "stealthy" concoction of alcohols. Three out of three of us agreed that it was basically a White Russian with some sort of coconut rum, probably Malibu. It was superb.

The above photo is the sandwich. Actually not a traditional mufaletta b/c it is made on French bread - thus, a frenchaletta. It was HUGE. But amazingly warm and delicious, and I think I gained about 10 pounds eating it in conjuction with that drink and some savory onion rings.

The demon cat Hermione.

Waiting for food. I love this picture.

Random tree outside of my mom's work place.

The Piney Woods.

Global/World Music

My brother sent me this clip from a group that he saw in New Orleans. According to their website they bridge African jazz and "the culture of New Orleans." I thought it was pretty interesting so here you go:
Fatien Ensemble

In other musical news, I have developed a minor obsession with this Belarusian folk band that I saw at the Art Pole folk/art/music festival in Ukraine. You can see a different video under my Song of the Moment section, but just in case you needed more:
Нагуаль (Nagual)

In regards to that video - I was actually there. Yes, in the audience kinda far back, but dancing with enthusiasm. Admittedly the band is a little weird. I do realize this, but also utterly amazing. And really really good live. On a positive note, every single person that has listened to the c.d. that I own has also enjoyed it. Here is a description of the band:

The band NAGUAL (a rolling stone, wanderer) was formed in winter 2000 in order to recreate sounds which can express both the beginning of the dance of life and one's own song.

NAGUAL consists of six musicians. Their aim is to deepen their knowledge about music origins, modern trends, shaping of folk cultures, relations among people, since these factors directly influence the group's creativity. They create music by means of selected instruments, their unique arrangements and feelings of the musicians. They play instruments which vary from archaic to classical.

Psycho-folk is a trend in music which combines the personal with the social. The vocal is a sophisticated mixture of phonemes of various language groups, sounds of nature, psycho-physiological processes and the primitive and the postmodern. Therefore, the gist of this work is admiring the world, biostimulation, deep experiences and expressing emotions and feelings explicitly.
(http://www.gadki.lublin.pl/east_eng/n/index.html)

Psychology, anthropology, music, folklore all wrapped in one group - perfect for me wouldn't you think? :)

A Soldiers' Pay

"Faulkner wrote Soldiers’ Pay while living in New Orleans in 1925, but much of the inspiration for the novel dates back to the time of the war. When the United States entered the war, Faulkner eagerly tried to join the U.S. Army as a pilot, but he was turned down because of his small size. Dismayed but undeterred, he adopted a British persona and joined the Royal Air Force as a cadet in Canada, but before he could finish flight training, the war ended, thus robbing Faulkner of the chance to achieve a hero’s status in the skies over Europe." http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/faulkner/n-sp.html

Later on on this website, it says that Faulkner was published in the Times-Picayune; the newspaper in S. La. Having read that paper my whole life, I find it really really hard to associate William Faulkner with it, but whatever....

This was just a note to say that I actually am serious in my challenge to myself to read 9 books by him. And yes, I am every so slowly working my way through this first one.

The Things One Sees on T.V.

For some time now, I have been reading Poppy Z. Brite's blog. She happens to be one of my favorite authors, though I prefer her earlier books and stories to more recent writings. Anyway, she is now Catholic*, and along with many other parishioners in New Orleans has been attending a vigil to keep one of the churches there open**.

Ok, I've known about this awhile, and also knew that she was arrested earlier this month b/c the Archbishop decided that it was important to have the police pulled away from more pressing things (oh, like investigating murders***) to arrest a few people that weren't really doing anything except refusing to leave a church.

Well, here I was watching the CBS evening news, and then there was Poppy Z. Brite being led away in handcuffs. Obviously, they are a little behind seeing as how the actual arrests were weeks ago, but I was rather surprised. Most of the story however, was devoted to vigils in Boston rather than in N.O. Just thought it was interesting thats all.


*which might come as a surprise for people who know her for such things as Exquisite Corpse.
** yes, I know, all these details are vague, but if you are curious just use Google.
*** N.O - one of, if not the, highest murder rates per capita.

Floodwalls and Levees

A little while ago, water began pouring over the floodwall at the Industrial Street Canal. Did I mention that Gustav was a Cat. 2 hurricane. Oh, I didn't, well then.

Hurricane Gustav is a Category 2 hurricane. These shiny new reinforced supposedly better floodwalls I believe are supposed to withstand a Cat. 3 hurricane, which Gustave was right before it made landfall, and which they originally predicated would be a 4 or 5 at landfall. But why dont' you see what FEMA had to say about the levee situation. I really truly thought that the plan was to build them high enough and strong enough (though breakage of the levee is not an issue right now, someone reported on the channel 6 website that she thought there was water coming under one of the floodgates) to withstand a Cat. 3. I can't get over this, seriously.

As the reporter is watching the water coming over "like a waterfall" they ask one of their "experts" what he thinks about the situation. Basically his response (not an exact quote) "They weren't built high enough. They must be about 15 feet, and they should be around 18 -20." But he was estimating, so I'm not saying that the levees are not high enough I don't know enough about how that works - what I am saying is that whatever they did they managed to still screw up the the wall somehow b/c Gustav is only a 2.

Updated to Add: I might have overreacted a little bit, as of right now the water is no longer pouring over the wall, so I guess it is ok. But I stand by the fact that the scene of that water coming over made me really nervous, and I was completely justified in being upset about it :)

On a more personal note, can't call anyone. My mom swore she'd call me this morning well before the hurricane hit. She isn't is La, rather MS. and the weather was still fairly bad there, but nothing like where my father and brother are. Last I heard 35,000 people are without power in St. Tammany parish. This is to be expected. I'm sure their power is out, and cell phone coverage might be interupted for a bit, but also I think there is just an overload of people calling. I couldn't get in touch with my sister in Northern La., probably b/c of this last reason. She is too far from the storm for it to be due to power/cell outages.

One last thing, my friend who lives in St. Landry parish stayed. This makes me SUPER nervous b/c the eye of the storm was headed more in that western direction, around Lafayette. As of about an hour or maybe two ago only 50 people were w/o power in that parish, but I think that was more due to the fact that the storm hadn't quite made it there yet. Honestly of all the people down there that I know, I am most worried about her. She lives very near the Atchafalaya River and her parents live right across the levee over there.

Hurricane

I wasn't worried too much about this one, I mean slightly, but nothing to panic about. Well, now the damn thing, Gustav, which was a mere Tropical Storm though nearly a Category 1 Hurricane, is a Category 3!! (For those of you who don't know 5 is the highest, and while Katrina started out as a 4 or 5, when it made landfall it was a 3). I am personally no where near the storm, being on the opposite side of the country, but my family is there.

According to the weather channel the storm hit a patch of very warm water near Cuba, and went through a period of rapid intensification - i.e. the pressure drops, it gets more organized, and the wind speed goes up. All in the last 24 hrs. Right now, they don't think that New Orleans will be in the direct path, but these storms are so hard to predict, and besides even if N.O doesn't get a direct hit, all the rain and tornadoes spawned by hurricanes can still cause damage to the city and surrounding areas.

Incidentally, yesterday was the 3rd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. People are so nervy though. Ray Nagin, the mayor of N.O., has already ordered all the tourists out of the city by noon. When I talked to my parents last week, they said people were already buying up all the water, canned goods, and generators. This was before Gustave was even a serious threat.

The city is definitely on the ball though. No mass shelters in the city (remember the Super Dome), and they are trying to bus as many people out as posssible, although really the public transportation down there sucks. Also, the evacuation of special needs patients started this morning, along with some other people who would have no other way out. Right now it is not a mandatory evacuation, but that will go into effect probably tomorrow. However, in St. Charles Parish and St. Bernard, very near Orleans Parish, a mandatory evacuation will go into effect this afternoon.

updated to add: that now its a Category 4 hurricane. Over the past 3 hours the pressure has dropped by 20 mb, and the wind speed is 145mph. It is expected to increase after passing over (and no doubt destroying) Cuba. Once it hits the Gulf the meteorologists expect it will slow down, to make landfall around Tuesday. Currently they are still expecting it to go more West of New Orleans, but that still puts the city (and my family) on the bad side of the storm - the side with the most rain, and the highest possibility of tornadoes. Talked to my family, they are not evacuating, and have no intentions of doing so, but do report that the major highways are nearly impassable right now b/c of the number of people that have decided to leave the area.