Finished Mo 7/23/18- The July, 2018 selection for the Contemporary Book Club
Background on the author:
"C. Morgan Babst was born and raised in New Orleans. She and her family evacuated New Orleans one day before Hurricane Katrina made landfall. At a Katrina benefit in Manhattan, she met a fellow New Orleanian and married him. Eleven years later, she returned home to New Orleans with her husband and young daughter".
Sprawling doesn't even come close...a dizzying array of characters and subplots, and not an easy read.
Many of the minor characters and their stories and situations made me care more for them than the author's main story-line.
Katrina hit New Orleans August 29, 2005. Between 1,500 and 1,800 people died... "A man-made disaster." Much later it was found that the levies and dikes were not constructed properly.
More or less a chronicle of the Boisdore family during the Katrina disaster.
The book is divided into particular 'days'- weeks and months after the day it happened. And within each 'day', each character's point of view is featured....not an easy read.
Tess and Joe- She is a wealthy psychiatrist from a prominent New Orleans married to Joe who is an artist and has deep roots in the Creole community. His line goes back almost as long as Tess.
Del- the younger daughter who is in NY trying to make a life for herself. She returns after the hurricane.
Cora- the older daughter who has been crippled with mental issues for most of her life- An unsteady individual. She witnesses what she thinks is a murder. Reyna.
Vincent is Joe's father and suffers from dementia. He is a master wood carver
Troy and Reyna are brother and sister. They are food workers/ black and lower class. Cora is having an affair with Troy.
Reyna has two sons, Willie and Tyrone.
Reyna committed suicide with an ancient shotgun that was given to Cora for protection.
Cora refused to leave New Orleans as the storm approached.
In the end, Troy and Cora are on the mend and have relocated to Rome, IL with the two boys. Rome, IL is a few miles northeast of Peoria along the Illinois River.
link to NY Times review of the book-
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/05/books/review/the-floating-world-c-morgan-babst.html
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