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popthebutterfly 's review for:
The Floating World
by C. Morgan Babst
Rating:3/5
Genre: Adult Historical Fiction
Recommended Age: 16+ (racial issues, mental illness, natural disaster)
I received a free copy of this book through GrownUpReads, an off-shoot of KidLitExchange. All opinions are my own.
In this dazzling debut about family, home, and grief, C. Morgan Babst takes readers into the heart of Hurricane Katrina and the life of a great city.
As the storm is fast approaching the Louisiana coast, Cora Boisdoré refuses to leave the city. Her parents, Joe Boisdoré, an artist descended from freed slaves who became the city’s preeminent furniture makers, and his white “Uptown” wife, Dr. Tess Eshleman, are forced to evacuate without her, setting off a chain of events that leaves their marriage in shambles and Cora catatonic—the victim or perpetrator of some violence mysterious even to herself.
This mystery is at the center of Babst’s haunting and profound novel. Cora’s sister, Del, returns to New Orleans from the successful life she built in New York City to find her hometown in ruins and her family deeply alienated from one another. As Del attempts to figure out what happened to her sister, she must also reckon with the racial history of the city and the trauma of a disaster that was not, in fact, some random act of God but an avoidable tragedy visited on New Orleans’s most vulnerable citizens. Separately and together, each member of the Boisdoré clan must find the strength to remake home in a city forever changed.
The Floating World is the Katrina story that needed to be told—one with a piercing, unforgettable loveliness and a vivid, intimate understanding of this particular place and its tangled past. – Amazon.com
This book was beautiful from beginning to end. It was a very intimate look at the aftermath of Katrina in a way that no one really discusses. Usually people focus on the damage the hurricane did, but this book focuses on the effect the hurricane had on the people. It was a very emotionally heavy book. I thought the character development was very well done. You learn about these characters through their emotional issues. I also felt the book did a great job making the book feel very realistic.
Unfortunately I did have some dislikes about this book. I felt the writing was a bit everywhere and thus I had some issue following the book and the plot. The pacing was also very weird in spots. The book might have been wrote that way on purpose because it reflects the thinking process of the characters, but for the reader it makes for a very hard read.
Verdict: This is a beautiful book that needs to be read, but the way it was wrote is not my style. I think if you can get into this type of writing then this will be a 5 star for you and if you’re into historical fiction then you’ll love this book.
Genre: Adult Historical Fiction
Recommended Age: 16+ (racial issues, mental illness, natural disaster)
I received a free copy of this book through GrownUpReads, an off-shoot of KidLitExchange. All opinions are my own.
In this dazzling debut about family, home, and grief, C. Morgan Babst takes readers into the heart of Hurricane Katrina and the life of a great city.
As the storm is fast approaching the Louisiana coast, Cora Boisdoré refuses to leave the city. Her parents, Joe Boisdoré, an artist descended from freed slaves who became the city’s preeminent furniture makers, and his white “Uptown” wife, Dr. Tess Eshleman, are forced to evacuate without her, setting off a chain of events that leaves their marriage in shambles and Cora catatonic—the victim or perpetrator of some violence mysterious even to herself.
This mystery is at the center of Babst’s haunting and profound novel. Cora’s sister, Del, returns to New Orleans from the successful life she built in New York City to find her hometown in ruins and her family deeply alienated from one another. As Del attempts to figure out what happened to her sister, she must also reckon with the racial history of the city and the trauma of a disaster that was not, in fact, some random act of God but an avoidable tragedy visited on New Orleans’s most vulnerable citizens. Separately and together, each member of the Boisdoré clan must find the strength to remake home in a city forever changed.
The Floating World is the Katrina story that needed to be told—one with a piercing, unforgettable loveliness and a vivid, intimate understanding of this particular place and its tangled past. – Amazon.com
This book was beautiful from beginning to end. It was a very intimate look at the aftermath of Katrina in a way that no one really discusses. Usually people focus on the damage the hurricane did, but this book focuses on the effect the hurricane had on the people. It was a very emotionally heavy book. I thought the character development was very well done. You learn about these characters through their emotional issues. I also felt the book did a great job making the book feel very realistic.
Unfortunately I did have some dislikes about this book. I felt the writing was a bit everywhere and thus I had some issue following the book and the plot. The pacing was also very weird in spots. The book might have been wrote that way on purpose because it reflects the thinking process of the characters, but for the reader it makes for a very hard read.
Verdict: This is a beautiful book that needs to be read, but the way it was wrote is not my style. I think if you can get into this type of writing then this will be a 5 star for you and if you’re into historical fiction then you’ll love this book.