Enter Eve. Based in New Orleans, she's a location scout for a movie production company and complacently married to Adam. "Now you know," she says. "Our names really didn't bother me that much until the mail started arriving addressed to 'Adam and Eve Broussard.'" He's just been diagnosed with a grave illness and gone back to the palatial family home where his parents reside. It's all just fine with Eve--or so she tells herself at the beginning. But standing left of center in this still-prosperous but mortally wounded family does not get easier as the weeks wear on. As she negotiates her way around the anger of Adam's despised twin brother Saunders, maintains her friendship with his beautiful and volatile wife Petal, and protects what's left of the innocence of her niece Collie, Eve finds more than the Louisiana heat oppressive. Effortlessly smart and deliriously unpredictable, One D.O.A., One on the Way will keep you guessing until the last page.
In this current turbulent climate, it's amazing that a book of this sort managed to get published - like an indicator species thriving in a stagnant pool, this shows that there is still reason for optimism. This book respects (and tests) the reader's intelligence, while pared into occasionally tweet-sized segments. It's not perfect (as a Scot, the mistaken ref to English Whisky really set my teeth on edge) and occasionally revels in its stance as if dispirited cynicism had just been discovered lurking in post-Katrina, there is a genuine pulse to this short novel Resistance against mediocre sentiment, tired tricks of formulaic fodder - a heartbeat of art. I'd buy it for that alone.
I love New Orleans
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 16 years ago
I spent part of my misspent youth in New Orleans, came out alive, and this book really captures the chaotic, hedonistic sadness that New Orleans, even before Katrina, is to me. I loved it.
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