1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina

I lived in Lakeview - the New Orleans area where the first levee breach occurred. My home had 12 feet of water that marinated for 3 1/2 weeks all of our collections of memories and treasures in the regurgitated sewage and gumbo of garage liquids and cleaning fluids, gasoline, oil and whatever solubles the unleashed Lake Pontchartrain picked up along the way. The book brought back color to many of my memories that had taken on a kind of grayscale color in repressed memory. Some of the memories were painful - some had me laughing out loud (when our mayor dubbed us the "Chocolate City" and Rose dubbed him Willy Wonka). But the biggest emotional lump in my chest came with the poignant thank you letter where Rose thanked the 500,000 or maybe even a million fellow Americans that stepped up to take us in, to refuse payment for the bag of candy to help get the kids through 8 MORE hours in the stop and go evacuation traffic, to truck in piles of cases of water when FEMA was wherever they went on whatever wrong turn they took that did not lead to New Orleans. So, I cannot do it better than Chris Rose did - so I just add my thank you - for the pile of pillows one family gave us, for the school backpacks and school supplies, for the shampoo and pajamas, for the hugs when the sobs would not let the words get past. The words are beautifully said by Chris Rose - and from me too - Thank you

A phenomenal read. I kept seeing this in bookstores in the French Quarter and finally had to buy it - I'd have finished it in one sitting with more time. Rose chronicled Katrina's devastation for the Times Picayune while traveling back and forth to Maryland where his family was staying. He was lucky enough not to lose his home or job, but still was drastically impacted by "The Thing" and its effects on the city. This is a collection of his columns for the paper presented by theme, broadly. As they are not in chronological order there were moments of (slight) confusion if I wasn't familiar with something he referenced, but overall easy to follow. Phenomenal look at a horrific event with lasting impact. Although he focused on NOLA, he also addressed the storm's impact on the Gulf Coast.

Such a sad bit of American history. Rose's book is a very personal observation of the Katrina crisis. It's a good viewpoint, different from the more technical and historical books about the hurricane. I know I will reread this book. My only dissatisfaction ( 4 star instead of 5) is that a 'Goodwill' sticker was on the book for a price less than I paid through Amazon. The book was in okay shape, a bit worn, but I wish it didn't have a 'Goodwill' sticker on it.

We visited New Orleans for the first time since Pre Katrina, for the Sugar Bowl last week.I was amazed, first, that the city was so, well, alive. That allayed some of my fears, if not all. Going into several shops to find an item for a friend of mine who was a NO resident, I saw copy after copy of this book, and kept being drawn to it.Finally, on my last day there, I said 'What the heck, I've got a little extra that I didn't spend' and paid the $15. I started reading it immediately, and haven't put it down. It's a longer read than what I usually read (Fiction), and so it's taking me longer, but this book portrays the people of New Orleans in a way that I have yet to see, and probably will not see again.It tells of the heartbreak, laughter, tears, joy, reunions, coming home for the first time, it tells of all the things that went through anyone's soul affected by Katrina.It's not a sad book, not all the time. There are chapters that I read with tears of laughter rolling down my face {Running the Barbershop with power from a car battery) and there are chapters that made me think it was I who survived, I could see it, the 9th Ward, the houses, the 'Blue', it was all there in my mind's eye, and I cried inside for those that made it out, and those who didn't. I cried for the couple, the husband who died of a heart attack while the wife held on, trying to stay alive.I cried for the animals, the thousands that were washed away with the waters.I cried for Chris Rose, who without him, and his words, I would have never known what it was really like that day, those weeks, those months. He brought me a little closer to the truth, and for that I will always be grateful. I will always have images burned into my mind, but Chris made some of those images come alive with color, and not seem so gray.Being the wife of a writer/Editor, I know that experiences are the best subject matter. I also know that you have to be a GREAT writer to make it work, and Chris Rose is that.Although N'awlins isn't 'home' for us, it has, and will always be a second home. We both grew up vacationing there, living there, even for a time. We both have life long friends who live there. We found out last week that we lost one of those friends, Charles Ramsey, to ALS. We both mourned the loss of everything and everyone in that great city in August of 05.But yet, we will always return. Going back just made it 'ok' in my heart, I guess, for I'm ready to make it again. The city has come back, yes, there are places that will never be the same, there are things that cannot be replaced, lives lost, families displaced, but, for the most part, NO is still the NO I remember.I cannot, however, say the same for Biloxi. That, in itself, was a whole other grieving process. So many memories, memories that I will not be able to re-create with my own, washed away that day, only to be held in my mind.Thank you, Chris Rose, for allowing me to see that it wasn't all horrible, that life will go on, and that New Orleans, as a whole, is a survivor.

Don't let the title put you off. This book, although about a tragedy, is full of humor that reminded me of David Seders in it's bite, but was like no-one else I'd read in its passionate anger for a city that's struggling to breathe after a disaster. I recently asked two writers I work with which authors they would like to emulate and why. Chris Rose was one of mine. Where he takes the reader at the end, in terms of his personal story, was surprising and the perfect way to end one of the best books I've read in years. If I had another star this would have gotten six.

I met Chris Rose in New Orleans when I joined a group for a tour around the French Quarter as he talked about music and the origin of music and the ironies associated therewith. This was on my 12th visit to New Orleans. When I found out about his book I had to read it. I understand his satire having listened to him through two of these music tours and having visited so often I recognized a lot of what he spoke about. The book contains a compilation of the articles he wrote for the newspaper he worked for regarding what happened after Katrina, the people left behind and what he experienced. The articles are sadly brilliant. I wish Chris would write again. He's a very talented individual.

Great read very sad