The House on Coliseum Street

by Shirley Ann Grau

Twenty-year-old Joan Mitchell has lived her entire life in the stately New Orleans house on Coliseum Street, where her mother and half sister have steadily undermined her self-regard. To Joan, her fate seems sealed and strangely inconsequential. Then a brief affair with Michael Kern, a man she knows to be a cad but is drawn to anyway, unfurls for her a surreal sequence of events -- pregnancy, an abortion, and eventually withdrawal into a numbed existence. Only a growing obsession with Michael and a yearning to fill her cavernous loneliness spur Joan to any premeditated action. An intricate psychological novel that plumbs the pain and rage born of identity and volition suppressed, The House on Coliseum Street is an arresting, somber story that transcends period and place even as it so immediately evokes New Orleans in the late 1950s.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Southern, Novels, Womens, Literary Fiction, Family

242 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Shirley Ann Grau (b. 1929) is a Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist of nine novels and short story collections, whose work is set primarily in her native South. Grau was raised in Alabama and Louisiana, and many of her novels document the broad social changes of the Deep South during the twentieth century, particularly as they affected African Americans. Grau’s first novel, The Hard Blue Sky (1958), about the descendants of European pioneers living on an island off the coast of Louisiana, established her as a master of vivid description, both for characters and locale, a style she maintained throughout her career. Her public profile rose during the civil rights movement, when her dynastic novel Keepers of the House (1964), which dealt with race relations in Alabama, earned her a Pulitzer Prize.

Reviews

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I turned to this novel because I have read many of Shirley Ann Grau's novels and have enjoyed them tremendously. If you are interested in the South she is a must read. She was born in 1929, won a Pulitzer in 1965 for her The Keepers of the House. My favorite though is The Hard Blue Sky, followed closely by The Condor Passes, then this or The Keepers of the House . Heavens, they are all good. I prefer long over short novels and any novel is better than a short story, for me that is. That I enjoyed this short novel, The House on Coliseum Street, so much says something about her writing skills. It is the writing, not the book's topic that attracts. With her words she draws the South so you feel it with all your senses. She creates dialogs that are pitch-perfect. Her characters feel real, even if they are not typical. What they do and what they say are perfect for them.

As stated, it was not the topic that drew me to the book. Joan Mitchell is 20, unmarried and pregnant. You know right in the beginning that she will have an abortion. The story is about why. How did this come about? Who decided? And why did that person decide? The unborn child's father (Michael), what did he want.....and what did he say? Joan, her mother (Aurelie), her younger sister (Doris), Michael and one more, Joan's fiancé (Fred), all of these are carefully drawn so what happens is understood. Human beings don't act in a vacuum. There is also Joan's fourth stepfather - living in the same house on the top floors but completely separated from them. Aurelie has been married five times! Each time one child was born. What Grau has done is create a family, thrown in some boyfriends, and we watch them interact. This is a psychological novel with the characters, the time and the place all superbly drawn.

The author made me curious from the very first pages.

Let's call this a coming of age story, not about a young teenager, but rather the complicated process of standing on your own two feet. Knowing who you are. Having the strength to make your own decisions. This doesn't happen in the teens, it doesn't happen overnight and it isn't easy. How we get to this point will always be influenced by those around us.

The audiobook narration by Tamara Marston was excellent. The characters have such different personalities. This is wonderfully mirrored in their voices. The speed is perfect and the book is simple to follow. Wait till you hear Aurelie, Joan and her sister Doris! Two sisters. You love your sister, right? Well you may also despise her, particularly if one steals a boyfriend from the other. Curious? Well, read or listen to the book. It’s very good.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A psychological study of a young woman's reaction to a traumatic event when she realizes her mother and aunt are going to pretend it never happened. Well done. The domineering, emotionally distant, proper mother is particularly well drawn. The atmosphere of New Orleans in the '50s is nicely evoked, but never gets in the way of the character and her story.

Update after reread (Oct 22, 2013): This time I was struck by the indictment of old-money Uptown New Orleans and of course the time period's prevailing attitude toward sex, as if young people weren't engaging in it. It's quite scathing under the surface, like the smell of rats the main character notices one night. I look forward to the group discussion of this being led by Gary Richards on Nov. 2 at the Louisiana Book Festival.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The House on Coliseum Street

I wasn't so sure about the first half of this book but the second half really grabbed me. I always love reading about my beautiful city of New Orleans and when an author like Shirley Ann Grau who grew up and lives here writes about it you definitely can not go wrong. The characters, the streets, the trees and the weather are just right on. I'll be reading more of her novels.

[Mary Eve · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Dysfunction on Coliseum Street"

Would you try another book from Shirley Ann Grau and/or Tamara Marston?

I'm going to try another book by Grau even though my first selection was very disappointing. I mean, Grau won a Pulitzer for her 1964 saga THE KEEPERS OF THE HOUSE. Maybe I just started with the wrong book. It was incredibly boring. I don't want to fault Tamara Marston for Grau's mistakes. Marston has a nice, soothing voice which normally makes nighttime listening very pleasant. (Like a child needing a bedtime story, I often listen to audio books as I'm drifting off to sleep.) Marston did a decent job of separating the assembled cast of characters. Again, I hate to blame a narrator for an author's lack of interesting content. Over all, this was a terribly unadventurous southern tale. If 2017 was the year of empowered women, this 1961 publication drags women back to 1950. So many details were skipped over. It felt unfinished, very anticlimactic and bitter.


What could Shirley Ann Grau have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Well, for starters, I don't expect authors to write a story to appease me. Do your thing, Shirley. Obviously you know what you're doing. But...there was way too much of this (and I'm totally making up an example for effect): 

"Hi," said Joan.
"Hey!" said Doris.
"Where ya going?" said Ora Lee
"Crazy," said Joan. "Especially if I have to hear she said/she said one more time"...SAID JOAN. (face plant) 


Why did Grau choose to make the characters claim every darn sentence? Drove me nuts! There could've been a lot less of that. Said Mary.


Would you listen to another book narrated by Tamara Marston?

I would listen to another performance by Marston. I believe in second chances. Marston did a fine job with Joan, the main character. Marston was convincing as Ora Lee, Joan's detached mother, who thought herself to be a fine southern lady. I thought she was a southern bitch. The women in THE HOUSE ON COLISEUM STREET are shallow and selfish. Ora Lee collects husbands like I collect books. Of course, Mom prefers the hubster to have a large bank account. Love is an afterthought.


What character would you cut from The House on Coliseum Street?

Very little actually occurred in this entire story but I believe every character played a significant role. Without the other, it's simply impossible to imagine this would have gone much further. If I positively had to cut a character I'd choose Ora Lee's husband Dr. Herbert. He's the only person that could be eliminated without detracting from events. I feel like he's just written into the storyline to show that Ora Lee is incapable to care for others.


Any additional comments?

Skip this book. It will not enrich your life. I was utterly moody and depressed whilst listening to this sad family throw it all away. My experience with this audio book felt like a chore. I can't believe I managed to complete the listen. In fact, I'm rewarding myself 5⭐ for patience.


P.S.- New Orleans is my happy place. I always enjoy strolling through Uptown or the colorful, flamboyant French Quarter. It's a very unique city. While Grau does a nice job capturing specific aspects of the lovely Big Easy, it's not the best love letter. Grau throws in familiar sights and sounds, even smells. Ah, jasmine and sweet olive. However, I can't help feeling a longing to escape. Contradiction abounds. When one is in NoLa the last thing ya wanna do is leave.

[Carolyn Stevens Shank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shirley Ann Grau was is an important voice in the 20th literature of the American South, and more specifically to the category known as "Southern Gothic". "The House on Coliseum Street" is a somber psychological study about suppressed volition and identity. The antagonist, 22-year old Jane Mitchell, lives with an oppressive mother and an undermining half sister in the New Orleans mansion she has inherited from her father, one of her mother's several divorced husbands. Jane's very brief affair with the cad, Michael Kern, leaves her pregnant. With little regard for her daughter, Jane's self-centered mother quickly arranges a secret abortion in the neighboring state of Mississippi, where Jane is a social unknown. After the procedure, recovering at her Aunt's home in Mississippi, Jane is isolated,loveless, depressed and lonely. By tacit agreement, neither the Aunt nor Jane's social-climber mother acknowledges the "shameful" circumstances surrounding Jane's absence from New Orleans and her eventual return. Jane retreats into a numbed existence, characterized by the sameness of her days, and the nothingness of her life. Her aloneness leads her into an obsessive interest in her one-night-stand "lover," Michael Kern. Jane mindlessly stalks him, clandestinely watching his apartment, seaching for clues into his life which will serve as some sort of bond between them. But Jane finds no relief for the excruciating emptiness of her life. This book was published in 1961 and is evocative of the sexual mores of the 50's, when pregnancy outside marriage was a social stigma and abortions were illegal. For all its bleakness, this book is beautifully written: painful to read, but hard to put down.

[Betsy Garside · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cringe-inducing characters, but so believable. The women of 1960s in New Orleans are right there in the living room with you, and they are bored, limited in their lives, and not very nice because of that.

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this book did something that I thought was not possible...it made me homesick for New Orleans. She beautifully evokes the sights, sounds and smells of Uptown, interweaving them between a somewhat insubstantial story that contains the usual suspects in Southern writing, including the madman in the attic. Having lived in New Orleans for 38 years, I found this to be a wonderfully enjoyable book...but not sure what my take on it would have been under different circumstances.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very short book. I have read it twice. Set in New Orleans. I recommend it. Especially if you like Carson McCullars type stories.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haunting, poetic, and masterful. I beautiful portrayal of 1950s New Orleans.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it. Story about how a woman allows others (i.e. mother) to make life decisions for her, and eventually learns to takes charge of her life.

[Karoline Dejarnette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written story set in conservative & monied New Orleans in the late 1950's about a self-centered mother and her oldest daughters reaction to traumatic events. I really enjoyed this book.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a psychological novel about a woman without a real life, a woman drifting through her life in late 1950’s New Orleans like a leaf in a light breeze. And while a leaf is inconsequential, a woman should not be so. And I enjoyed reading this book.

Joan Mitchell is twenty-one years old, a sometime student at the nearby university. Her mother Aurelie, of Creole French extraction, has had five husbands, and has produced five daughters, one by each husband. The house was the property of the first husband, who wrote his will so that the statue on one side of the front walk, the fountain on the other side of the walk, and his daughter inheriting the house and his money, are all set in stone. Aurelie has much more in common with her second daughter, Doris, who spends most of her time playing tennis and going on dates. Daughters #3, #4, and #5 are all at summer camp. Aurelie insists on those in the house at any given time (except for Husband #5, who lives on the third floor and drinks whiskey all day) coming to breakfast; otherwise, she lets her daughters do whatever they want. Joan is more or less engaged to Fred Aleman; at any rate, he is the only person she ever dates. The book starts with Joan at her great-aunt’s house in coastal Mississippi, near Pass Christian, after something has happened that both her mother and her sister choose to ignore; she goes back to New Orleans with Aurelie and Fred, and the story picks up again in the June some months ago, when Joan decided to go on a date with Michael Kern, an instructor at the university who is a friend of Joan’s sister Doris who, after their date ends, is obviously going to go have a date with someone else. After her relationship with Michael comes to its climax, Joan begins drifting; after her return to the City in late September, she devotes herself to an obsession with Michael and to slowly destroying his life, without really developing her own life in any way.

This book is quite evocative of the dreamy New Orleans style of life, but Joan is what she is, not because of New Orleans, but because of her New Orleans Family. And I enjoyed reading this book.

[Alonzo Church · Rating 4 out of 5]

She lay back on the bed and closed her eyes and thought great cloudy thoughts and felt sadness run over her in huge predictable waves like the surf.

Every now and then she spoke out loud to herself. "It’s hell to be alive" she told herself, "and it would be hell to be dead too”

Welcome to 1961 New Orleans in Summer. Hot, aimless, poetically rendered. And welcome to the world of Joan Mitchell, always viewed from outside. Joan is passive. She gets drunk. She has sex with a professor, as well as the suitable boyfriend. The family is garden variety dysfunctional, as Mom is on her fifth husband, the vaguely unwanted sisters are off at camp, and Joan’s thoughts turn to ennui.

Events do happen, of course, and an abortion is arranged for Joan. Not an easy thing in 1961. Afterwards, beautifully phrased denial sets in, and Joan acts unaccountably. But not much differently than before, frankly. Why is she acting this way? This is literature, not just a book on the train so you have to figure that one out.

Beautifully written, with a great sense of place. But there sure as heck is not a lot going on, and this meticulously rendered vision of New Orleans is missing its black people.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can only imagine the reception this book received in 1961. Actually if you look up the 1961 NY Times review you can see. The reviewer writes that the “theme is careless love and female bitchery.” Referring to the breakfast scenes the reviewer says the conversations are “coarse” and “unprintable.” He sums up the novel in one word: “rubbish.” Um, excuse me? Joan is a woman trapped in the southern lifestyle expected of young women. As the reviewer even states, Joan takes college courses for “something to do.” Why yes, Mr. White Male Professor, Joan is expected to just find a husband, which is rubbish, but Joan is not really interested in that. What IS she to do…..Who’s her role model? Her mother whose been married five times? She feels confined and bored. Trapped. Lost. She has no one to think through her unwanted pregnancy. She knows the father is not the husband type. But she’s not even in love with him. Honestly, she knows it wasn’t a good decision to sleep with him. She doesn’t know what she’s supposed to do. After the abortion is when the author truly exposes the loneliness Joan feels. The pride is palpable and sad.

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was encouraged to read this by a writing workshop leader for all the sentient details the author includes. I did enjoy that. You can feel, see, smell, and taste the settings. Living in New Orleans, I knew the places described and it was very real and intimate.

As a reader, I liked the first half to three quarters of the book, although the main character seems a bit distant from the reader (likely by design). I didn't necessarily like her or empathize with her, but I enjoyed her story.

Towards the end, the story takes an unexpected path, something that definitely makes it "literary fiction" rather than romance or just plain fiction. I get that, but that doesn't mean it was satisfying to me. I didn't want everything tied in a bow or neatly finished, but I also wasn't comfortable with where it went.

I did enjoy the disfunctionality of the family. That felt very real.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up secondhand having enjoyed Keepers of the House. A very different book, the first half brainless Southern States chiclit, I almost dumped it and gave 1*. Just over half way through it changes into a more interesting grown-up read, still not great though. Very short, about 3 1/2 hours, I'm sort of glad I perservered. My copy has pencil notes so someone must have thought it worth studying.

[J.C. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very atmospheric; the feel and smell of New Orleans’ heat are genuinely evoked.  The languid passivity of the heroine provoked me.  She was so aimless and disinterested in anything or anyone, just going along with whatever happened.  I was glad she finally took action at the very end, at least; a college professor who seduces teenagers should be reported.

[Marilyn Geary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haunting story set in the 1950's that i couldn't put down. I didn't enjoy the book, as i prefer more cheerful reads, but i was compelled to read straight through to the finish. A house of women, existing unhappily together, making each other miserable, and the men who come into their orbit. Told from the viewpoint of the eldest daughter, who's grip on reality is dubious.

[Mary Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful story of a young lady's insulated life and how she finally comes to act of her own volition. Southern Gothic at it's finest.

Also loved The Keepers of the House. I will read anything written by Shirley Ann Grau.

[Bridget · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing, don't bother

[Sally Kenney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reminded me of The Awakening or Madame Bovary--languid, rudderless southern women. A little surprising its view of sexuality in Newcomb days.

[Nancy (Colorado) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt no resolution at the end of the book.

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grau knew New Orleans, having been born there and spending some of her later years there, so she captured the feel of 1950’s New Orleans perfectly. This novel was published in 1961 so we have to keep that in mind when we read about the main character, Joan, unmarried, becoming pregnant. With a mother and sister who continually chip away at her, Joan starts to feel invisible and increasingly inconsequential, becoming more untethered and obsessed.

[Marina Kahn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This the chosen book to read for September by my book club. I must say it was extremely hard to find a copy as it's out of print. It wasn't available at any of the local bookstores which was amazing because Shirley Ann Grau is a local writer from the big easy. So I finally located a copy through Amazon (a used one at that). Luckily it's a very short book and I was able to finish it in time. Now, regarding the review it's beautifully written and truly evokes the Crescent City during the summer time and life among the uptown set. However, it felt like a soap opera, definitely a Southern Gothic tale about a dysfunctional family living in an old mansion trying to keep up the appearance that they are still well to do. The mother is horrid, a virago, who has used and married several husbands to keep up appearances and now is left with five daughters from five husbands. Of course the daughters must suffer. However, I didn't mind the mother so much, at least she had spunk and drive, but very oppressive, domineering and pushy. Ah, but the daughters, unfortunately, none of them are likeable. The main character Joan is wishy washy, has suppressed her true feelings and identity. Joan drifts aimlessly about the house, looking for love in all the wrong places, stalking her ex-boyfriend and ignoring her fiance and passive aggressive towards her mother, aunt and sisters.
Her half sister, is also self centered, jealous and tries to undermine Joan.
I don't know, this book left me sad, I know it reflected the mores and times in the South during the fifties but I couldn't wait to finish it.
A side note, what was the purpose of the existence of the fifth husband in the book, I don't think he added to the story - other than to show how callous Aurelei could be.

[Cathryn Conroy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in 1961 about a young woman in 1950s New Orleans, this book must have generated great controversy when it was first published. Joan, who is in college but just taking random classes and not working for a degree, has a sure, steady and boring beau named Fred that everyone assumes will result in marriage. Then she has a fling with Michael, and one thing leads to another and Joan is pregnant. Her all-efficient, Southern mother--the classic steel magnolia--arranges a safe abortion.

But no one talks about what happened, so much so that it's as if it never happened. Except for one thing: Joan can't deny it happened. The story focuses on her fragile psyche and the shocking thing she finally does to deal with it all, heal in body and mind and move on with her life.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Shirley Ann Grau has written a story of the South, a story of the strength of Southern women and most of all a story of courage. It is heartbreaking, magnificent and inspired. "The House on Coliseum Street" will grab you at page one and not let go--and will haunt your thoughts long after you have finished.

[Patsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Interesting and Entertaining Novel

Written and set in New Orleans, LA in the 1950's, this is an excellent novel that would have raised some eyebrows during the 50's era. A Mother that had five daughters each by a different father. This story is about a young girl, Joan Mitchell that finds herself with child and is unwed, she doesn't know who to turn to for help. Also, it covers the impact it has on her throughout her life.

This story is very predictable but as you read keep in mind when it was written. The author did a wonderful job of describing the characters, the time period, and bringing this story together. I enjoy this author's books. Ms Shirley Ann Grau is wonderful author and has many books on the Market, mostly written about the Deep South. The plot was good and the characters all came alive. I would recommend this book to everyone.

[Marilyn Ostermiller · Rating 4 out of 5]

With this Southern Gothic novel, Shirley Ann Grau expertly wraps her readers in a 1950s New Orleans cocoon. It was not so very long ago, yet revisiting the social mores of the times is startling. Abortion was illegal, but wealthy families could arrange a safe one with a couple of well-placed phone calls. Twenty-two year old Joan Mitchell was spirited away one Sunday morning before neighbors or house staff would know anything out of the ordinary was about to occur. The taking of "the tiny point of life" was never mentioned, not even to Joan's half-sister. In the wrenching afterwards Joan is haunted mercilessly. How she resolves her repressed emotions fascinates.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is some gothic southern gothic. I didn't know they published books with this topic - except referred to very peripherally & scandalously - in 1961. I spent the whole novel wondering if it only got through publication because of the writer's reputation and because the protagonist becomes a "crazy" female character.

She's only doing what's expected of her though. Joan did what her mother and her boyfriends and probably her deceased father expected her to do. Anything outside of that she hides.

[Robbi Leah Freeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author is very talented. Her descriptions are beautiful. This is the story of a young woman and her relationships with her mom, sisters and boys. Also it focuses on the tough topic of abortion and the psychology of a woman who goes through with it.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars because the book is so well written- otherwise, it would be two stars because there was a point where I stopped connecting with the protagonist and almost abandoned the novella completely.