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Crown Journeys Series
Feet on the Street: Rambles Around New Orleans
“Betcha I can tell ya / Where ya / Got them shoooes. / Betchadollar, / Betchadollar, / Where ya / Got them shoooes. / Got your shoes on your feet, / Got your feet on the street, / And the street’s in Noo / Awlins, Loo- / Eez-ee-anna. Where I, for my part, first ate a live oyster and first saw a naked woman with the lights on. . . . Every time I go to New Orleans I am startled by something.”
So writes Roy Blount Jr. in this exuberant, character-filled saunter through a place he has loved almost his entire life—a city “like no other place in America, and yet (or therefore) the cradle of American culture.” Here we experience it all through his eyes, ears, and taste buds: the architecture, music, romance (yes, sex too), historical characters, and all that glorious food.
The book is divided into eight Rambles through different parts of the city. Each closes with lagniappe—a little bit extra, a special treat for the reader: here a brief riff on Gennifer Flowers, there a meditation on naked dancing. Roy Blount knows New Orleans like the inside of an oyster shell and is only too glad to take us to both the famous and the infamous sights. He captures all the wonderful and rich history—culinary, literary, and political—of a city that figured prominently in the lives of Jefferson Davis (who died there), Truman Capote (who was conceived there), Zora Neale Hurston (who studied voodoo there), and countless others, including Andrew Jackson, Lee Harvey Oswald, William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Jelly Roll Morton, Napoléon, Walt Whitman, O. Henry, Thomas Wolfe, Earl Long, Randy Newman, Edgar Degas, Lillian Hellman, the Boswell Sisters, and the Dixie Cups.
Above all, though, Feet on the Street is a celebration of friendship and joie de vivre in one of America’s greatest and most colorful cities, written by one of America’s most beloved humorists.
Also available as a Random House AudioBook
So writes Roy Blount Jr. in this exuberant, character-filled saunter through a place he has loved almost his entire life—a city “like no other place in America, and yet (or therefore) the cradle of American culture.” Here we experience it all through his eyes, ears, and taste buds: the architecture, music, romance (yes, sex too), historical characters, and all that glorious food.
The book is divided into eight Rambles through different parts of the city. Each closes with lagniappe—a little bit extra, a special treat for the reader: here a brief riff on Gennifer Flowers, there a meditation on naked dancing. Roy Blount knows New Orleans like the inside of an oyster shell and is only too glad to take us to both the famous and the infamous sights. He captures all the wonderful and rich history—culinary, literary, and political—of a city that figured prominently in the lives of Jefferson Davis (who died there), Truman Capote (who was conceived there), Zora Neale Hurston (who studied voodoo there), and countless others, including Andrew Jackson, Lee Harvey Oswald, William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Jelly Roll Morton, Napoléon, Walt Whitman, O. Henry, Thomas Wolfe, Earl Long, Randy Newman, Edgar Degas, Lillian Hellman, the Boswell Sisters, and the Dixie Cups.
Above all, though, Feet on the Street is a celebration of friendship and joie de vivre in one of America’s greatest and most colorful cities, written by one of America’s most beloved humorists.
Also available as a Random House AudioBook
144 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
9 people are currently reading
253 people want to read
About the author
Roy Blount Jr.
71 books66 followersRoy Blount Jr. is the author of twenty-three books. The first, About Three Bricks Shy of a Load, was expanded into About Three Bricks Shy . . . and the Load Filled Up. It is often called one of the best sports books of all time. His subsequent works have taken on a range of subjects, from Duck Soup, to Robert E. Lee, to what cats are thinking, to how to savor New Orleans, to what it’s like being married to the first woman president of the United States.
Blount is a panelist on NPR’s Wait Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me!, an ex-president of the Authors Guild, a usage consultant for the American Heritage Dictionary, a New York Public Library Literary Lion, and a member of both the Fellowship of Southern Writers and the band the Rock Bottom Remainders.
In 2009, Blount received the University of North Carolina’s Thomas Wolfe Prize. The university cited “his voracious appetite for the way words sound and for what they really mean.” Time places Blount “in the tradition of the great curmudgeons like H. L. Mencken and W. C. Fields.” Norman Mailer has said, “Page for page, Roy Blount is as funny as anyone I’ve read in a long time.” Garrison Keillor told the Paris Review, “Blount is the best. He can be literate, uncouth, and soulful all in one sentence.”
Blount’s essays, articles, stories, and verses have appeared in over one hundred and fifty publications, including the New Yorker, the New York Times, Esquire, the Atlantic, Sports Illustrated, the Oxford American, and Garden & Gun. He comes from Decatur, Georgia, and lives in western Massachusetts.
Blount is a panelist on NPR’s Wait Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me!, an ex-president of the Authors Guild, a usage consultant for the American Heritage Dictionary, a New York Public Library Literary Lion, and a member of both the Fellowship of Southern Writers and the band the Rock Bottom Remainders.
In 2009, Blount received the University of North Carolina’s Thomas Wolfe Prize. The university cited “his voracious appetite for the way words sound and for what they really mean.” Time places Blount “in the tradition of the great curmudgeons like H. L. Mencken and W. C. Fields.” Norman Mailer has said, “Page for page, Roy Blount is as funny as anyone I’ve read in a long time.” Garrison Keillor told the Paris Review, “Blount is the best. He can be literate, uncouth, and soulful all in one sentence.”
Blount’s essays, articles, stories, and verses have appeared in over one hundred and fifty publications, including the New Yorker, the New York Times, Esquire, the Atlantic, Sports Illustrated, the Oxford American, and Garden & Gun. He comes from Decatur, Georgia, and lives in western Massachusetts.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
April 14, 2024
I don’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing for the author that he wrote this book just before Hurricane Katrina. Some things about New Orleans might have gotten swept away but I think enough remains to appreciate Blount’s efforts. Some of the attitudes may be just be historical—I don’t know, I haven’t been there post-Katrina.
The book is very superficial, though funny enough. Nothing much is new if you’ve read other books about the place.
Didn’t he ramble?, Yes!
The book is very superficial, though funny enough. Nothing much is new if you’ve read other books about the place.
Didn’t he ramble?, Yes!
March 19, 2024
I was sitting in a restaurant in New Orleans with my sister and niece. We had ordered jambalaya. When the waitress put my platter down I saw that there was a crawdad lying on top of it. Yuck! I picked up my fork and pushed it off of my plate, but when I did I learned that it was alive for it started running around on the table. This caused us to scream and jump out of our chairs. The waitress came over. Then she ran into the kitchen and came out with the cook. The crawdad then jumped off the table and ran out the front door. Well, everything that happened after I flicked the crawdad off of my plate didn't happen. But I liked the story of a crawdad getting away.
After learning about jambalaya and hank Williams song when I was a kid, I learned that I do not like jambalaya. I do not like mixed meats in a plate. Maybe ham and turkey Would be good.
The author of this book believes that New Orleans is the best food in the world. He will tell you of the different restaurants that he went to and the meals that he liked bestNone of them sounded interesting to me, but they could have been very good. I don't really remember anything that I liked when in New Orleans.
The best part of this book Was his mentioning the different authors that visited the city and the books that they wrote. So I added a few of them to my To read list.
Then he talked about the sex scene in New Orleans, the sex clubs. This bored me to death And really did not seem appropriate for this book.
The most fun that I ever had in New Orleans was going on A swamp tour Where you can see the alligators. They won't hurt you if you keep your hands in the boat. He never mentions this in his Book nor does he mention VOODOO Tours. And forget about his talking about the cemetery where the VOODOO queen is buried. She must still live there and roam it at night. And there is a VOODOO store nearby. Creepy....
After learning about jambalaya and hank Williams song when I was a kid, I learned that I do not like jambalaya. I do not like mixed meats in a plate. Maybe ham and turkey Would be good.
The author of this book believes that New Orleans is the best food in the world. He will tell you of the different restaurants that he went to and the meals that he liked bestNone of them sounded interesting to me, but they could have been very good. I don't really remember anything that I liked when in New Orleans.
The best part of this book Was his mentioning the different authors that visited the city and the books that they wrote. So I added a few of them to my To read list.
Then he talked about the sex scene in New Orleans, the sex clubs. This bored me to death And really did not seem appropriate for this book.
The most fun that I ever had in New Orleans was going on A swamp tour Where you can see the alligators. They won't hurt you if you keep your hands in the boat. He never mentions this in his Book nor does he mention VOODOO Tours. And forget about his talking about the cemetery where the VOODOO queen is buried. She must still live there and roam it at night. And there is a VOODOO store nearby. Creepy....
March 31, 2013
Well, let's start with the good stuff. As a lover of New Orleans, and literature about New Orleans, I appreciate the little nuggets, historical tidbits, and anecdotes that Roy Blount, Jr. shares in this book. And I especially love the title, a nod to a favorite in the NOLA musical canon, "Didn't He Ramble."
However, a more accurate subtitle to this book would be "Ramblings somewhat about New Orleans" as opposed to "Rambles Around New Orleans." Blount constantly veers off-topic...and stays there. Maybe Blount is striving for the authenticity of actual storytelling, where you start off talking about one thing and end up somewhere else only mildly related. This approach, intentional or not, didn't work well in this text.
Actually, maybe it could've worked well if Blount veered into a topic that was still about New Orleans, instead of long-winded analyses of his friends Matthew and Slick, or whatever else. I'm all for weaving in back story and introspection, but Blount dwells on them too long.
I also loved the idea of "Lagniappe" at the end of each chapter, but more often than not, these snapshots seemed to have little do with the chapter's subject, and if so, didn't add much.
However, a more accurate subtitle to this book would be "Ramblings somewhat about New Orleans" as opposed to "Rambles Around New Orleans." Blount constantly veers off-topic...and stays there. Maybe Blount is striving for the authenticity of actual storytelling, where you start off talking about one thing and end up somewhere else only mildly related. This approach, intentional or not, didn't work well in this text.
Actually, maybe it could've worked well if Blount veered into a topic that was still about New Orleans, instead of long-winded analyses of his friends Matthew and Slick, or whatever else. I'm all for weaving in back story and introspection, but Blount dwells on them too long.
I also loved the idea of "Lagniappe" at the end of each chapter, but more often than not, these snapshots seemed to have little do with the chapter's subject, and if so, didn't add much.
August 14, 2024
This is the fifth book I've read in the Crown Journeys series. They're all idiosyncratic, but this reflection on New Orleans, written before Katrina, is disjointed impressions. At first I was disappointed that I did not know about the book before my trip to NO a few months ago, but Feet on the Street would have been of minimal value. I still recommend checking out the series, which are designed as walks around a city by an interesting writer, e.g. Kinky Friedman - Austin TX.
July 25, 2010
Beginning and ending, of course, with The River ("ending" being an operative word in this mid-2005 copyright, in that Roy muses about the imminent destruction of the city by Her Man), with everything from sweat to oysters (and more oyster) to strippers to jazz to characters in between, Roy Blount, Jr.'s brief but pungent travelogue is essential reading for any traveler headed for The Crescent City. And it's more than the author's patented but always surprising sly turns of phrase that make it more than a travelogue: FEET ON THE STREET is personal as well, with the litany of places to be, people to meet, sounds to hear, and food to eat tied together by somber remembrance of things past.
August 23, 2018
Kind of a fun little book. The chapter about the food was making me very hungry. Not so much the oysters though...
March 25, 2014
“One trick is to tell 'em stories that don't go anywhere, like the time I caught the ferry over to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe, so, I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. "Give me five bees for a quarter," you'd say. Now, where were we? Oh yeah, the important thing was I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones … “
- Grandpa Simpson (doing a spot on imitation of Roy Blount Jr.)
I’m familiar with Roy Blount Jr. because of his appearances on NPR’s Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me so I figured I’d read one of his books. I don’t know if Feet on the Street: Rambles Around New Orleans is representative of his other work, but it was a rather disappointing read.
I think the concept behind the book was that he’d walk through various areas of New Orleans and use this as a jumping off point to describe the culture, food, architecture, music, history or other bit of N’awlins lore. This isn’t a particularly novel idea, but it’s a completely serviceable organizing principle. Unfortunately, what follows is a scattershot mix that includes some of the above, plus numerous personal anecdotes that serve to illustrate very little about the city or Blount himself (except perhaps to repeatedly assure us that he is not gay and did nothing to consciously encourage the advances of those men).
The book has the dashed off feel of someone who doesn’t have all that much to say about the topic and really doesn’t want to do the hard work required to research the subject, but is going to meet that contractual deadline and word count come hell or highwater.
To add insult to injury, the book came out just before Hurricane Katrina struck the city and Blount unfortunately quotes several individuals who bluster about riding out the next big hurricane and how they ‘want to be there when it happens’. Big talk, from dumb people.
- Grandpa Simpson (doing a spot on imitation of Roy Blount Jr.)
I’m familiar with Roy Blount Jr. because of his appearances on NPR’s Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me so I figured I’d read one of his books. I don’t know if Feet on the Street: Rambles Around New Orleans is representative of his other work, but it was a rather disappointing read.
I think the concept behind the book was that he’d walk through various areas of New Orleans and use this as a jumping off point to describe the culture, food, architecture, music, history or other bit of N’awlins lore. This isn’t a particularly novel idea, but it’s a completely serviceable organizing principle. Unfortunately, what follows is a scattershot mix that includes some of the above, plus numerous personal anecdotes that serve to illustrate very little about the city or Blount himself (except perhaps to repeatedly assure us that he is not gay and did nothing to consciously encourage the advances of those men).
The book has the dashed off feel of someone who doesn’t have all that much to say about the topic and really doesn’t want to do the hard work required to research the subject, but is going to meet that contractual deadline and word count come hell or highwater.
To add insult to injury, the book came out just before Hurricane Katrina struck the city and Blount unfortunately quotes several individuals who bluster about riding out the next big hurricane and how they ‘want to be there when it happens’. Big talk, from dumb people.
March 11, 2015
I've been on Roy Blount kick lately, rereading several of his books. I read this one when it came out in 2005, and I enjoyed it even more this time around. When it comes to New Orleans, I put myself in the same category as Blount - a frequent visitor over many years who loves the city and knows it pretty well. Feet on the Street might not satisfy natives of the Crescent City, but just about everything rang true to me.
The book was written just before Katrina, and speculation about "the big one" that every New Orleanian knew was coming sooner or later shows up in several chapters; Blount's description of the likely flood in his last few pages is strikingly prescient. A few of his favorite spots, like The Funky Butt club on Rampart Street, didn't survive Katrina, and the much-loved Uglesich's Restaurant is now closed, but otherwise, New Orleans is much the same as Blount describes it.
The penultimate chapter, "Friends," is something else - more personal and touching than the rest of the book. Blount weaves a couple of tales of friendship and regret from his past, giving us a deeper understanding of the author and his relationship to the city.
If you've ever been to my favorite city, or if you think you might want to go, read this book.
The book was written just before Katrina, and speculation about "the big one" that every New Orleanian knew was coming sooner or later shows up in several chapters; Blount's description of the likely flood in his last few pages is strikingly prescient. A few of his favorite spots, like The Funky Butt club on Rampart Street, didn't survive Katrina, and the much-loved Uglesich's Restaurant is now closed, but otherwise, New Orleans is much the same as Blount describes it.
The penultimate chapter, "Friends," is something else - more personal and touching than the rest of the book. Blount weaves a couple of tales of friendship and regret from his past, giving us a deeper understanding of the author and his relationship to the city.
If you've ever been to my favorite city, or if you think you might want to go, read this book.
January 7, 2013
I listened to this as an audio book during my drive to New Orleans. It was a wonderful series of essays on what Blount enjoys and learns from NOLA. He writes beautifully about the food, architecture, history, and people, and really brings the city alive for the reader. I definitely recommend this book to anyone planning to visit New Orleans, or who simply enjoys travel memoirs.
February 7, 2020
I've enjoyed Blount's writings in Garden and Gun, and I love New Orleans, so I was looking forward to this book. After reading it, I'm not sure what I read. There was some disappointment involved. I get the "rambling" nature and style, as indicated in the title, but it just seemed disjointed and disconnected. I feel like I must have missed something. Maybe I'll read it again another time.
April 18, 2008
Hmmm. I've only been to NOLA once but had a great time. This book is choppy, odd, insufficient, not particularly enlightening or useful. I wouldn't recommend it.
September 20, 2009
Good when he talks about food in noo or-lee-ans ... sleazy when he gets to talking about sleaze ... not worth reading by pg. 100.
November 1, 2016
I wanted to like this because I like New Orleans. It was a lot about him and a little about New Orleans.
December 21, 2017
I’ve had this book since it was published in 2005. Just now got around to reading it. Really good. Introduction is spooky when you realize what happened in September 2005.
December 17, 2021
And now I'm hungry.
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Reread for upcoming trip.
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Reread for upcoming trip.
August 14, 2018
This book made me nostalgic for the old New Orleans. It's changed a lot after Katrina, mainly with a lot of gentrification. Blount writes a good chapter on the characters you see in the French Quarter. That was fun because I remembered several of them, especially Ruthie, and older lady who roller skated through the French Quarter every night while wearing an evening gown and hat and with a live duck running after her. The last few times I've been to New Orleans, the fun characters are no longer there. Of course, most were old back in the day but they haven't been replaced by new ones. I think the rent in the French Quarter priced them out. It used to be cheap but now it's expensive.
Oh, I thought of a character. There's a tall, skinny African-American man who dresses like Uncle Sam and has a little stuffed dog smoking a cigar on a leash. The gentleman is hilarious and will ham it up when you photograph him.
Roy Blount Jr.'s book will make those of us who knew New Orleans back in the day miss the city that was. It's still fun, but it's not the same.
Oh, I thought of a character. There's a tall, skinny African-American man who dresses like Uncle Sam and has a little stuffed dog smoking a cigar on a leash. The gentleman is hilarious and will ham it up when you photograph him.
Roy Blount Jr.'s book will make those of us who knew New Orleans back in the day miss the city that was. It's still fun, but it's not the same.
May 1, 2022
Kind of a fun quirky book I read on a recent trip to New Orleans…had I not been in New Orleans, there would have been much of it that had no real meaning to be, but as it was, it was satirical and interesting. There are sections I skimmed…just like there are parts of New Orleans I skimmed, those that didn’t strike my fancy.
The author loves oysters.
The author loves oysters.
December 11, 2018
Helped me remember why I am a vegetarian; talks a lot about food. The first half of discusses many books and movies;the last half doesn't have the impact of the first half. Provides information about food venues. A different view of NOLA.
February 16, 2023
Very entertaining travel memoir, lots of history and pop culture name-dropping. Most interesting: published 2005 just barely pre-Katrina, and begins and ends with thoughts on the inevitable Big Flood to come.
January 30, 2019
Read this before an upcoming trip to New Orleans and i sure hope it is better than this book! This was the weirdest, most bizarre book i have ever read! I am not quite sure what i just listened to...
August 25, 2019
I wanted to love it because the tone was light and the passion is obviously there, but it was just a mess. Still, looking forward to visiting New Orleans for the first time!
October 5, 2023
terrible. not much about new orleans and a lot about the author. too bad. could've been really good. 👎
September 26, 2020
A nice look at the special world that is New Orleans, covering the city's relationship with food, people, race, sex, and history. The book was published in early 2005 and talks about "the big one" [hurricane] that will come some day and how it will not affect the flavor of New Orleans. Also mentions the 1927 hurricane where the property of the rich was spared because they purposely redirected the flood waters onto the homes of the poor (I assume by breaching the levees). Would love to hear the author's thoughts since Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005, because I think the city did lose quite a bit, but that may have been due to the indifferent response of the government as much as to the storm itself. And I now understand better why there are those who think the levees in the 9th Ward were deliberately breached -- historical precedent.
Looking forward to reading others in this series, since it was a quick read that covered a lot of ground and the author clearly was well acquainted with many facets of the city.
Well -- that review was apparently from my first read of this book (dated April 2013), which has caused me to downgrade my rating slightly since I had no memory of having read it before, not even while reading it this time. And, while I do agree that the book discussed the possibility of The Big One and I wondered what his thoughts would be post-Katrina, I don't remember the bit about the 1927 levee breach from having just read this book. In this read-through I was mostly struck by his interaction with people (his first experience as a young man with a same-sex overture by a friend, for instance) and his poetic recitation of the great foods of New Orleans, as well as his entire chapter on the sexual aspects of the city. I would have thought that if I had read any of those before they would have stuck with me. I almost suspect I have conflated two different books.
Looking forward to reading others in this series, since it was a quick read that covered a lot of ground and the author clearly was well acquainted with many facets of the city.
Well -- that review was apparently from my first read of this book (dated April 2013), which has caused me to downgrade my rating slightly since I had no memory of having read it before, not even while reading it this time. And, while I do agree that the book discussed the possibility of The Big One and I wondered what his thoughts would be post-Katrina, I don't remember the bit about the 1927 levee breach from having just read this book. In this read-through I was mostly struck by his interaction with people (his first experience as a young man with a same-sex overture by a friend, for instance) and his poetic recitation of the great foods of New Orleans, as well as his entire chapter on the sexual aspects of the city. I would have thought that if I had read any of those before they would have stuck with me. I almost suspect I have conflated two different books.
July 22, 2016
This was a fun, slight book that I decided I needed to read before my trip to New Orleans. I have enjoyed all the books I have read by Roy Blount, Jr. and this was no exception. Blount writes well, is funny and seemingly only writes about things that he has thought long and hard about. New Orleans has been part of his life for many years and he visits often.
The timing for this book could not have been worse. It was published in 2005 just before Katrina hit New Orleans. I kept wondering how many of the places Blount found worthy of description still exist in the battered city. Also there are sections in the book about when the big hurricane strikes and what the residents of New Orleans would have to deal with at that time. It was weird reading those parts knowing all that happened when Katrina came to New Orleans.
I recommend this book to folks who love New Orleans that they might recognize some of the places Blount loves; to people like me who have not been there that they might see what makes people love New Orleans and to anyone who likes to walk around cities that they might see the possibilities in walking in New Orleans.
The timing for this book could not have been worse. It was published in 2005 just before Katrina hit New Orleans. I kept wondering how many of the places Blount found worthy of description still exist in the battered city. Also there are sections in the book about when the big hurricane strikes and what the residents of New Orleans would have to deal with at that time. It was weird reading those parts knowing all that happened when Katrina came to New Orleans.
I recommend this book to folks who love New Orleans that they might recognize some of the places Blount loves; to people like me who have not been there that they might see what makes people love New Orleans and to anyone who likes to walk around cities that they might see the possibilities in walking in New Orleans.
April 12, 2014
Feet on the Street: Rambles Around New Orleans by Roy Blount, Jr. We are planning on visiting New Orleans way in the future so I have been looking at travel guides and maps and stumbled across this marvelous walk about N.O. This fun guide around town is divided into several chunks but the best deal with food!
Blount seems to know his town, or at least, the Quarter. It seems like he has hiked every street there is and there are plenty of them. He was a reporter for a while for the Times-Picayune and so I imagine he has visited a lot of corners that us average tourists would never check.
I also suspect that Roy Blount is one of those guys who can strike up a conversation with a stranger which is probably a good thing. I can't wait to give it a try!
Blount seems to know his town, or at least, the Quarter. It seems like he has hiked every street there is and there are plenty of them. He was a reporter for a while for the Times-Picayune and so I imagine he has visited a lot of corners that us average tourists would never check.
I also suspect that Roy Blount is one of those guys who can strike up a conversation with a stranger which is probably a good thing. I can't wait to give it a try!
April 2, 2008
If you know a little about NOLA, this short, quirkly read has a lot to offer. While the author's style is a bit like listening to a grandfather tell what could be an incredibly hilarious and crazy tale...only he constantly interrupts himself to share not-so-interesting and/or not-so-coherent asides, there is plenty of New Orleans in there to keep you reading. And, at less than 150 pages, you are through it in no time. He knows his bars, he knows the streets, and he knows oysters. Yum.
I suspect other books from this series are worth a look as well (Rome, Chicago, Portland, Oakland, Prague, etc.)
I suspect other books from this series are worth a look as well (Rome, Chicago, Portland, Oakland, Prague, etc.)
July 17, 2009
It was good, but I've read better books about NOLA. I would, howver, like to share some eerie, prophetic passages, as the book was published about 7 months before the levee failures.
"When the big hurricane hits-and it will, New Orleanians assure you, with what suffices locally for civic pride-the waters will finally rise over the shell and inundate the town, killing tens of thousands." p. 13
"Many New Orleanians, in what suffices locally for prudence, have taken the precaution, officially urged by what suffices locally for civil authority, of keeping an ax in the attic. So they can chop a hole up through the roof, when the time comes, and rise above the flood." pp.13-14
"When the big hurricane hits-and it will, New Orleanians assure you, with what suffices locally for civic pride-the waters will finally rise over the shell and inundate the town, killing tens of thousands." p. 13
"Many New Orleanians, in what suffices locally for prudence, have taken the precaution, officially urged by what suffices locally for civil authority, of keeping an ax in the attic. So they can chop a hole up through the roof, when the time comes, and rise above the flood." pp.13-14
April 26, 2014
At times I was very frustrated with Blount's style, though I was fascinated enough to stay with him. The section on orphans and oysters had me. Blount is a little more elaborate of a story-teller than I'm used to. About the second to last chapter, in which he describes a first (possibly only) encounter with a male friend's advances, I was convinced that Blount is an honest, unpretentious, and insightful writer whose work I will need to read more of to challenge my conventional reading choices. I was expecting a little more dry, Frommers-style city info, but happily discovered a much more personal account of the writer's travels.
Read
August 9, 2012This is the first book by Blount that I have read. I have lived in New Orleans for three years and feel like he gave a good taste of it. It's interesting to think about this book being published just a few months before Hurricane Katrina - especially when you read the last couple of pages.
There were parts I enjoyed, others I felt unnecessarily vulgar - but that's NOLA. It was aptly named since there was a lot of rambling which sometimes made it difficult to remember what he had been talking about or the characters he introduced.
Quick read...
There were parts I enjoyed, others I felt unnecessarily vulgar - but that's NOLA. It was aptly named since there was a lot of rambling which sometimes made it difficult to remember what he had been talking about or the characters he introduced.
Quick read...
December 4, 2015
"Feet on the Street" is a eery read - because it was written before Hurricane Katrina - but references what is going to happen to New Orleans - after "The Big One". I am pretty much a New Orleans book connoisseur, and although it is a fun read, I can recommend better books about my favorite place in the whole world. That being said, Roy Blunt Jr is pretty funny and after getting groped by the TSA, this would make a good airplane read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews