Review: Tom Piazza's "City of Refuge"

I have a review of Tom Piazza's new novel, City of Refuge, in today's Washington Post.

This was a weird review to write for a few reasons. First, Piazza based his characters on some pretty recognizable folks, one of whom I know and several of whom are pretty recognizable. (Tom himself I've met exactly once, many years ago.) Second: I was reading the book while evacuated for Hurricane Gustav, in the same city where several of the characters evacuated during Hurricane Katrina...on the third anniversary of Katrina. Not an experience I want to repeat again in any respect.

Anyway, it's a pretty good novel. I just wouldn't recommend reading it when you're evacuated from a hurricane.

Comments

[Michael H.]

Kevin,

Great review. I'm also in exile from Katrina, in the D.C. area. Your review has convinced me to go out and buy the book. Especially evocative is the next-to-last graf:

"But Craig and SJ, different as they are, have one thing in common: They're stuck in place, unable to move on from New Orleans, unable to move back. For them, Chicago and Houston are mental dislocations as much as physical ones. That feeling of rootlessness is the central theme of "City of Refuge," and for anyone whose life has been upended by natural disaster, the novel's sense of being out of place will resonate just as loudly as it did in 'Why New Orleans Matters.''"

Yeah, Kevin. It resonates - loudly.
Thanks,
Michael

[Kate Mooney]

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