Book Club! In Short Reviews.
Book Club! In Short Reviews is Hummingbird’s new book review series. We say “Book Club” because we really want to get a conversation going if you are so inclined! Please feel free to comment in the “Comments” section below the byline or by clicking here and sending it to us. We will repost the review with your comments. We are trying this shortened format because we know everyone is so busy—with their “usual” life and then post-pandemic life piled on top! We are only posting recommended reads. Let us know what you think. All reviews are by Hummingbird contributors.
The Yellow House
by Sarah M. Broom
The Yellow House is really a "tale of two cities." New Orleans, the romantic version that incorporates the beautiful homes and gardens of the City, and then the impoverished and decaying New Orleans East, where the yellow house was located.
Katrina forced the telling of this story. It literally blew the house (and all of New Orleans East) apart, letting the light shine on the truth regarding the disparity and/or lack of fairness, prevalent over decades, between the affluent white population and the poor and minority people that lived there too. The story is told by the author as narrator, chronicling her own experiences of living and growing up in the yellow house, along with those of her mother and eleven siblings. While there are some warm family remembrances, most of the book tells the tale of suffering and inequity that culminated in flood waters, crumbling, and devastation. The Yellow House is a metaphor for it all.
Truth be told, the house, although the yellow house represented the worth one feels in owning their own home no matter how ramshackle, was doomed from its inception. The story is not a fun read--but provides a necessary insight into the underbelly of New Orleans. Sometimes the truth is hard to take.
Reviewed by Barry Novick
