Book Description

Print and public-radio journalist Wagner describes rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina...Despite Kafkaesque experiences with the infamous bureaucratic mess that threatened to undo New Orleans once and for all, the couple held on to their optimism for the city and their little piece of it. Wagner captures the nostalgia, the heartbreak and the friendships spawned in Katrina's turbulent aftermath with raw emotional honesty free of sentimentality. Unflinching, humorous and heartfelt. --Kirkus Reviews The cliché New Orleans gets into people's blood happens to be very true–just not always convenient. For Cheryl Wagner, along with her indie-band boyfriend, a few eccentric pals, and two aging basset hounds, abandoning the city she loved wasn't an option. This is the story of Cheryl's disturbing surprise view from her front porch after she moved back home to find everything she treasured in shambles. . .and her determined, absurd, and darkly funny three-year journey of trying to piece it all back together. In the same heartfelt and hilarious voice that has drawn thousands of listeners to her broadcasts on Public Radio International's This American Life, Wagner shares her unique yet universal story of rebuilding a life after it's been flooded, dried, and died. . . "Dark, funny, generous and jarring--occasionally tragic but never sentimental." --Paul Tough, author of Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America "A wonderful, touching, thoughtful, crazy, loving book." --Frederick Barthelme, author of Waveland and eleven other works of fiction including Elroy Nights, a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and a New York Times Notable Book "A wild, blood and guts lived-to-tell-all memoir." --Porochista Khakpour, author of Sons and Other Flammable Objects "The book would be heartbreaking if it weren't so funny, so clear-eyed, and so beautifully fierce." --James Whorton Jr., author of Frankland "I love it." -- Pete Jordan, author of Dishwasher: One Man's Quest to Wash Dishes in Fifty States "Imagine if Jack Kerouac had lived through the flood and wrote you a long, personal letter from the wreckage." --Jonathan Goldstein, author of Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bible! and Host of CBC's and PRI's radio show WireTap "Wagner writes with honesty and humor." --Annie Choi, author of Happy Birthday or Whatever "A work of art, unsparing of everything, including itself." --Jack Pendarvis, author of Awesome