Voices from the Storm, is the story of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, 2005, as told by some of the survivors. We follow the lives of 13 people, before, during and after the storm. Most are from the poor, black communities, that couldn't evacuate before or after the storm. It tells of the devastation and destruction from the storm, and the racism, and victimisation they suffered afterwards.
Why read - I noted this book when I worked at the library, and brought it almost immediately. I was fascinated by the Katrina disaster and love reading peoples personal tales, and thought this was a great way to get a real insight into what really happened from the peoples point of view, as opposed to a media sensation.
The book follows the lives of 13 victims of the storm, and we follow it in chronicle order. This was a little disorienting at first, trying to remember the stories for each of the different people, but the more i read of it the more i realised what a great way of telling the story this was.
They interviewed each person a few times, and wrote the accounts from their stories. When reading the stories, you could tell these were eye witness accounts, they left in all the cultralism's and the natural way the narrator spoke, which reflected well in each story. I think the only flaw to this, was they talk as if you know the area well, as familiar as they are with it. So it can be hard to visualise exactly what they mean. However the overall picture was fascinating.
The whole book really gripped me and I couldn't put it down. It made me sad, as well as happy. You saw a human strength within these stories. Often I think to myself how would i cope in this situation, and this book gives a wonderful insight into those who did. None of them knew what to do, but they did what they could to survive. It was really fascinating to read of those who live in the poor community, those who were left behind, that they still pulled together in the community and did what they could to help others as well as them selfs.
A great book, a very fascinating tale. All well written, and gives such an insightful look into how people cope and survive in the worst conditions. That even when everyone that you should look to in an emergency (the police, the government, the military) you have all betrayed you, that you still find a way. Also very insightful how such people that should of help, let everyone down. My only flaw to this book, is I do wish it had a few images. It was hard to visualise exactly what it was like, and a few choice pictures to illustrate the areas they were talking about and the extent of the flooding might have been useful.
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