The House on First Street: My New Orleans Story | 
 enlarge | Author: Julia Reed
Publisher: Ecco
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 2832
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.8 x 1
ISBN: 0061136646
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.63350463
EAN: 9780061136641
ASIN: 0061136646
Publication Date: July 1, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
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Product Description
Julia Reed went to New Orleans in 1991 to cover the reelection of former (and currently incarcerated) governor Edwin Edwards. Seduced by the city's sauntering pace, its rich flavors and exotic atmosphere, she was never entirely able to leave again. After almost fifteen years of living like a vagabond on her reporter's schedule, she got married and bought a house in the historic Garden District. Four weeks after she moved in, Hurricane Katrina struck. With her house as the center of her own personal storm as well as the ever-evolving stage set for her new life as an upstanding citizen, Reed traces the fates of all who enter to wine, dine (at her table for twenty-four), tear down walls, install fixtures, throw fits and generally leave their mark on the house on First Street. There's Antoine, Reed's beloved homeless handyman with an unfortunate habit of landing in jail; JoAnn Clevenger, the Auntie Mame—like restaurateur who got her start mixing drinks for Dizzy Gillespie and selling flowers from a cart; Eddie, the supremely laid-back contractor with Hollywood ambitions; and, with the arrival of Katrina, the boys from the Oklahoma National Guard, fleets of door-kicking animal rescuers and the self-appointed (and occasionally naked) neighborhood watchman. Finally, there's the literally clueless detective who investigates the robbery in which the first draft of this book was stolen. Through it all, Reed discovers there really is no place like home. Rich with sumptuous details and with the author's trademark humor well in the fore, The House on First Street is the chronicle of a remarkable and often hilarious homecoming, as well as a thoroughly original tribute to our country's most original city.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Couldn't put it down July 23, 2008
I just finished Julia Reed"s book in two sittings and am hungry for more. A delightful, easy read that gives incredible insight into the travesty of the storm, the perseverance of the people who went back and still believe in the politically defunct, perilous city that is New Orleans....and why they do. It is also an irreverent look at Louisiana politics and a passionate tale of her love for the many people she's come to know there including her prince of a husband. All of this is woven within a true coming of age story and a debacle of a renovation. This book perfectly illustrates that with an ever present sense of humor and a delicious bottle of wine most of life's big storms (or natural disasters) make way for rebirth. Bravo!
New Orleans After Katrina July 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Reed, Julia. "The House on First Street: My New Orleans Story", Ecco, 2008.
New Orleans After Katrina
Amos Lassen
I was very anxious to read Julia Reed's "The House on First Street" because I am a New Orleanian transplanted to Little Rock and I grew up in the neighborhood that the book is about. Besides having lived through Katrina, I am always curious to see how others made it through the storm.
The book starts with a section on the author's life in Greenville, Mississippi and Manhattan and then we arrive at New Orleans and how she came to get to the house on First Street and Chestnut. New Orleans is the kind of city that becomes part of those living there and it catches hold and does not let go. Reed does not just write about Katrina. She writes about the people of New Orleans and the city itself. We get wonderful insight on the way New Orleanians look at life, religion, politics and food and I felt like I needed to be singing "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans" as I read.
Of course the book really pulled me in with Reed's views on the city after Katrina and she absolves no one. She talks about FEMA and its failures, about SPCA volunteers who meant well but were so shaken by the enormity of the storm that they often lost their way, about flyovers from the President and other politicos, and about the spirit of the people who experienced the tragedy. She has something to say about everything having to do with Katrina and she spares no one--especially those who were more concerned with the way their hair would look on newscasts. She does so with humor but with a sense of tragedy because it is so true.
Reed looks at the losses and the greed of many after the storm but she also finds rays of hope from those that have returned and are rebuilding the city. As I said, there is something about New Orleans that pulls people in and those that have left the city for whatever reasons find ways to return even if only to visit. Reed captures the mood and the spirit of the city and her writing style allows you to feel as if you are in New Orleans standing right next to her. I won't get back to New Orleans for at least a year but that's ok--I have Julia Reed to read and reread until then.
like a trip to New Orleans, but arm chair July 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Spent a hot, humid summer afternoon reading this book..it was a rendevous with the past and the now New Orleans. Well woven story and will re- kindle remembrance of times there before Katrina. It is a fast, entertaining read.
if you have a drop of the south in your blood or aspire to... July 17, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The House on First Street is the newest entry on my favorites list. Julia Reed is clever, funny, sometimes profound, always truthful (or as truthful as anyone from the south can or should be)and she has a perspective on both a way of thinking and a national tragedy that is different enough to be enviable. This is the first book, in a long time, that prompted me to put aside other things and read it straight through. Then I loaned it to a friend who did the same. Then I shipped it to a friend, the slacker, who took 3 days to read it. It has become my favorite birthday and hostess summer gift. From the first few pages where she describes her childhood job of finding lost purses for possibly indiscreet ladies to the last shocker page I laughed out loud and had to call another southern friend to read aloud at least a dozen times. (she had to buy it for her library). Can you tell how much I loved it. When will we have another book by Julia Reed?
 Needed a little tweaking July 7, 2008
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
I apprecaited they put this on the Kindle so that gets a star to start with! (If you dont' have one RUN TO THE HOME PAGE, its a MUST FOR ANY READER)
While I enjoyed this book for the most part I found it sometimes went off on tangents that were not necessary. For example she mentions quite a few back stories that in my opinion do not mesh well with the book and went on far too long.. I found myself scrolling through them.
I can appreciate the historical aspects of the city and some of the people involved, but I don't need three pages regarding someone that worked for her that I don't know, never met and really had very little to do with the overall storyline. I do understand they are important but when you start getting into their family members it is a bit much.
I did enjoy her writing style, but I also kept thinking she was really was so fortunate her home only sustained a broken window and a tree issue and while so many were trying to figure it out there were so many pages where she and her friends and family seemed to turn it into a wine and food party, I saw more food and wine descriptions then I did of the reality of the hell going on around them. GRANTED you have to cope and KUDOS to the business owners who stepped in when no one else would. (and I share her views on Blanco and the Mayor).
I am happy she and her family did well but I would have liked to hear more about those that coped with some real loss and she had friends who did but did not expand on those story lines, which would have been wonderful.
I think it would would have been better with just a little more editing. To be honest I have a chapter or two to go and frankly I am not sure I will bother at this point.. again decent read but wait for the paper version
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