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A review by nashwa017
The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom
3.0
I'm adding a belated review of this book. I read it for the nonfiction category of the booktube prize and now I can share my thoughts on it. This book follows Sarah M Broom's family, she came from a a large family and was the youngest of 11 (or maybe even 12) siblings. Living in New Orleans East, the family faced a lot of hardship and in 2005, their house was completely destroyed during the Hurricane Katrina.
I personally didn't feel as strongly about this book as my many others did. For me, the memoir was too scattered and did a lot of things all at once. I understand that human lives are complex and things tend to overlap a lot but for me, this weakened the book for me. Each of the issues wasn't discussed in a lot of detail and I found it hard to latch on to any of the storylines. She discussed the history of New Orleans, the politics and the funding issues, the entire family history, her own writing career and infrastructure of New Orleans.
So with all these issues being discussed, for me the book suffers from a lack of focus and structural issues. Most of the book is narrative, but some of it uses the interview format.
I'm really glad that this book gives recognition to New Orleans East so people looking for that part of history have something to read, but for me, it was a very middle of the road story.
I personally didn't feel as strongly about this book as my many others did. For me, the memoir was too scattered and did a lot of things all at once. I understand that human lives are complex and things tend to overlap a lot but for me, this weakened the book for me. Each of the issues wasn't discussed in a lot of detail and I found it hard to latch on to any of the storylines. She discussed the history of New Orleans, the politics and the funding issues, the entire family history, her own writing career and infrastructure of New Orleans.
So with all these issues being discussed, for me the book suffers from a lack of focus and structural issues. Most of the book is narrative, but some of it uses the interview format.
I'm really glad that this book gives recognition to New Orleans East so people looking for that part of history have something to read, but for me, it was a very middle of the road story.