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A review by naturalistnatalie
Flooded: Requiem for Johnstown by Ann E. Burg
4.0
It’s interesting to read a book and know what’s going to happen. I spent the first half of the book, when we’re introduced to all the characters, just waiting for the dam to fail. I was also wondering how many of the introduced townsfolk would die. The answer was many. (This is definitely a YA book and not MG.) Burg even has a whole section of ghosts talking about how they died. I had to pause for a bit in that section because all the senseless death was a bit overwhelming. Burg captured the feeling of survivor’s guilt as well.
I was surprised to see Clara Burton show up in the book. It was heartbreaking to see that the rich members of the private club were never held responsible for their actions that lead to the dam failure. Not surprising, but still disappointing. Burg was able to convey a lot of emotional content in her short poems. The reader got little snippets of the hard lives of the young people in the town. On top of their regular difficulties, you throw in a flood and it’s obvious the working class members of Johnstown had difficult lives. It is not a happy read, but still a great introduction to an American disaster.
I was surprised to see Clara Burton show up in the book. It was heartbreaking to see that the rich members of the private club were never held responsible for their actions that lead to the dam failure. Not surprising, but still disappointing. Burg was able to convey a lot of emotional content in her short poems. The reader got little snippets of the hard lives of the young people in the town. On top of their regular difficulties, you throw in a flood and it’s obvious the working class members of Johnstown had difficult lives. It is not a happy read, but still a great introduction to an American disaster.