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Letters from New Orleans | 
 enlarge | Author: Rob Walker
Publisher: Garrett County Press
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
Buy New: $7.47
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Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 288415
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 220
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7 x 5.5 x 0.6
ISBN: 1891053019
Dewey Decimal Number: 976.3350640922
EAN: 9781891053016
ASIN: 1891053019
Publication Date: June 2005
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Shipping: International shipping available
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Amazon.com
When Rob Walker and his girlfriend relocated to New Orleans in 2000, Walker (a regular contributor to The New York Times Magazine) started filling his friends' email inboxes with tales of adventures from his new home. Those stories--capturing the simple, everyday, and often unbelievable moments that regularly transpired in the Crescent City--are the basis for the fascinating Letters from New Orleans. Here, the author describes the parades and jazz funerals not as a tourist would see them, but from behind the scenes, amidst the personalities. Over the course of 20 or so vignettes, Walker finds himself in dive bars that should probably be condemned; bicycling through an improvised community park that happens to exist directly below a busy freeway overpass; and mulling the consequences of random, celebratory gun firings that appear to be a regular occurrence in New Orleans. Throughout, Walker is the perfect fly on the wall; he's equal parts journalist, anthropologist, and tour guide. He devotes his energy equally to the beautiful, the downtrodden, and the wacky, but these are clearly love letters to the unique people of New Orleans. Walker is, quite simply, infatuated with his adopted city. With the 2005 flooding of Hurricane Katrina happening just months after the publishing of this book, these pieces serve as even more poignant snapshots; some of Walker's favorite landmarks may be gone forever. With that in mind, the author is devoting the proceeds from this wonderful effort to Katrina victims. --Jason Verlinde
Product Description
In January of 2000, Rob Walker left a high-powered media job in New York, and with his girlfriend, moved to New Orleans. Letters from New Orleans collects, in one volume, the delightful and unsettling observations Walker sent to friends and fans about his intriguing new life in New Orleans.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 Another place, another time August 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I received a copy of Letters from New Orleans a little over a month before Hurricane Katrina blew in. Rob Walker and his girlfriend moved from New York to New Orleans and found them in a whole different world. Unlike many modern municipalities which have interchangeable commerce, social settings, government, and seem to be cookie cutter cities, New Orleans is its own world. Life has a slower pace, rules are more relaxed, and the good life is not reserved only for the wealthy (though it helps). Photos without the book add flavor and illustrate that often content is more valued than appearance. Walker highlights some of the gems of the city, the music, the traditions, the food, the welcoming atmosphere along with the political corruption,everyday crime, and devil may care city planning. Walker and E don't hesitate to immerse themselves in daily life. This is a book rich in description and the author shows a real affection for the people and city, despite its quirks. Not only do I reread this from time to time, I have given several copies to friends.
'Journalism' as it once was: Sharing observations, realities, opinions February 24, 2008
222 out of 236 found this review helpful
Rob Walker may use his day job as a New York Times Magazine Columnist to support himself, but with the publication of LETTERS FROM NEW ORLEANS he clearly steps into the arena of fine writers whose messages stand solidly on their own. This collection of shared letters via email does not come across as yet another Blog site, but instead reveals a writer of sensitivity of observation, calm excitement of discovery, and an artist who can enter a space apparently foreign to him and make it not only his experience but also that of his reader.
This too short book covers a period of time when Walker moved to New Orleans and adapted to the idiosyncrasies of that magical city in daily exploration of its peculiar wonders. With his companion 'E' he attends a New Orleans church service (as the only white people present) and learns to appreciate the gospel singing, the attire and the unconditional love that pours from the congregation; he dresses for Carnivale and participates in the traditions of bead throwing and costuming that have only been images in films and photos; he takes us on a journey through the celebration of a New Orleans funeral - which is anything but morose - and teaches us about the 'cemeteries' of tombs above ground in this city below sea level; he ponders on the traditions of firing guns into the sky to celebrate most any event; he explores the famous 'St James Infirmary' of song fame, sharing the origins of the place and the myths; and he mixes with the people in this city of poverty of pocketbook but wealth of mind.
Reading Rob Walker could be experienced as a prelude (or postlude) to appreciating the art of Tennessee Williams and the Jazz Greats. His technique in writing is to keep it simple and observational, and in doing so he raises his writing to the level of poetry - succinct with themes and variations that always return us to the spirit of one of America's most treasured cities. Highly recommended reading. Grady Harp, February 08
 In "the land of dreams" February 6, 2007
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I've never drunk and eaten my way through an hours' long lunch at Galatoire's. I don't own a white suit nor do I normally hang out in jazz clubs. Sleazy bars may possess charms, but I seldom indulge. I've never dug the Comus or Zulu krewes or jumped for mass-produced Chinese beads in the streets. This is all because I've never been to New Orleans. But I've done the next best thing---read Rob Walker's LETTERS FROM NEW ORLEANS. What I liked about Walker's emailed letters to his family and friends that later got collected into a slim volume is that they offer a view of the city that is far more sombre and penetrating than the one we used to get before Katrina turned the place into a bad news hub. Yeah, "The Big Easy" definitely had its downside even before floods killed hundreds and destroyed the low-lying sections. Murder in the projects was not unknown pre-Katrina, corruption, decay, and poverty ruled much of New Orleans behind the tourist glitz. Your quaint atmosphere of down-at-heel tradition rested on the stunted lives of a lot of black folks who were caught in an old web. I never had a great desire to visit the place, not thinking someone else's misfortune very picturesque. Still, reading Walker's letters, I felt that I got the feel of it---small details, a chance conversation that you might not have elsewhere, strange characters in electric blue suits, church music. He doesn't intrude much into his descriptions, yet you feel that he liked the place, he didn't judge it with the amused or jaundiced eye of many others. Small incidents reveal many facets of the city---the controversy over a fired waiter, explorations of a freeway ramp, attending a jazz funeral, a burning teddy bear at an annual bonfire. I liked the conclusions Walker drew--not sweeping, drastic ones, but more like collections of observations and questions left to the reader. The small black and white photographs that fill the book are strangely obtuse. They hint at things rather than illustrate them grandly and perhaps that sums up this charming little book.
P.S. If you ever wanted to know stuff about the song "St. James' Infirmary" but were afraid to ask, rest easy. It's all in here.
Read it aloud, read to yourself, just read it March 25, 2006
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
If you've yet to visit New Orleans, the candid "snapshots" of Walker's letters will surely entice. If you're familiar with the city, you'll nod your head & sigh in remembrance - & hope for the future to be as sadly sweet & savory - & unsavory; yeah that, too, as the past. These "letters" capture the crazy ambience of the whole package perfectly.
I am curious about one small detail, why DID the author leave?
Like being there again! March 19, 2006
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
In my 65+ years, New Orleans is the place I have returned to most often, almost like a second home. This compilation of writings--done before Katrina--echo mine experiences so closely, I get the feeling that the "Spell" of this great city affects others like it did and does me.
I was in New Orleans when as Katrina approached and the Mayor urged visitors to leave. I was lucky to get three connecting flights home to California. "Letters from New Orleans" was like a balm which I needed to feel something other than sorrow.
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