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43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a Hell of a book Cher, January 14, 2005
This review is from: Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast (Paperback)
A very well read friend of mine in recommending this book said it is not only a wonderful book about Louisiana and its people, but maybe the best book he has ever read period. On such a recommendation I immediately ordered a copy.
And now I see why my friend loved the book. what's not to like.
The author highlights the serious coastal erosion problem we have in Louisiana by getting invovled with a lot of the people affected by the pending disaster. He visits them in their homes and rides with them on their oyster and shripmp boats.
One gets a real insight into the Cajun culture.
After reading the book I realized that I hadn't been down in the bayous for awhile. So, I made a point to get down there and reexperience the unique place that it is. Bayou Farewell is that kind of a book.
One thing, though, if you have been consdiering changing carreers to become a crabber, you might oughta read this book first. Crabbing is a rough way to go.
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book will make you sad, and it will make you angry!, November 28, 2004
A beautiful and sad book about the disappearance of Louisiana's bayou country, and with it, the way of life of the people who live there, the Cajun, Houma and Vietnamese fishermen and shrimpers who provide us with an amazin 30% of America's annual seafood harvest. Thanks to levees on the Mississippi, oil company canals, and other interference with nature, coastal Louisiana is losing land the size of Manhattan every year. The land is sinking, the barrier islands disappearing, and with them go protection against hurricanes, resting places for migratory birds, and a seafood-rich ecosystem.
That it is possible to halt the destruction of this habitat is known. The Atchafalaya River, Louisiana's second largest, still pours silt from its mouth to form new land, and small diversion projects are helping. But more and major diversions of the Mississippi, to allow it once again to build up the coast instead of dumping its silt over the continental shelf, must happen and happen quickly before it is too late.
Before, in the words of one shrimper, "Dere won't be no more nothin' left anymore, forever".
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Look At Life In The Bayou (Pre-Katrina), September 13, 2005
This review is from: Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast (Paperback)
Mike Tidwell - the celebrated author of In the Mountains of Heaven, Amazon Stranger, and The Ponds of Kalambayi - has written a compelling book on the Cajun coast of Louisiana, that, in light of Hurricane Katrina, could not be more timely. Unbeknownst to Tidwell when he began this expose, the coast was already eroding and joining the Gulf of Mexico, making it the fastest disappearing landmass on Earth.
Tidwell's travelogue introduces us to the eclectic group of people who populate the area: the Cajun men and women who work the seasonal shrimp harvest, the Vietnamese fishermen, and the Houma Indians who were driven to the farthest ends of the bayou by the first European settlers. He describes the food, the music, the culture, and the lifestyle of those who call the bayou home.
The book was intended as a reminder of how much we stood to lose if we failed to address the environmental problems facing this unique region. Due to Katrina, it may now serve as a recollection of what we have now lost.
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