Customer Reviews

Crescent Carnival

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If I ever become rich and famous, I plan to devote some of that wealth to reprinting the works of Frances Parkinson Keyes, an amazing author who is now sadly out of print. Her lush writing, intricate stories and beautiful characters rise above the psuedo-intellectual bestsellers of today.

"Crescent Carnival" is one of my favorites, the story of three generations of women who fall in love (or don't) with the handsome, dashing Breckenridge men. It spans the years from 1890 to 1940, in the lush surroundings of New Orleans. It's really more like three novelettes rather than a book on its own.

The first part is about Estelle Lenoir, a wealthy, naive Creole beauty who is destined to be married to dull but kindly Marcel. The problem is that Estelle has fallen madly in love with Andy Breckenridge, a handsome young man with dark whisperings, who is often shunned from the politer parts of New Orleans society (including Estelle's parents). Estelle, who has been carefully guarded from the less savory aspects of life, now is exposed to the dark secrets of Andy's past. She must choose between her love for him and her fear of what he might turn her life into.

The second part involves Andy's son Breck, who is married to a wife from Boston; Anna is shrewish, hypocritical, bigoted, cares little for children, hates New Orleans, and cares more for how things look and whether they are sufficiently New-England-ish than whether they are comfortable and pleasant. Breck has a vague idea that this is a rotten deal for him, but not much more than that. He soon gets back in touch with "Aunt" Estelle and her two children, the rather foppish Olivier and the lovely, innocent Marie Celeste. When Breck goes back to his old family plantation, Anna begins a rather desperate flirtation with Olivier, while Breck falls in love with Marie Celeste. But can he be with the woman he loves?

The third story involves Olivier's daughter, Stella (named after Estelle). Stella, like her grandmother, is a society beauty in a rapidly-changing enviroment, while Estelle is saddened to see the world that she knew as a girl and a younger woman falling away. Though it is assumed that Stella will wed Drew Breckenridge (Breck's son), she surprises everyone by falling in love with a young Cajun man named Raoul Bienvenu. And the rather dowdy yet goodhearted Patty Forrestal, a distant relation of Drew's grandmother, has fallen in love with Drew...

For a book about tragic losses and separations, somehow this book never becomes depressing. Perhaps it's the lack of deathbed musings and endless weeping about lost characters; the deaths or losses of the assorted characters are either handled quickly, offstage, or in newspaper clippings. It remains kind of upbeat, in fact. The descriptions of New Orleans

The characters are beautifully made. Estelle is a well-fleshed-out character, going from a naive young beauty to a strong, tragic matriarch. Andy Breckenridge is a rather stereotypical devilishly-attractive rake, but he is less interesting than Estelle's reactions and responses to him. Breck, unlike his father, is sympathetic and well-done, a guy who just wants a happy hope, lots of kids, and a wife who doesn't sit there and carp at him. Anna is a pushy, dominating shrew who demands that New Orleans adjust to fit her tastes. Marie Celeste is lovely, and Olivier is a pain.

The third part may be the weakest, as instead of a slow buildup to the romance, we are flung straight into it before getting to know Stella or Raoul or Drew very well. (Patty we get to know earlier on) When Stella and Raoul are engaged, the reader thinks, "What? Already? How many hours have they known each other?" I found Drew and Raoul to be intriguing, Stella less so as she seems a bit disrespectful to Estelle and a bit two-dimensional. She doesn't have the depth of Caresse in "Dinner at Antoine's," and the third story seems a little desperate to be modern. But she fleshes out late in the story, becoming a young woman thwarted in her first love and afraid to love again; Patty becomes less sympathetic, making a ridiculously sexist statement that she was born to love her husband and have babies. I found Stella's balance of singing and love far more palatable.

Never has New Orleans seemed as enticing as it does here, with the beautiful buildings, intriguing social structures, lovely nature descriptions and intricate family lines. Keyes wrote with excellent prose in the descriptions of it all. There are a few hints at illegitimacy, seduction, hideous disease, but the book is overall quite appropriate for teens (if they don't mind an 800-page book)

This book does not deserve to be out of print. Hopefully it will be rescued from that wretched state and restored back so that new readers can enjoy this timeless tale.

The story of Mardi Gras in New Orleans is recounted in this novel about 3 generations of young men and women whose lives run in parallel. "L'Americaine" Andy Breckenridge falls in love with the creole beauty Estelle Lenoir during the season of her debut in 1890's New Orleans. Estelle is promised to another and problems ensue as she battles with her upbringing as an obedient daughter and the desire to throw it all away to be with the man she wants. Many years later Andy's married son Breck falls in love with Estelle's daughter Marie Celeste. The circle continues up through the 1940's as the descendants of Estelle and Andy find their lives remain intertwined until both sides find happiness and fulfilment. The settings during Mardi Gras celebrations of the upper classes are fascinating and anyone who loves New Orleans will enjoy these snapshots from another age.

I am currently reading Crescent Carnival at the same time as Last Train to Elysian Fields, a Dave Robicheaux crime novel by James Lee Burke, also set in New Orleans. Set over 150 years apart, the two stories together give an interesting kleidoscopic view of New Orleans and its multi colored history. Although very old fashioned by current standards of quickly moving crime thrillers, I agree that Ms. Keyes historical novel is unjustly neglected.

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