Customer Reviews

In Katrina's Wake: Portraits of Loss from an Unnatural Disaster

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All of the eerie magic and mystery of a ruined city bound into still-life is contained here. New Orleans was transformed and Chris Jordan captures the essence of loss in this beautiful coffee table book that brings tears as well as the sense that there is some spirit there that, although seriously damaged, will never be completely lost.

Perhaps that is a romantic view, for these are hauntingly romantic photos, but romance aside, it begs the very real question of what has been lost; in Jordan's pictures are answers such as innocence, beauty, history and lives. Most often training his camera on oil drums, fields of rail containers, crushed cars and other post-consumer detritus, Jordan's photos capture surreal landscapes created from the lost homes, appliances, mattresses, mardi gras beads and general clutter of New Orleans, post-Katrina. His color and composition are both skillful and noteworthy. (I can't help but compare it to another coastal city, the lost historical Alexandria and all of the wonder and sadness that brings to mind.)

The book is studded with first hand accounts from Jordan as well as essays by conservation writer Bill McKibben, and science and nature writers Elizabeth Royte and Susan Zakin. It is punctuated with the beautiful poetry of Jordan's wife, Victoria Sloane Jordan.

Why would anyone need to own it? Well, when one is finished with the first gasp, one then needs to read it, then, start all over again. It is a very thought-provoking book about nature, loss, the country and, in a larger sense, the world.

This book is on my gift list to nearly everybody this year. I can't wait to have my own copy! Proceeds go to benefit the Gulf Coast, just so you know. Yes, I am the first reviewer. No, I've never heard of Chris Jordan or any of the other writers before I saw this book. If I don't own it yet, how do I know so much? 'Cause I read it in the bookstore and I couldn't put it down.

Nice pictures of urban wreckage.

Re the Zakin essay: This is a fine synthesis of many disciplines, and reveals an intellect eloquent, informed, confident and fleet footed in many fields.

Minor objections: A slightly more astute editor may have omitted the author's oddly self-congratulatory knowledge of Bordueax:

"When Katrina come...The white wines, they went bad. The reds, they did better. But there was a 1949 Lafite Rothschild."

"That's a good one," I say. "Famous."

(well, i suspect so.)

Also, a more respectful author may have credited her readers with a more thorough knowledge of New Orleans than cinema references: "All the Kings Man" or Paul Newman roles. Perhaps, a reference to Harry T. Long. But, then, this fine essay appears after the age of mass literacy. And that is a very limited readership under age 45.

This is a truly ispirational and visually stimulating journey through the aftermath of disaster. It builds on Chris Jordon's skill of finding beauty in the unexpected. Beautiful tonal and textural interplay. A visual delight.