The House on First Street: My New Orleans Story | 
 enlarge | Author: Julia Reed
Publisher: Ecco
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  35 reviews
Sales Rank: 4430
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.8 x 1
ISBN: 0061136646
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.63350463
EAN: 9780061136641
ASIN: 0061136646
Publication Date: July 1, 2008
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Product Description
Julia Reed went to New Orleans in 1991 to cover the reelection of former (and currently incarcerated) governor Edwin Edwards. Seduced by the city's sauntering pace, its rich flavors and exotic atmosphere, she was never entirely able to leave again. After almost fifteen years of living like a vagabond on her reporter's schedule, she got married and bought a house in the historic Garden District. Four weeks after she moved in, Hurricane Katrina struck. With her house as the center of her own personal storm as well as the ever-evolving stage set for her new life as an upstanding citizen, Reed traces the fates of all who enter to wine, dine (at her table for twenty-four), tear down walls, install fixtures, throw fits and generally leave their mark on the house on First Street. There's Antoine, Reed's beloved homeless handyman with an unfortunate habit of landing in jail; JoAnn Clevenger, the Auntie Mame—like restaurateur who got her start mixing drinks for Dizzy Gillespie and selling flowers from a cart; Eddie, the supremely laid-back contractor with Hollywood ambitions; and, with the arrival of Katrina, the boys from the Oklahoma National Guard, fleets of door-kicking animal rescuers and the self-appointed (and occasionally naked) neighborhood watchman. Finally, there's the literally clueless detective who investigates the robbery in which the first draft of this book was stolen. Through it all, Reed discovers there really is no place like home. Rich with sumptuous details and with the author's trademark humor well in the fore, The House on First Street is the chronicle of a remarkable and often hilarious homecoming, as well as a thoroughly original tribute to our country's most original city.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 30 more reviews...
 A little eccentric, but not bad August 20, 2008
The best aspect of The House on First Street: My New Orleans Story is that Julia Reed gives a realistic portrayal of how enjoyable, if not eccentric, life was in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina. Her truly Southern voice comes clearly through in her writing, especially when she describes the food and entertainment she and her acquaintances partake of with much enthusiasm. The story does leave you with sadness and yearning for what once was and may never be again...and that's from someone who has never visited New Orleans.
Just okay for me. August 18, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've spent many years in the South, and this book reminded me of many things I'd long forgotten about, especially the food! I felt sorry for Reed having to go through what she did with the incompetent contractors after waiting years for the house of her dreams, but at the same time I was wondering why she hadn't checked them out beforehand. Especially after the first time...why did she keep hiring people who couldn't get the job done? And her relationship with Antione made me uncomfortable, as well as the one with her housekeeper and her family. And poor Betty, the landlady. I felt sorry for them, wondering how they'd feel when they read what she'd written about them. I don't think she intentionally means to come off as superior, that's just the feeling I got when I read her book, and even though I did enjoy a lot of it, I don't feel that it rates more than three stars.
 I love the way Julia writes August 18, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I loved this book and only wished for some photographs. It is true that Julia must have a lot of money (her other books describe a lavish childhood) and I can understand why other reviewers are perplexed with her trivial concerns when so many lost everything after Katrina. Frankly, this did not take the gloss off this memoir for me- I loved it and hope she writes something similiar very soon. She is interesting and funny and I couldn't put it down.
 A fresh spin on a well known event August 14, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Reviewed by Nikki Pringle for Reader Views (8/08)
Julia Reed, a contributing editor at Vogue and Newsweek, spent her childhood in Greenville, Mississippi and traveled frequently to New Orleans with family and friends to experience all that the Big Easy had to offer. As an adult, she again found herself trekking from her new home base in Manhattan to New Orleans, with more and more of her time spent down in the Delta as the years went by, even though she still maintained a home in Manhattan.
The experiences Julia had while in New Orleans, both during her childhood and as an adult are described for the reader in resplendent detail. From the hotels where she stayed, and the restaurants where she ate, to the districts of the city that she visited; the narrative is bright, crisp and meticulously told. Because of this the reader is able to conjure up the people and places in the novel in their minds eye, and I am sure that those familiar with the locations described in "The House on First Street" will find the descriptions to be on point.
Finally, in her forties, Julia was ready to commit to living her life full time in New Orleans, and along with her husband, she purchased an old Greek Revival home in the Garden District on First Street. Julia had many frustrating, funny, and repeated run-ins with the various contractors that were hired to work on the home, and she recounts these experiences in vivid detail. After more than a year, she and her husband were finally able to move in to their home, and four weeks later Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans with a vengeance.
Julia never doubted that she would return to her home in New Orleans, and did as much as she could to assist the friends and employees that were, to varying degrees, left to pick up the pieces after Katrina hit the city. In "The House on First Street: My New Orleans Story " she recalls her first visits back in to the city, when FEMA was not yet involved, and the devastation that she witnessed traveling through the flooded streets with her press pass as the "golden ticket" past the city limits. She reveals the steps she took to get her life back on track, as well as recounting what those around her were doing to make it through the days and to reclaim the lives they had come to love in New Orleans. Julia and her large circle of friends did an immense amount to bring the city back to life, through the re-opening of well-loved restaurants, holding fundraisers to get money back in to the city, and helping fellow citizens in whatever way was necessary, from cleaning out refrigerators full of rancid food, to bringing meals in to the National Guard troops, and offering desperately needed work to the craftsman who came to rebuild.
The House on First Street: My New Orleans Story" is a poignant, heartfelt and humorous tale of one woman's journey back to a semblance of normalcy after one of the most devastating events in our country's history. It is not meant to be a sob-story, but is rather a tale of the strength and courage that it took for one woman to reclaim her life in the city she calls home.
Maybe if You Are From the South You Will Like This Book August 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As I read this book, I wondered why it was written. What is touted as a New Orleans's story with interesting characters , the renovation of a house, and Katrina is really much more. There are so many stories and characters it is hard to follow where the story line is going sometimes.
I have heard it described as humorous, but I really didn't find it humorous at all. Reed grew up in Greenville, 442 miles from New Orleans. On page 5 she writes: "When I was finally old enough -- sort of -- to make the trip on my own (to New Orleans), my good friend and most stellar running buddy McGee and I would pile into my black Toyota Celica, roll back the sunroof, and blast out of the Delta at ninety-five miles an hour, stupid and stoned and dying to get to the city..........." I'm surprised that anyone would actually put something this stupid in writing , but maybe it was meant to be funny.
Recounting all the food they ate and everything they drank and mentioning all the brands of liquor seemed really important. You might find it sad that when they went to buy more Scotch at their favorite liquor store after Katrina, there wasn't a bottle left in the place. Mentioning little things like this in the face of the loss of so many lives and so much property damage seems absolutely ridiculous.
Maybe if I had grown up in the South I would have enjoyed this book more. Although I have never heard of this author before, I do believe she is a talented writer. There are parts of the book that are very interesting and I found myself wanting to read more , but then there are sections where I found myself skipping over parts that were just too tedious.
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