Rob Walker is a wonderful writer with a gentle yet comprehensive inquisitiveness, the rigorous, observant eye of a journalist, and the light, poetic touch of an artist. He has managed to make New Orleans-a city that has been documented and written about for centuries-seem completely fresh and unfamilar and wholly compelling. Letters from New Orleans is a lovely book, and so much more.
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.
Reviews
This three-year meditation on life — and death — in New Orleans is as wistful as absinthe, as funky as a muffuletta at a joint off Tchoupitoulas.
This book is far more than a poetic testament to a strange and wonderful town. It's a story about a city boy who recognizes the need to slow down and observe carefully - a story of a couple who learns to let our world's odd richness really sink in. I recommend it to anyone who feels life is going by too fast.
...[T]he quality that makes Walker's 'modest series of stories about a place that means a lot to [him]' rewarding reading is his immersion in the local. Neighborhood bars, regional history, hometown notables and a dash of mayoral politics reign in the recurring presence of New Orleans' dominating event, Mardi Gras. Walker's book, 'not a memoir, a history, or an exposé,' won't help a tourist get around in New Orleans, but it will help him or her see beyond the tour guide's pointed finger.
