Thursday, August 27, 2015

AD New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld


Rating: WORTHY!

Ostensibly, this graphic novel isn't anything very special. The rather rudimentary art work is black and white line drawings with colored overtones to the page, but it tells a very human story about a horrible tragedy that never should have happened and once it did happen, never should have been neglected as it was.

The novel tells a general story of the hurricane, which was bad, and its aftermath, which was worse, but it starkly highlights the tale with personal stories of five people, and from reading this book, I can't tell if these were real people, or based on real people, or were simply made up. The sure seem like they were real. Why they were nearly all male stories, I don't know. Only one was female-centric.

Just when everyone thought the worst was over, and the hurricane blown out, the levee burst and flooded 80% of New Orleans to a depth, in some parts, of some fifteen or sixteen feet. Over 700 bodies were recovered. This story tells it all, pulling no punches and sparing no important detail. It's a fast, easy read, depressing as it is, but it's an important reminder that either we learn well from this and fix these problems now, or we can ignore them, and put off the necessary, and simply go through all of this again in the unpredictable, climate-changed future. There is no other option. I recommend this graphic novel as a worthy read.