On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed 95% of the small coastal town of Pass Christian, Mississippi. With a 28-foot storm surge, the highest recorded in U.S. history, 55-foot waves, and winds reaching 120 mph, the town was wiped off the map—temporarily.
Award-winning author Margaret McMullan saw the destruction firsthand. Her family’s historic Gulf Coast home—her father’s beloved southern jewel—was one of the houses in Pass Christian devastated by Katrina. Despite the chaos immediately following the storm, McMullan’s family was among the first to rebuild and donated to the Red Cross, the Pass Christian fire station, and the Pass Christian library.
During this time, McMullan witnessed small acts of heroism that inspired her to write about the community and its people, and how tragedy shapes our character. In 2010, she was awarded a National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship to complete the project.
Born in part out of her family’s deep connection to the community, Aftermath Lounge: A Novel in Stories (April 2015, Calypso Editions) releases at the 10-year anniversary of Katrina and comprises fictional vignettes about the people of Pass Christian in the storm’s wake. The stories are connected by a setting near to the author’s heart—the McMullans’ home, which was originally constructed in 1845 and restored by her father numerous times over the years.
Aftermath Lounge is a compelling tribute to the Gulf Coast and resurrects the place and its people alongside their heartaches and triumphs. It is a riveting mosaic that feeds our desire to understand what it means to be alive in this day and age.
Summary
I remember I was in my freshmen year of college when hurricane Katrina hit the area of the United States coastline between Florida and Texas. It cause so much devastation and made many areas a complete disaster for a very long time with many relocating for years if not permanently. Here McMullan captures her take on the things that she saw and experienced in the aftermath.
I loved the rich cultural information provided, and the stories to go along with it just made for a fascinating experience of a book. The stories will make you go through a plethora of emotions. You will be up, down, happy, crying, and everything in between as you go through each unique experience. I was astounded yet happy at the goodness of fellow man as people banded together to get our country through this tough time. McMullan does an amazing job at tastefully portraying the stories while really making you re-live them and feel all emotions associated. This definitely should be on the "to be read" list for everyone.
5 Stars
Reviewed by Chris
Q&A
Margaret
McMullan SIQs
Aftermath
Lounge
1.Aftermath
Lounge honors the 10th
anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Can you tell us about your experience during
those days when the storm hit?
Shortly
after the storm hit, my husband and I drove down from Evansville, Indiana to
Pass Christian, Mississippi. We saw aerial footage of the town and we could see
that the roof on my parents’ house was mostly intact – that’s all we could see.
We brought water and a lot of supplies to donate. There was a gas shortage then,
and limited cell phone coverage. The closer we came to the town, the more it
became like a war zone. The National Guard was there to keep people away, but
we got through, thanks to a relative.
The night
before we left, my mother told us to forget about everything else -- all she
really wanted was the painting of her mother, which had been smuggled out of
Vienna during WWII. We had
house keys but there were no doors. When we got there, the house was gutted –
the storm surge had essentially ripped through the house.
We put on
rubber gloves and spent the day sifting through the debris, dragging out any
salvageable pieces of furniture. The water had shoved through the closed
shutters, plowed up under the foundation and tore open the back walls, bashing
around the furniture, sinks, toilets, stoves, washers, driers.
We never did
find the painting.
Elizabeth
Bishop wrote a wonderful villanelle called “One Art.” She wrote about losing
small items like keys and an hour badly spent, then she progresses to the
greater losses -- her mother’s watch, a house, cities, rivers, a continent, and
finally, a loved one. “The art of losing isn’t hard to master,” she starts. “So
many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no
disaster.” I thought of that poem a lot.
2.Your family played a key role, helping Pass
Christian rebuild. What were a few moments that influenced you during that
time?
We
saw so many people from all walks of life and they were suddenly homeless. My
father organized financial donations. There were no fire trucks left after the
storm, so he made sure Pass Christian got a fire truck. We were always big
supporters of the library too. The Pass Christian Policemen had stayed during
the storm to make sure everyone was safe. They had tried to stay safe in the
library, but then when the water rose, they had to shoot out the windows to
swim away to safety. I used that information in the title story of Aftermath
Lounge. These men were real heroes.
3.Did
you know from the moment the storm hit that someday you would write a novel
about it? Or did a later experience give you the idea? If so, what was it?
At first I just witnessed. I think that’s what
writers do mostly. We witness. Then the material lets us know what it wants to
become. I just took notes. Later stories started taking shape and they were all
in different voices. It was the only way I could work at this material.
4.Part
of your inspiration for the novel came from your family's beautiful mansion.
How did your own experiences in that house shape each of the stories you wrote?
Well,
it’s hardly a mansion, but I was surprised to discover just how much a house
could mean. Everyone always says it’s
just stuff, but there were so many collective memories there. When we stood
and looked at everything so undone,
it felt like our times spent there were gone too.
Katrina had such a huge impact on the coast, on my
family, and on me. I am always telling my students to write what they most care
about, to write what keeps them up at night. I had to write about Katrina. I had written about the Civil War,
Reconstruction and WWII, so I saw Katrina as an historical event. I treated the
hurricane more as setting. It’s in the background. The human drama is in the
forefront. I’m always interested in what people do or don't do in the face of
real catastrophe. I didn’t want to write from one point of view either. I
wanted to give voice to a variety of people because Katrina affected everyone.
5.What
was your writing process like for this novel? Did you know from the start it
would be a novel in stories? Or did that become apparent only after you began
writing?
There
were so many news stories coming out at the time. I write nonfiction, but I
couldn’t get my thoughts together. I couldn’t make sense of anything. Out of
habit, I took a lot of notes. I could only deal with writing about all that was
happening a little bit at a time. And my own personal story just wasn’t that
interesting.
I personally witnessed and experienced the best in
human nature. People and communities came together and helped one another in
the most meaningful way. They endured with a great deal of kindness and grace. So I chipped away at the
material. I wanted to tell a community’s story.
PRAISE FOR AFTERMATH LOUNGE
...McMullan asks us to consider what it really means to be from a place. And how place stays with us, despite its transformations, because of the versions of us it keeps as we move on. Read full review.
– Gulf Coast
Aftermath Lounge is a masterpiece. Read full review.
– The Huffington Post
Aftermath Lounge is pure brilliance. Read full review.
– Carmel Magazine
Amidst the flotsam and jetsam, the haunting collections of photos and multidisciplinary studies, scathing examinations and, yes, even young adult fiction, Aftermath Lounge sticks out. Read full review.
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...a diverse gallery of characters grapple with their lives in Katrina’s aftermath…McMullan opted for fiction to deal with the emotional truths of the lives impacted. Read full review.
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So masterfully rendered, the intonation of the prose carries meaning as noiselessly and effortlessly as a blue heron glides to rest on the sandy shore of Cat Island. Read full review.
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The work of Katrina fiction I have always wanted to read has arrived… Read full review.
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This is a wonderful and devastating book about damage both manmade and natural. Read full review.
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Each entry is a shot to the chest...Writing a good short story is no easy feat. Writing one consisting of a few paragraphs that not only fills the frame but paints a heartbreaking picture is an awe-inspiring talent.Read full review.
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I’ve fallen in love with a new, fictional book about Katrina, Aftermath Lounge by Margaret McMullan...Read full review.
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I loved this book. Ms. McMullan is spot-on with her characters. All walks of life have their own problems from the desperately down-and-outers to the wealthy and how they coped and in some cases fell victims of the storm. I felt as though I was right there watching these interlocking stories unfold. A wonderful book!
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This product or book may have been distributed for review, this in no way affects my opinions or reviews. COPYRIGHT © 2014 LIVE TO READ
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It's a wonder not too many stories revolve around KATRINA