Cheap Storyville (Book) (Lois Battle) Price
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$10.20
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| AUTHOR: | Lois Battle |
| CATEGORY: | Book |
| MANUFACTURER: | Penguin (Non-Classics) |
| ISBN: | 0140267697 |
| TYPE: | Fiction, Fiction - General, General, Fiction / General |
| MEDIA: | Paperback |
| # OF MEDIA: | 1 |
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Customer Reviews of Storyville
VERY New Orleans I LOVED this book! I read it before I lived in New Orleans, and I still think of it now that I live here, whenever I pass the area that was once Storyville. A very fascinating period of time. I recommend E.J Bellocq's photos to take a look at these ladies lives at that time.
Recommended
Storyville was recommended to me by several friends in my book club. I enjoyed the book very much.
The book focuses on two main characters: a forwarded thinking society matron (Julia) and a beautiful girl (Kate) who, through a sad series of circumstances, winds up in a New Orleans brothel. Though their worlds are quite different, the two women's paths cross.
The characters are well developed and believable. I do agree with the other reviewers, and feel the ending while good, was a bit rushed.
Could have been much better...
I picked up Lois Battle's Storyville because of my love of New Orleans and my fascination with its history. Unfortunately, this book did not live up to expectations.
Storyville was the Red Light District in New Orleans-legal from 1898 until 1917. This story bounces between the lives of the denizens of The District, and those of an upper-crust family, the Ransome's. Their lives intersect when the Ransome's son falls in love with a prostitute, which causes a "downward spiral of events" that will change all their lives forever.
Storyville starts off with great promise, and Battle makes a good effort to develop her characters. But halfway through, the characters seem to get bogged down in the plot, and the ending is especially weak and unbelievable. Also, many of the characters are unlikable from the beginning, but even those that I originally liked became loathsome by the end.
This book does offer a few redeeming tidbits. The characters who work in Storyville are quite colorful, and the description of a meeting of the madams of The District (including one drag queen) is quite entertaining. The book touches on such topics (however lightly) as the suffrage movement, the Spanish American War, the building of the Panama Canal and even some background on the Civil War. There are a few morsels of history about New Orleans and The District that are interesting and informative, but there aren't enough of them.
So, if you're really interested in reading about Storyville, there are much better books to be had.