Coming Through Slaughter

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Bringing to life the fabulous, colorful panorama of New Orleans in the first flush of the jazz era, this book tells the story of Buddy Bolden, the first of the great trumpet players--some say the originator of jazz--who was, in any case, the genius, the guiding spirit, and the king of that time and place.

In this fictionalized meditation, Bolden, an unrecorded father of Jazz, remains throughout a tantalizingly ungraspable phantom, the central mysteries of his life, his art, and his madness remaining felt but never quite pinned down. Ondaatje's prose is at times startlingly lyrical, and as he chases Bolden through documents and scenes, the novel partakes of the very best sort of modern detective novel--one where the enigma is never resolved, but allowed to manifest in its fullness. Though more 'experimental' in form than either The English Patient or In the Skin of a Lion , it is a fitting addition to the renowned Ondaatje oeuvre .

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Kirkus Book Review

Edward and Elizabeth's sequential illnesses allow for some wryer recognition than the Brandenbergs' doll-eyed pussycats usually inspire. First, Edward gets so much attention when he's sick that Elizabeth, predictably, resents having to go to school, do her usual homework and chores, etc. Then, just as predictably, she gets sick-but instead of Edward getting jealous, he visits her good-naturedly with news of his day and a pouting Elizabeth then calls him lucky for doing all the things she had earlier complained about doing herself. Human families with their own Edwards and Elizabeths will enjoy the characterization--though only reading-aloud parents will pick up on the titles of this intellectual cat family's reading matter. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.