Rating: 
Summary: Powerful, Seamless Novel of Cajun Family Disintegration
Review: Flaring up from the pages of No Place, Louisiana, smoldering matriarch Nita Toussaint is as much a force of nature as she is a woman. In another time and place, Nita would have made a remarkable politician, dictator, or CEO - a la Lady Macbeth, Eva Peron, and Martha Stewart - but in Jennings, Louisiana and its surrounding parishes, Nita will have to build her empire on the backs of her husband and children. Frustrated by the constraints of culture and fueled by the postwar cult of domesticity, Nita's fierce desire to achieve at something and `be someone' hurtles her family towards its inevitable implosion. Instinctively ambitious Nita, a shrewd, beautiful, high-strung girl of mixed blood from the wrong side of Jefferson Davis parish, finds a ticket out of the swamp with an impulsive marriage to Iota town-boy Louis Toussaint, in whom Nita sees a fertile field for her own insatiable desire to transcend her origins. In rural Lousiana in the 1960s, a woman's advancement was determined by the size of her husband's salary, the square footage of her house, the spotlessness of her counters, and the trophies of her children, and Nita sets about measuring up to snuff with ferocious tenacity, withdrawing over the years into a frightening cycle of rigidity and rage as she grows ever more obsessed with the trappings of status. Her husband, Louis, no saint either, is himself a prisoner of his place and time. Louis wants desperately to reach out to his own `personal Snow White', yet treats Nita like his most cherished possession, a disastrous approach for a woman who will not be owned by anyone. Aching somehow to express the overwhelming love and tenderness he feels for Nita, the emotionally hapless Louis is constantly missing the fleeting windows into his wife's soul and forever saying the wrong thing, spurring Nita to pull even deeper into an icy carapace. The most poignant aspect of the book, woven in along with the marital narrative, is the effect of the family dynamic on the two children - clean-cut, overachieving Mama's Boy Marc, and boisterous daughter Jo, whom Nita comes to regard almost as a nemesis. Marc collects as many trophies as Jo does bruises as Nita begins to lose her hold on her rage, yet the silence about the children's lives hangs over the house like an expensive shade canopy, glittering and oppressive in the Bayou heat. Channeling her most fierce desires to succeed into her `perfect' son, Nita visits the same horror onto her children as Louis visits on her, treating them as possessions and as expressions of her own ache to `be somebody, anybody.' This lyrical novel is as much about the space between words as it is the words themselves. Pousson's seamless and visceral book is a powerful cautionary tale about the loss created by deafening silences. His powerful, immediate prose draws us instantly into the world of this family as it slowly unravels under the weight of the unspoken and the heartbreak of missed opportunities.
Rating:
Summary: It's about a real American Family!
Review: I bought this book because I heard that Mr. Pousson's novel was as powerful a debut as Dorothy Allison's or Frank McCourt's. I had no idea how touched I would be, on an emoitional level, after I finished the novel in one sitting! Inspired by the book, I wanted to call every member of my family and say "we must work on our communication,before it is to late!". I am from a small town in central Illinois and found his characters and story surprisingly,universally familiar. The writing is so perfectly fluid and flowing, always moving forward,sometimes subtle- sometimes shocking, but always honestly. He, as a writer, has his own unique signature in every chapter. I simply say this. "Buy this book!" I bought it, and then literally bought several more for each member of my family to read. I cannot wait for Mr. Pousson's next novel!
Rating:
Summary: No Place, Louisiana, finds a place in my heart.
Review: I chose to bring this book with me on a recent trip to Nova Scotia. It was a constant companion during my meals, my walk on the beach, any chance I got, until I finished. And then I was sad to be done. The story has such an underlying universal lesson anyone can appreciate. Talk to the ones you love, learn to hear what they don't say. Put family before material posessions, Make every day meaningful: Thank-you, Martin Pousson!
Rating: 
Summary: It was an interesting experience.
Review: I have to admit that it is not what I expected. I expected the book to be sort of a frivilous read and it turned out to be a much darker book than that. It is very well-written. The characters are rich and thoughtfully drawn-out. The reader can almost sense the Cajun experience as well as a bored housewife and her family's stories. Nita and Lois should have never gotten married. The author wrote that in the introductory paragraph ~~ and with that kind of a snag, the reader has to jump in and read the book. The book is dark and while depressing, one cannot put it down. Nita married Lois to get out from her stepfather's groping hands ~~ basically she just exchanged one guy for another. And ever since, Lois worked all that he had to make her happy ~~ always moving to a better house in a better neighborhood. Nita takes her frustrations out on her daughter and pours her dreams into her son till something happens to rock the foundation of this family. I would have rated this book a five ~~ but it seems to be an abrupt ending to this book ~~ almost like it wasn't finished. Plus it was rather dark outlook on life ~~ very selfish and every man to himself. The author, however, devoted time and energy into each character to make it real and someone that the readers can relate to. It is an interesting book. 1-27-03
Rating:
Summary: Required reading for Phychology 101
Review: I rated this book 5 stars because I think it is well written for what I would expect to be prescribed for case studies in a Psychology class.As for being a good entertaining novel about life in Louisiana,which I thought it would be;it just doesn't make it.I admire writers like Erskine Caldwell and John Steinbeck who are master storytellers and write about hard-scrable life among struggling people;but write with realism and passion.There is nothing realistic about the characters or actions in this book.
In my opinion, if you are looking for a book that takes a bunch of character traits and attempts to combine them into a family to use as a course textbook,this book should fill the bill.
If yow want a good novel about Louisiana life ,you'll be disappointed,as I was.
Rating:
Summary: Inside Out
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I started reading and actually couldn't put the book down. I knew little about Cajun culture but I felt as though I packed my bags, got on a plane, and arrived in the heart of the Bayou where I experienced these characters as their story unfolded. I believe this is the effect reading should have on us. It should transport us and affect us (if it's done right). But this story is more than a peek into the Cajun lifestyle, it is a story of what is usually most important to us all - family. The descriptions and characters are so visual that the story comes to life before you know it. As soon as I finished this book I said "This will make a great movie." I hope everyone takes the time and treats themselves to this beautiful piece of writing. I applaud Mr. Pousson's first novel and eagerly await his next. He deserves every moment of present (and assuredly future) praise, honor, and smiles from the inside out.
Rating:
Summary: The Unraveling of the American Dream!
Review: Let's face it; usually the reality of our everyday lives is not the fantasy or dream reality of who we really want to be. We hope for the best in life, and sometimes we get it, but most of the time we are disappointed. Pousson is a talented new southern novelist who has painted for us in this story a portrait of conflicting family relations that is a result of a failure to communicate. This is the American dream of a perfect family that is just that, a dream! Pousson tells us the intense story of Nita and Louis, an unhappily married couple who have two children. They are violently spinning out of control in their relationship because they lack the ability to effectively communicate with one another. Nita's obsessive demands on and abuse of the children is heartbreaking. The constant pressure she places on Louis by demanding he work harder so she can have the life she deserves is selfishly unyielding. She is obsessive about having a better and richer life, while Louis is content with the life they are living. Nita's priorities and perspective on life are very unrealistic for her situation. Is it possible for them to save their marriage and give the children the love they deserve, or are they on an unavoidable downward spiral to a tragic end? This is not a gay novel. It's to the author's credit as a gay writer that he can write such a compelling and moving story about a heterosexual family in such a realistic fashion. I think the author has the advantage as a gay man of portraying straight characters in a way that they possibly cannot. The result is a story with intense and emotional characters that are unforgettable. What an exciting debut novel, set in Louisiana's Cajun country and embedded in southern reality. This is not to be missed! Joe Hanssen
Rating:
Summary: some place...that louisiana
Review: Mr. Pousson's book is a testament to two realities that I've known about the South for years: that it's rife with people who are sheltered and blissfully racist, and that it also begets those, like his character Nita, who strive desperately to flee the oppressiveness of the culture. Pousson realizes the potency of telling the story of this kind of character, but a rags-to-riches tale this is not. Nita is so obsessed with rising out of her lowly life that her idealism fosters unattainable dreams. Being a Southerner, and having lived in "No Place" in Louisiana myself, I found myself fully empathizing with this determined woman and wanting to accompany her on this journey. But, just as relationships change and friends grow apart, my allegiance to her brought me some guilt, and it's this complexity of character that I found most compelling and unsettling. Pousson's book is a deceptively insightful one whose characters will delight you with their rustic charm, then betray you with an innocent remark. Just like my grandfather, or cousin, or aunt.
Rating:
Summary: Martin Pousson Rocks!
Review: This is a whole novel of poetry. Not the poetry of precious words or obscure references. But a poetry of emotional nuances and implosions perfectly plotted. Pousson masterfully begins _No Place, Louisiana_ at the same moment but told from two distinct viewpoints and then lets them merge from that fateful moment on, singing almost as a discordant duet, in their always and completely separate, heartbroken and heartbreaking voices. It is truly a brilliant work of emotional artistry. And how Pousson manages to distill not only the essence of Louisiana and Arcadia in particular but also the love and losses of the entire life of his two main characters, Nita and Louis, in only a few hundred pages is spellbinding storytelling. I have bought copies for everyone I know because I don't want them to discover this incredible author after they make the movie from this book. For it isn't just the story that holds the heart here but the subtle underweaving of emotional complexity throughout. Pousson's art has to be experienced word for word!
Rating:
Summary: Reality Check
Review: This is an excellent book. It took me a few chapters to get used to Pousson's style of writing, but then I was hooked. Very sad, very real. If you are looking for a happy, uplifting story to get away from reality, this is not the book for you. If you are looking for a moving drama that will inspire emotions in you, including anger and sadness, this is an excellent book. Can't wait to read more from this author!
|
