Island Beneath the Sea by Isabelle Allende

I enjoyed this book, set on Haiti and in New Orleans. The book tells the story of Zarité, an enslaved woman, who eventually persuades her master to free her after she saves his and his son's lives during the Haitian Revolution. In parts, it seems really engaged with its history (in a thematic way), whereas sometimes, I felt like the rich historical background was just so much window-dressing. I think in the long run, it's the former that prevails. I'd be very interested to read the book in Spanish, particularly because its settings are mostly Francophone.

Cities of the Dead by Joseph Roach

I found this book both helpful and intriguing. Roach posits that we gain a lot by investigating what he calls circum-Atlantic culture. He is particularly interested in memory, performance, and grief--and the way these three topics are related by the process of surrogation. Although the book centers around New Orleans and London, it allows its focus to encompass broader areas of inquiry as they're applicable, and, perhaps as a result, the organization of the text isn't quite as clear. Still, Roach's book gives a fresh approach to theorizing questions of race and cultural interactions in the (here, mostly anglophone) Atlantic world.

Seized: A Sea Captain's Adventures Battling Scoundrels and Pirates While Recovering Stolen Ships in the World's Most Troubled Waters by Max Hardberger

I received this book via Sneak Peek, a branch of Barnes and Noble's First Look program. I have put the rest of my review behind a cut as we're still discussing the book on the Barnes and Noble boards.

The Grandissimes: A Story of Creole Life by George Washington Cable

George Washington Cable sets this story of creole life in the city of New Orleans at the traumatic moment when Napoleon sold his North American holdings to the United States. With the use of Joseph Frowenfield, a German-American who immigrates to New Orleans and promptly looses all his family to yellow fever, Cable is able to get an outside perspective on the insular creole world of New Orleans and the gothic fall of the house of Grandissime. Aspects of the story I found particularly intriguing included the mixture of languages used both in the text and in the story, the story of Bras Coupé, the awareness of Saint Dominique and the Haitian Revolution, and the doubling, between Aurore and Clotilde Nancanou, and Honoré Grandissime and Honoré Grandissime, f.m.c.. Overall very good.