When I was a senior in college, I had the pleasure of babysitting for a family that lived close to campus. The mother of the family worked for a publishing company and gave me a ton of her favorite books. One book in particular that she gave me, became my favorite – Pretty Little Dirty by Amanda Boyden. After I finished the book I immediately scoured the internet for other books written by the same author, but I quickly learned that she only had one book out.
Over the next few years I periodically researched Amanda Boyden and was super excited when I discovered she had written a second book, Babylon Rolling. I ordered the book online but wasn’t overly excited to read it as the summary sounded drastically different from my favorite book, Pretty Little Dirty.
It wasn’t until post Hurricane Sandy that I decided to actually read it as I knew the book took place in New Orleans around the time of Hurricane Katrina.
While to book was drastically different than Boyden’s first book, I thoroughly enjoyed this one. The book focused in on a group of diverse families that live on the same block in uptown New Orleans. Boyden does a fantastic job of developing each character and conveying their relationships with one another.
We learn about the issues that plague each family and how each neighbor works together to overcome obstacles and challenges. The book takes us through the false alarm of Hurricane Ivan, however the book leaves off before Hurricane Katrina hits, so we are left to imagine how the characters we have grown to care for will fair during the tragedy.
Alyssa
