Crasstalk Book Club: Discussing Ethan Brown’s Shake the Devil Off

Sorry about the brief delay in the discussion post! Hopefully this gave those of you who waited until Friday night to open the book (I know who you are) time to finish.

On that note, I would much rather have been writing this post than hard-restraining tornado refugee pit bulls for fourteen hours on a weekend. So if you’d like to help me get my posts done on time in the future, donate to the ASPCA or HSUS.

So. Shake the Devil Off. Did you find it uplifting? A story of triumph over adversity? If you did, give it a quick re-read. But though it wasn’t the feel-good book of the year, hopefully you appreciated the book. And if you didn’t, hopefully you want to tell everyone why.

If you haven’t read my interview with author Ethan Brown, go here really quick and read it. Some of the additional comments he had regarding the book are on the exam, and I do not grade on a curve.

I’m pretty sure you figured out the two main issues the book tries to address:  a) treatment of US veterans and b) the actions of the government and the people of NOLA after Katrina. Those are obviously huge topics, but I’ll let you readers dictate what issues exactly you want to discuss from those two giant ones.

A couple more questions to consider:

• Did you feel the author succeeded in his intention, to humanize and shed light on a horrific crime?
• Did the aftermath of Katrina really influence the breakdown of Bowen and Hall’s relationship, or was this practically inevitable given their trajectory?
• Addie Hall. What are your thoughts and feelings about the victim of this crime? Is her life in NOLA as fleshed out as Bowen’s, or was she a cipher for the larger issues of government and trauma at play in Bowen’s life?
• Does this book make me crave some beignets and give me an anxiety attack from remembering the hurricanes? (Spoiler alert: YES.)
• What can realistically be done to improve care for veterans? In that vein, what, if anything, did the US learn after Katrina that would prevent the same complete infrastructure failure from happening again?

Also, in Book Club administrative news, our next selection is The Warmth of Other Suns, which you can buy here. Because it’s a longer book, the date of that discussion is July 10th, and it will be hosted by ihatediamonds. Do not wait until July 8th to start it.

Also, if this is your first time hearing about Book Club (though that is unlikely, given the notoriety), you can still read this book– it’s well worth it, and it’s available on Amazon. You can also find more of Ethan Brown’s work on his website.

Ok, then. Discuss!