Nine Lives

Mystery, Magic, Death, and Life in New Orleans

By: Dan Baum

Narrated by: Jonathan Yen

Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Nines Lives is a multivoiced biography of a dazzling, surreal, and imperiled city, told through the lives of nine unforgettable characters and bracketed by two epic storms: Hurricane Betsy, which transformed New Orleans in the 1960s, and Hurricane Katrina, which nearly destroyed it. Dan Baum brings this kaleidoscopic portrait to life, showing us what was lost in the storm and what remains to be saved.

©2009 Dan Baum (P)2016 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Baum, an empathetic storyteller, has nearly perfectly distilled the events, providing readers with a sensuous portrait of a place.... Baum's chronicle leaves readers with a bittersweet understanding of what Americans lost during Hurricane Katrina." ( Publishers Weekly)

Inspiring Read

Truly a remarkable story of overcoming adversity. Each heart-warming tale pulled me to the point where I could imagine the backdrop.

I could not stop listening to this book!

This is an amazing story of 9 lives in New Orleans. It is fascinating to hear different peoples stories living through Hurricane Katrina and their lives before and after. I highly recommend this book!

Great way to get to know the real New Orleans

Interesting stories! I enjoyed the long timeline of these peoples lives. I have a new understanding of life in New Orleans during the latter half of the previous century and also the real impact of Katrina

Great stories!

I loved how this book was laid out and the story was told. I was totally engrossed with all of the characters and their lives. I learned so much about people and the history of Nola.

I listened to it twice

I wanted to hear it again so I could keep the people straight in my heart. Amazing characters and good story.

Love the Narrator!

Not done with the book yet, but I really enjoy this narrator. He keeps you listening and his voice makes the story great. Not too fond of the N word being used so much by a white man but it still makes the story authentic due to the times the book is set in.

Do not miss if you're interested in New Orleans

Any additional comments?

I hope to bring more listeners in with the following review, because this book deserves listeners. There was just one so far when I read it, and it says this was a "missed opportunity." I could not disagree more!

Yes the narrator's voice sounds a little "trained" at first, but that impression fades very quickly. Jonathan Yen is actually a fantastic narrator. He makes the book come alive, and his voice as different characters is amazing--I had to check to make sure there weren't a group of narrators involved as there are from some other audiobooks.

I selected this book and overlooked the one discouraging review because I had just returned from a weekend in New Orleans and went on the most fascinating walking tour of Treme. I wanted to know more. I'm the kind of person who likes to learn deeply from the lives of people--fictional or not--who've lived through something. That this is actually biographical for these nine lives, that they are not fiction, is something I had to recheck a couple times too. It reads so much like fiction. The selection of the nine lives from different strata of New Orleans enriches the learning part of it for me--I have a much deeper understanding of the city and its culture and the effect of Katrina--but the excellent writing was pure pleasure. It builds on these characters lives over decades, so you really get to know them. I highly recommend this book

Narration is distracting; story is great

I love this book, and the characters are portrayed beautifully. The narrator’s voice is distracting because he has a very “stagey” radio voice a la Kasey Kasem. Very disappointing they didn’t select someone who has one of the native accents from the region. A real lost opportunity.