Babylon Rolling
by Amanda Boyden
Knopf Canada,
307 pages, $29.95
Multiple human rivers converge in Babylon Rolling, Amanda Boyden's new novel set in pre-Katrina New Orleans. As with the coiling Mississippi, Babylon's pace rivets and roils, turns placid and lets the undercurrent carry the story, then sparkles in the sun as a breeze kicks up the surface and a character turns inward and wise.
Unfortunately, as with the great river itself, the trajectory is downward, or at least uneven. It is like starting a riverboat ride on a hot, sunny day with a master at the helm, but losing confidence after one too many bumps on a sand bar.
Boyden captures her tale – and the essence of her beloved city – through the voices of five families on Orchid St. Architecture splits the street visually, one side graced with larger, elegant homes, the other with smaller homes and a bar decorated year-round with Christmas lights.
Babylon utilizes an ensemble cast, but it's dominated by two sets of stories. Ariel May and Ed Flank and their two young children have moved from Minneapolis a year earlier, so Ariel could take a job managing a boutique hotel on the edge of the French Quarter. Ed stays home with the kids, cooks nutritious vegetarian meals, monitors their carbon footprint by insisting that their two cars sit in the driveway while his high-heel-shod wife battles humidity and humanity on the streetcars to and from work. Ed worries that his son might have "gender issues."
Across the street lives the Harris family, most notably 15-year-old Daniel, recently released from juvie ("baby Angola"), where he has rechristened himself Fearius. When an accident on Orchid St. takes his older brother Michael ("Muzzle") out of commission as a dealer in a well-organized drug-selling operation, Fearius is tapped to fill in. He steps up with a work ethic that Sam Walton would admire.
In many ways, Fearius turns out to be the most middle-class character of all. He's ambitious, honours the chain of command, respects old people and believes in the value of a college education. What he lacks in punctuation, he makes up for in sentimentality.
Other neighbours play their parts in the drama, not least Philomenia Beauregard de Bruges, the wittiest and most malicious literary creation since E. F. Benson's Lucia. At age 57, Philomenia has given herself the nickname Prancie because it sounds like ponies and wind.
Babylon Rolling takes place as Hurricane Ivan churns offshore, threatening the city enough to force an evacuation, but ultimately sparing it any damage. Everyone knows what will happen the following year. Reading the Prologue and Epilogue, one might be tempted to write off some of the book's weaknesses to post-Katrina emotion.
But much of the book simply rings false. Ariel May shows zero first-year zeal for her job, and even begs the kitchen staff to help her make management decisions – hardly what one would expect of someone brought in from out of state to run the show. And her relationship with Ed is never credibly explained. Her sexual background is adventurous and risk-taking. He doesn't take off his underwear until he's under the sheets.
What gets Ed focused back on her after their big breakdown? All the guys in the bar point out how good-looking she is.
Multiple human rivers converge on Orchid St. If only they ran a little less shallow.
Constance Schuller is an instructor in the humanities department at RETS College in Dayton, Ohio.
