Bingo 1: “B” square
I was in New Orleans in January for a work conference; the only time I went into the French Quarter was to visit a bookstore. On the local interest shelf there was one title I vaguely recognized: The Ballad of Perilous Graves. This was for the first half a generally interesting musical and magical realism kind of mystery in which local kids notice something is wrong with the spirit of the city of Nola and must then save everyone and everything from a major mystical threat. Perry has his family and his buddies to back him up, and it turns out that there’s a lot of secrets, old and new. Folks are often not what or who they might initially seem, for better or worse. THe setting and tone is intriguing at first, but then it kind of goes sideways.
The second half kind of lost me. In hindsight, I should have known as the main character’s name is a clue, but it turns out that the entire plot and book in general is a big ol’ allegory for relatively recent New Orleans history. The story openly admits it, so that’s not exactly spoilers. For whatever reason, that just killed all the momentum for me. I started skimming, and I don’t think I missed much. I do kind of like the little vaguely Harry Potter-ish twist in the epilogue, which (hindsight again) might be hinted at before the very end. Most of the story focuses on Perry, Peaches (Perry’s wild child bestie), and their piecing things together (who’s who, what’s what, etc.) but it’s Casey who’s the most relatable. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t have the almost natural sense of the city, music, mayhem connection, and he (more like an outside reader) not only has to learn what’s going on, but also make it make sense (and suspend disbelief). Probably doesn’t hurt that he’s a grown-up too. The elders getting involved does help too, but because this is that kind of story, it’s up to the kids to really save things, but it’s the elders who know what’s going on and in some cases how to stop it. I don’t really have anything about young people saving the day, but when it’s all an obvious symbol, it gets a little predictable, and then the magic isn’t quite as important anymore.