Coming Through Slaughter

By: Michael Ondaatje

Narrated by: Dion Graham

Bringing to life the fabulous, colorful panorama of New Orleans in the first flush of the jazz era, this book tells the story of Buddy Bolden, the first of the great trumpet players - some say the originator of jazz - who was, in any case, the genius, the guiding spirit, and the king of that time and place.

In this fictionalized meditation, Bolden, an unrecorded father of Jazz, remains throughout a tantalizingly ungraspable phantom, the central mysteries of his life, his art, and his madness remaining felt but never quite pinned down. Ondaatje's prose is at times startlingly lyrical, and as he chases Bolden through documents and scenes, the novel partakes of the very best sort of modern detective novel - one where the enigma is never resolved, but allowed to manifest in its fullness. Though more 'experimental' in form than either The English Patient or In the Skin of a Lion, it is a fitting addition to the renowned Ondaatje oeuvre.

©2019 Michael Ondaatje (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

I enjoyed this

I came upon this after the previous book I listened to, I was not disappointed. I found the story interesting and as a poet myself, I enjoyed the unique, stream of consciousness style. Dion is one of my favorite narrators, so that added to the experience for me. The few parts that were hard to follow, I just rewinded and a second listen did the trick.

Literary jazz

About the renowned early jazz trumpeter, Buddy Bolden, in New Orleans. Written in a free flowing style like jazz. Setting the melody and then developing its variations, the story shared by Bolden to an ensemble of characters who tell about his life that descended into madness. Dion Graham narrates the novel and brilliantly portrays the characters and the lyricality of Ondaatje’s writing. I highly recommend listening to Grahams performance while reading the novel as Graham draws out the rhythm of the musical and poetic text.

Excellent author & narrator

To bring this short Ondaatje novel off on audio was going to take a very talented narrator, and that’s exactly what you have in Dion Graham. Well done all around.

speechless

this novella was amazing. the story, rich with anticipation of something to come but turns out to never be what you expected. a must read.