The Sound of Building Coffins: A Novel of Catastrophe and Rebirth in New Orleans at the

by: Louis Maistros

Published by: The Toby Press

Reviewed by Julie Failla Earhart

First-time novelist Louis Maistros had been a long-time resident of New Orleans 8th Ward. With his debut, The Sound of Building Coffins, he proves that not everyone in the Crescent City is down and out.

The story opens in 1891. Nine-year-old Typhus Morningstar has a gift–an understanding his father calls it. He returns aborted fetuses to the river, and, with tender strokes, turns the bloody corpses into small catfish. So sets the stage for this literary fiction/magic realism tale that reads as quickly as the re-birthed catfish can swim away.

Typhus’ father, Noonday Morningstar, is a Baptist voodoo African-American preacher who has named five children after diseases. To him, “the names were a tribute to God’s glory, plain and simple.”

The Sound of Building Coffins is the story of the Noonday and his children. Noonday is called to the home of a Sicilian immigrant to perform an exorcism on the man’s child. The demon is defeated but Noonday is killed and Typhus is left irrevocably changed. The children squeak by after their father’s death, getting help from the apparition whom they believe is the boogeyman from their childhood.

The story moves forward to 1906, and what happens to the Morningstar children. Daughters Malaria and Diphtheria start out as nickel hookers and work their way to high-class call girls. Daughter Cholera died in infancy, ironically from cholera. Sons Dropsy and Typhus do their best, but life isn’t kind to them.

The Sound of Building Coffins is a complex work. Sometimes I wasn’t sure if the story had reverted to 1891 or was still in 1906. That little problem aside, Maistros writes beautiful prose and tells a tale that is mesmerizing. The fact that Maistros has no formal training as a writer, makes him a writer to keep an eye on.

In addition to a wonderful written story, Maistros also has a unique website. It appears that he has obtained old photographs of New Orleans prisoners and uses their features as a basis for his characters.

Armchair Interviews says: This is a website well worth checking out.

Author’s Web site; http://www.LouisMaistros.com