Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37944 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-02
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Synopsis
Based on the life of cornet player Buddy Bolden, one of the legendary jazz pioneers of turn-of-the-twentieth-century New Orleans, Coming Through Slaughter is an extraordinary recreation of a remarkable musical life and a tragic conclusion. Through a collage of memoirs, interviews, imaginary conversations and monologues, Ondaatje builds a picture of a man who would work by day at a barber shop and by night unleash his talent to wild audiences who had never experienced such playing. But Buddy was also playing the field with two women, and inside his head was a ticking time-bomb which he was unable to stop.

Customer Reviews

writing that shimmers like wet chicory in the sun
Buddy Bolden is a near-mythic figure in the music world - claimed by many to have "invented" jazz near the turn of the (last) century. Here Ondaatje has taken the few facts known about the cornetist - there are no known recordings - and produces a superb novel that tells its story through song lyrics, poetry and breathtaking prose.

Bolden is portrayed in all his complexities and incongruities, lacking the necessary self-awareness or self-reflection to prevent his descent into madness. This is an emotionally brutal novel, contrasting against the beautiful and lyrical writing.

You don't have to be a jazz or even a music fan to enjoy this novel - in some ways the music is outside of the main narrative, which primarily focuses on the primal and divergent emotions of a man who carries a gift which is beyond the capacity of its vessel.

If you enjoyed this book, you'll probably also like Geoff Dyer's "But Beautiful", another gifted writer, who also can capture the transcendental quality of music and its creators.