The Parade Goes On Without You (2009), Andrea Boll
The Parade Goes On Without You,
a novel by Andrea Boll
(2009, 152pgs. $15)
Luna met Blue at the secondline; he played bass drum and she danced behind him. The Parade Goes On Without You follows their lives through the streets of New Orleans. For Luna, Blue’s world opens up to her, and gradually she discovers her true place in it.
Praise for The Parade Goes On Without You:
“This brief, intense story is a wide-open window into a rich New Orleans culture, as well as a depiction of the way people fall in and out of love with this city, why they choose to go or stay, resist or submit to its seductions.”
–Susan Larson, “Step into the second line in Andrea Boll’s new novel,” The Times-Picayune 04.29.2009
“Rolling with Luna and her friends on a secondline reveals its underlying current of power, joy, compulsion, propulsion, mystery and sexiness. Andrea Boll looks unblinkingly at the relationships between men and women and whites and blacks readily exposed during the Sunday afternoon parades. The Parade Goes On Without You soulfully buckjumps through life’s neighborhoods of love, hate, sorrow and fellowship.”
–Geraldine Wyckoff
Music Journalist/Secondline Follower
“The book shows the brass band community as well as the flavor of New Orleans like no other. It gives you a real understanding of our musical culture in its rawest form. Any true fan of our New Orleans tradition, young or old, would enjoy this book.”
–Edward Lee Jr.
Sousaphone Player, Soul Rebels Brass Band
“The Parade Goes On Without You is stunning. It’s poetic and alive, with the heart and exuberance of a second line. Andrea Boll’s debut is as daring and creative as Michael Ondaatje’s own debut, Coming Through Slaughter. If you want to experience the real New Orleans, The Parade Goes On Without You is a must read.”
–Joseph Boyden,
author of Three Day Road and Through Black Spruce
“The chaos, joy, sound and fury of a second line — no doubt it’s been used before as a metaphor for New Orleans, but the image of a brass band parade as the city writ small is the central conceit of The Parade Goes On Without You, Andrea Boll’s debut novel. Boll, a professor of English at Dillard University, has an ear for both the music of the street and the music inherent in the city’s vernacular, and her prose winds, stomps and wails.”
Kevin Allman, The Gambit Weekly, 06.01.2009
Reviews of The Parade Goes on Without You
Susan Larson, “Step into the second line in Andrea Boll’s new novel,” The Times-Picayune 04.29.2009
Kevin Allman, The Gambit Weekly, 06.01.2009
About the Author:
Andrea Boll, author of The Parade Goes On Without You
Andrea Boll grew up in San Diego, California. She is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and received her MFA from the University of New Orleans. Andrea and her daughter live in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans, eight feet below sea level. She is a regular contributor for the online magazine NOLAFugees.com and is a professor of English at Dillard University.
A portion of the proceeds for this book is donated to The Roots of Music, New Orleans’ free music education and academic tutoring program.
The Roots of music is a not-for-profit organization designed to address the critical need for middle-school music education in the city of New Orleans with the goal of becoming the city’s largest youth marching band.
By rekindling the marching band culture for youths, The Roots of Music is working to preserve New Orleans’ musical legacy and most importantly, provide a productive alternative to street life. Please see therootsofmusic.com for more information