Chapter 28: Reef in the Big Easy

It seems as if everyone is heading to Europe! This chapter is about Reef, and by the end of the chapter it seems as if he is going to be heading to Genoa Flaco, an anarchist he met in a jazz club in New Orleans—“the Maman Tant Gras Hall, a concert saloon juts off Perdido Street” (369). Can’t help but notice the connection to China Mieville’s leftist fantasy series which began with Perdido Street Station.

Reef’s journey to New Orleans, disguised as Thrapston Cheesely III, comes as he leaves his new family (Stray and his son Jesse) behind in Colorado after the mine owners tried to kill him with an avalanche.

I laughed at the name Yup Toy (367), as in yuppie toy, and his ridiculous British names like Ruperta Chirpingdom Groin (367) and the deliriously French Madam Aubergine (Mrs. Eggplant!).

Mrs. Groin’s Medici collar (368) seems to associate her with the ruling class, and her break-up with Reef in a club full of Negro entertainers puts Reef squarely on the side of the preterite!