Discover Michael Ondaatjes debut novel a beautifully detailed story perhaps the finest jazz novel ever written Sunday TimesBased on the life of cornet player Buddy Bolden one of the legendary jazz pioneers of turnofthetwentiethcentury 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 timebomb which he was unable to stop.