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Jesus Out to Sea
INCLUDES THE STORY “WINTER LIGHT,” THE BASIS FOR THE FILM GOD’S COUNTRY STARRING THANDIWE NEWTON?
One of the country’s most-acclaimed and popular novelists offers a selection of ten short stories centered around the devastation in Louisiana and Mississippi during and after Katrina.
In this moving collection of short stories, James Lee Burke elegantly marries his flair for gripping storytelling with his lyrical writing style and complex, fascinating character portraits. The backdrop of the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast is a versatile setting for Burke’s stories, which cover the scope of the human experience—from love and sex to domestic abuse to war, death, and friendship.
One of the country’s most-acclaimed and popular novelists offers a selection of ten short stories centered around the devastation in Louisiana and Mississippi during and after Katrina.
In this moving collection of short stories, James Lee Burke elegantly marries his flair for gripping storytelling with his lyrical writing style and complex, fascinating character portraits. The backdrop of the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast is a versatile setting for Burke’s stories, which cover the scope of the human experience—from love and sex to domestic abuse to war, death, and friendship.
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First published June 5, 2007
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About the author
James Lee Burke
119 books4,154 followersJames Lee Burke is an American author best known for his mysteries, particularly the Dave Robicheaux series. He has twice received the Edgar Award for Best Novel, for
Black Cherry Blues
in 1990 and
Cimarron Rose
in 1998.
Burke was born in Houston, Texas, but grew up on the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast. He attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the University of Missouri, receiving a BA and MA from the latter. He has worked at a wide variety of jobs over the years, including working in the oil industry, as a reporter, and as a social worker. He was Writer in Residence at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, succeeding his good friend and posthumous Pulitzer Prize winner John Kennedy Toole, and preceding Ernest Gaines in the position. Shortly before his move to Montana, he taught for several years in the Creative Writing program at Wichita State University in the 1980s.
Burke and his wife, Pearl, split their time between Lolo, Montana, and New Iberia, Louisiana. Their daughter, Alafair Burke, is also a mystery novelist.
The book that has influenced his life the most is the 1929 family tragedy "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner.
Burke was born in Houston, Texas, but grew up on the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast. He attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the University of Missouri, receiving a BA and MA from the latter. He has worked at a wide variety of jobs over the years, including working in the oil industry, as a reporter, and as a social worker. He was Writer in Residence at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, succeeding his good friend and posthumous Pulitzer Prize winner John Kennedy Toole, and preceding Ernest Gaines in the position. Shortly before his move to Montana, he taught for several years in the Creative Writing program at Wichita State University in the 1980s.
Burke and his wife, Pearl, split their time between Lolo, Montana, and New Iberia, Louisiana. Their daughter, Alafair Burke, is also a mystery novelist.
The book that has influenced his life the most is the 1929 family tragedy "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 115 reviews
April 18, 2017
4.5★
A very worthy collection of shorts by one of my favorite prose masters ranging between 4 and 5 stars depending on where you find yourself between the lines.
“That’s the way it was back then. You woke in the morning to the smell of gardenias, the electric smell of street carts, chicory coffee, and stone that has turned green with lichen. The light was always filtered though trees, so it was never harsh, and flowers bloomed year-round. New Orleans was a poem, man, a song in your heart that never died.”
Despite those dreamy lines I experienced several seriously WTF moments (always to be expected when Jimmy tells a story). Winter Light was one of them and needed a second listen followed by a search for an illusive answer which lead to discovery of the award winning short film version (which of course I had to hunt down and enjoyed immensely). A later story along the same theme A Season of Regret was also very good. They were all very good. My most favorite, from which the collection derives its title was Jesus Out To Sea, a powerful offering up to the tragedy and heartbreak of Hurricane Katrina. I don’t think I’m overstating its potential for some sacred impact on the reader or listener.
Extras
Listen to a 9 minute interview with JLB discussing Jesus Out To Sea here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GvaN...
View the trailer for Winter Light here:
https://vimeo.com/151546518
Amazon has the 34 minute film for purchase/streaming
A very worthy collection of shorts by one of my favorite prose masters ranging between 4 and 5 stars depending on where you find yourself between the lines.
“That’s the way it was back then. You woke in the morning to the smell of gardenias, the electric smell of street carts, chicory coffee, and stone that has turned green with lichen. The light was always filtered though trees, so it was never harsh, and flowers bloomed year-round. New Orleans was a poem, man, a song in your heart that never died.”
Despite those dreamy lines I experienced several seriously WTF moments (always to be expected when Jimmy tells a story). Winter Light was one of them and needed a second listen followed by a search for an illusive answer which lead to discovery of the award winning short film version (which of course I had to hunt down and enjoyed immensely). A later story along the same theme A Season of Regret was also very good. They were all very good. My most favorite, from which the collection derives its title was Jesus Out To Sea, a powerful offering up to the tragedy and heartbreak of Hurricane Katrina. I don’t think I’m overstating its potential for some sacred impact on the reader or listener.
Extras
Listen to a 9 minute interview with JLB discussing Jesus Out To Sea here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GvaN...
View the trailer for Winter Light here:
https://vimeo.com/151546518
Amazon has the 34 minute film for purchase/streaming
April 18, 2022
3.5 stars, rounded up because of the title story.
These stories were a mixed bag for me. Excellently written, as everything he writes is, most of the stories are sad, or brutal, and sometimes both. Four of them were from the viewpoint of a 12 year old boy growing up in Houston in 1947. They were excellent, and I believe might have been semi- autobiographical as he grew up in Houston and was born in 1935, so the timing was right.
The last story, Jesus Out to Sea, was a beautiful story about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
"That's the way it was back then. You woke in the morning to the smell of gardenias, the electric smell of the streetcars, chicory coffee, and stone that has turned green with lichen. The light was always filtered through the trees, so it was never harsh, and flowers bloomed year round. New Orleans was a poem, man, a song in your heart that never died."
Now that's some fine writing right there.
Thanks to Cathrine, who recommended this book, one I had never heard of. And thanks to the Charleston Library system for having it on their shelves.
These stories were a mixed bag for me. Excellently written, as everything he writes is, most of the stories are sad, or brutal, and sometimes both. Four of them were from the viewpoint of a 12 year old boy growing up in Houston in 1947. They were excellent, and I believe might have been semi- autobiographical as he grew up in Houston and was born in 1935, so the timing was right.
The last story, Jesus Out to Sea, was a beautiful story about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
"That's the way it was back then. You woke in the morning to the smell of gardenias, the electric smell of the streetcars, chicory coffee, and stone that has turned green with lichen. The light was always filtered through the trees, so it was never harsh, and flowers bloomed year round. New Orleans was a poem, man, a song in your heart that never died."
Now that's some fine writing right there.
Thanks to Cathrine, who recommended this book, one I had never heard of. And thanks to the Charleston Library system for having it on their shelves.
March 28, 2013
I couldn't help thinking this is Ray Bradbury from the wrong side of town, what happens to children who don't live in that pure middle-American country idyll that Bradbury made so much his milieu. Childhood fancy struggling through the real shit of American life, the violence, poverty, ignorance that are at least as much American life as that which Bradbury chronicles.
Not only about childhood, but it is a theme.
And throughout it all, the poetic lilt that is Burke's own in the way Bradbury has his. I found myself reading passages out loud - especially conversation - it demanded to be heard as well as looked at. It's been quite a while since I visited Burke's world, but I'm so glad I did.
Not only about childhood, but it is a theme.
And throughout it all, the poetic lilt that is Burke's own in the way Bradbury has his. I found myself reading passages out loud - especially conversation - it demanded to be heard as well as looked at. It's been quite a while since I visited Burke's world, but I'm so glad I did.
September 12, 2011
For a variety of reasons, Burke is one of my favorite writers.
His Dave Robicheaux series of crime thrillers are true page turners.
Burke is a master in his descriptions of people, places and
things in those books.
This book is a series of short stories that have been published between
1990 and 2007. The title story is about the devastation that covered
New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The stories are not page turners like the crime novels.
They are, it seems to me, a more serious literary effort, consisting
mostly of stories of people in southern Louisiana who are down and out,
whose lives have passed them by. I didn't enjoy these short stories as well
as the crime novels, mostly I think, because there is a certain sadness to
them. The tone of the stories is not one to make you rejoice in the goodness
of the human condition. The narrator of the stories struggles to come to
terms with the memory of his father, casting him as a good man in one story,
and a bad one in the next.
All that said, the stories are very well written. Burke is a master. Even though
the book was not a page turner, I found myself anxious to read each of them.
His Dave Robicheaux series of crime thrillers are true page turners.
Burke is a master in his descriptions of people, places and
things in those books.
This book is a series of short stories that have been published between
1990 and 2007. The title story is about the devastation that covered
New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The stories are not page turners like the crime novels.
They are, it seems to me, a more serious literary effort, consisting
mostly of stories of people in southern Louisiana who are down and out,
whose lives have passed them by. I didn't enjoy these short stories as well
as the crime novels, mostly I think, because there is a certain sadness to
them. The tone of the stories is not one to make you rejoice in the goodness
of the human condition. The narrator of the stories struggles to come to
terms with the memory of his father, casting him as a good man in one story,
and a bad one in the next.
All that said, the stories are very well written. Burke is a master. Even though
the book was not a page turner, I found myself anxious to read each of them.
July 13, 2010
Only Elmore Leonard, James Lee Burke, Stephen King, and Lawrence Block seem to have the ability to make me yearn for the dying art of the short story. It's a format that's fallen out of step with the times. They're too long to be read safely in the span of a television commercial, yet too short to occupy a bedside stand for a week. It' the light lunch of literature and we live in polarized times when folks opt for gluttony or ascetics, Atkins or Grapefruit. The short story fills that beautiful sweet spot in between, but since it's an antiquated form, there's little market for it. Authors that indulge seem to do so out of the challenge that the short story possesses. And the great canvas it creates to let an author pour out a lot of conceits and constructions they've had burning in their mind for a while that they couldn't elegantly fit into a novel without it sticking out like a sore thumb.
Jesus Out to Sea reads like a casting call of all of the small background characters of Burke's Dave Robicheaux series that you wish were allocated more ink. They run the gamut racially and socially, but all are united in being battered by life in one form or another, mired in misery yet strangely never bleak. They span a wide variety of life experience, from the Katrina-ravaged New South to the war-ravaged South East Asia. Burke's voice seems to shout out in this format, each page dripping with description in a way that would almost be syrupy sweet in the context of a novel. And typical Burke, the characters who would come across as losers in another writers care here appear as down-on-their luck men and women whose hand you end up wanting to shake instead of step across the street to avoid.
Jesus Out to Sea reads like a casting call of all of the small background characters of Burke's Dave Robicheaux series that you wish were allocated more ink. They run the gamut racially and socially, but all are united in being battered by life in one form or another, mired in misery yet strangely never bleak. They span a wide variety of life experience, from the Katrina-ravaged New South to the war-ravaged South East Asia. Burke's voice seems to shout out in this format, each page dripping with description in a way that would almost be syrupy sweet in the context of a novel. And typical Burke, the characters who would come across as losers in another writers care here appear as down-on-their luck men and women whose hand you end up wanting to shake instead of step across the street to avoid.
June 10, 2023
‘I don’t care to revisit moments like that.’
This book contains eleven short stories, spanning seven decades and set in two continents. The themes are dark, touching on much that is unpleasant but offering, too, the hope of redemption.
‘I look at him and feel ashamed of both of us.’
What makes these stories work is the extraordinarily vivid characters that Mr Burke creates in each story. Some of the stories are linked through their characters; others share themes – of childhood, of the price of peace, of the cost of war, of the personal impact of disaster.
Three stories particularly remain in my mind: in ‘Texas City, 1947’ the Sonnier children’s father disappears. They are left with an abusive stepmother. They develop their own solution to this problem. In ‘Winter Light’, set in Montana, an aging professor tries to deal with trespassing hunters. His actions have their own sense, but are not likely to prevail.
‘ ”We’re here”, one of the hunters yelled at the others. “We’re here”.’
And, in ‘Jesus Out to Sea’ set in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina we see failure. Not only has the government failed to react effectively to the disaster, the city itself had been moving from hope to despair. There is less hope evident in this story: it’s hard to move past the imagery of Jesus on a cross, the remnant of a destroyed church, floating away in the floodwaters.
I also enjoyed the trio of stories featuring Charlie and his best friend Nick Hauser, growing up in 1940s Houston: ‘The Molester’; ‘The Burning of the Flag’ and ‘Why Bugsy Siegel Was a Friend of Mine’.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
This book contains eleven short stories, spanning seven decades and set in two continents. The themes are dark, touching on much that is unpleasant but offering, too, the hope of redemption.
‘I look at him and feel ashamed of both of us.’
What makes these stories work is the extraordinarily vivid characters that Mr Burke creates in each story. Some of the stories are linked through their characters; others share themes – of childhood, of the price of peace, of the cost of war, of the personal impact of disaster.
Three stories particularly remain in my mind: in ‘Texas City, 1947’ the Sonnier children’s father disappears. They are left with an abusive stepmother. They develop their own solution to this problem. In ‘Winter Light’, set in Montana, an aging professor tries to deal with trespassing hunters. His actions have their own sense, but are not likely to prevail.
‘ ”We’re here”, one of the hunters yelled at the others. “We’re here”.’
And, in ‘Jesus Out to Sea’ set in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina we see failure. Not only has the government failed to react effectively to the disaster, the city itself had been moving from hope to despair. There is less hope evident in this story: it’s hard to move past the imagery of Jesus on a cross, the remnant of a destroyed church, floating away in the floodwaters.
I also enjoyed the trio of stories featuring Charlie and his best friend Nick Hauser, growing up in 1940s Houston: ‘The Molester’; ‘The Burning of the Flag’ and ‘Why Bugsy Siegel Was a Friend of Mine’.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
May 21, 2012
This book is amazing. I read it twice. Everything James Lee Burke writes, he writes well... but while reading this book, I had to keep reminding myself this really happened. You may have listened to all of the news reports about Katrina and felt sympathy for what the people there were experiencing, both during and so long after. After reading this book I will remember Katrina like I remember my grandmother telling me about the great depression and how they got through it. The title comes is one of the most clever things about the book. It's not what you think. You will understand when you read it.
June 8, 2009
As I have to come to expect the style and skill of Burke conveys great feeling to his writing and I enjoyed all the stories. My only minor criticism of the collection is that a couple of the stories are a little similar in theme and perhaps it would have been better to separate them into different collections, but nevertheless he's such a good writer and observer of human emotion that you can forgive his publisher this small issue.
August 7, 2008
I read Burke just for the beauty of his prose. The atmospheres he builds are intensely involving and his descriptions can bring tears to a statue. This brief collection of short stories, previously published in several different sources, are far ranging at times, but several are tales of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath. I found these the most powerful, but enjoyed them all.
Read
July 28, 2021A real eye-opener to Burke's process of creating the fantastic characters and settings that he does in his novels. Here you get a sense of where many of these nuggets originate. It's like looking at the evolution of those different elements, and how they can transcend into longer work.
Refreshing to see that masters grow to become masters.
Refreshing to see that masters grow to become masters.
April 11, 2010
The majority of these stories are set on the Texas/Louisiana coast, and I've been tempted to read this author because he writes in that setting a lot. This collection is not an encouragement to seek his other material.
Someone on this website has already typed up a random passage for me to show you:
"Sometimes he comes to me in my dreams, and I wonder if ironically all our stories were written on his skin back there in Texas City in 1947. Or maybe that's just poetic illusion purchased by time. But even in the middle of an Indian summer's day, when the sugarcane is beaten with purple and gold light in the fields and the sun is both warm and cool on your skin at the same time, when I know that the earth is a fine place after all, I have to mourn just a moment for those people of years ago who lived lives they did not choose, who carried burdens that were not their own, whose invisible scars were as private as the scarlet beads of Sister Roberta's rosary wrapped across the back of her small hand, as bright as drops of blood ringed round the souls of little people."
The first sentence in this sample does not make any more sense in the context of the story. There are several ways to write on the skin of dead people, but sadly the ironic approach is not explained in great detail here. I'm going to have to stop reading that sentence because it's starting to unravel my grasp of the English language. Or maybe that's just poetic illusion purchased in the bargain bin at Hasting's.
And how about that "blood ringed round the souls of little people"? Evocative, yes? The perfect title for my next industrial Celtic mysticism album.
The best stories in this book are the oil worker stories, and the sample above is from one of those.
Really, I enjoy criticizing the established mystery writers on this website because it usually prompts a comment that is deleted before I can log in to read it. I can only hope that these phantom comments are as filled with amusing vitriol as I imagine them to be.
Someone on this website has already typed up a random passage for me to show you:
"Sometimes he comes to me in my dreams, and I wonder if ironically all our stories were written on his skin back there in Texas City in 1947. Or maybe that's just poetic illusion purchased by time. But even in the middle of an Indian summer's day, when the sugarcane is beaten with purple and gold light in the fields and the sun is both warm and cool on your skin at the same time, when I know that the earth is a fine place after all, I have to mourn just a moment for those people of years ago who lived lives they did not choose, who carried burdens that were not their own, whose invisible scars were as private as the scarlet beads of Sister Roberta's rosary wrapped across the back of her small hand, as bright as drops of blood ringed round the souls of little people."
The first sentence in this sample does not make any more sense in the context of the story. There are several ways to write on the skin of dead people, but sadly the ironic approach is not explained in great detail here. I'm going to have to stop reading that sentence because it's starting to unravel my grasp of the English language. Or maybe that's just poetic illusion purchased in the bargain bin at Hasting's.
And how about that "blood ringed round the souls of little people"? Evocative, yes? The perfect title for my next industrial Celtic mysticism album.
The best stories in this book are the oil worker stories, and the sample above is from one of those.
Really, I enjoy criticizing the established mystery writers on this website because it usually prompts a comment that is deleted before I can log in to read it. I can only hope that these phantom comments are as filled with amusing vitriol as I imagine them to be.
September 23, 2018
"The era in which we grew up was a poem and Bugsey Siegel was a friend of mine." I picked this book up from the library for two reasons: It's a book of shorts, which I love in general, and second, because a review under the front cover said that Burke is not afraid to write beautifully about awful things. The reviewer is right. Gritty is how I would describe Burke's tales. Gritty with tangible depth and beauty. When you stumble across great writing - the kind that makes you want to read aloud so you can get the full 4D experience; the kind that makes you brain relax and drink in words that roll off the page like smooth whiskey - you must acknowledge the craft for what it is.
I'm reminded that anything in life, even the very worst of who we are as humans, can be rendered beautiful by the right combination of words in the hands of a master. And isn't that what our job is as storytellers? Isn't it our job to lift up humanity and show it with all of its faults - but also show how those faults weave together into one big beautiful mess? "Love your neighbor" in all his failed, sinful, triumphant glory. Love your neighbor as yourself.
"My father had been an old-time pipeline man whose best friend was killed by his side on the last day of World War I. He read classical literature, refused to mow the lawn under any circumstances, spent more days than he should in a beer joint, attended church irregularly, and contended there were two things you needed to know about the nature of God-that He had a sense of humor and, as a gentleman, He never broke His word."
Pick this one up. Read and enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of the south. Burke is less in love with his characters of the north....but then all of us romanticize the places of our birth.
I'm reminded that anything in life, even the very worst of who we are as humans, can be rendered beautiful by the right combination of words in the hands of a master. And isn't that what our job is as storytellers? Isn't it our job to lift up humanity and show it with all of its faults - but also show how those faults weave together into one big beautiful mess? "Love your neighbor" in all his failed, sinful, triumphant glory. Love your neighbor as yourself.
"My father had been an old-time pipeline man whose best friend was killed by his side on the last day of World War I. He read classical literature, refused to mow the lawn under any circumstances, spent more days than he should in a beer joint, attended church irregularly, and contended there were two things you needed to know about the nature of God-that He had a sense of humor and, as a gentleman, He never broke His word."
Pick this one up. Read and enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of the south. Burke is less in love with his characters of the north....but then all of us romanticize the places of our birth.
May 3, 2009
This is one of those books that I'm glad I've read, given my liking for the author, but also wouldn't have bought (thanks, library system!) because I've yet to come across any collection of short stories that holds my attention the same way as a novel.
I've long been a fan of James Lee Burke's crime novels, which I recommend like crazy to anyone who hasn't come across him. He's essentially a novellist who happens to write crime, with a deft touch and lyrical language describing both the people and the places where his stories are set.
In Jesus Out to Sea, we get a collection of Burke's most recent short stories, which are sadly not quite up to the quality of his longer works. But then the most recent of his books that I read was the superb The Tin Roof Blowdown, which dealt with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and had me in tears at the end. That was always going to be a tough act to follow.
I've long been a fan of James Lee Burke's crime novels, which I recommend like crazy to anyone who hasn't come across him. He's essentially a novellist who happens to write crime, with a deft touch and lyrical language describing both the people and the places where his stories are set.
In Jesus Out to Sea, we get a collection of Burke's most recent short stories, which are sadly not quite up to the quality of his longer works. But then the most recent of his books that I read was the superb The Tin Roof Blowdown, which dealt with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and had me in tears at the end. That was always going to be a tough act to follow.
July 6, 2017
I am becoming a believer in short stories, and this was excellent - not happy by any means but so, so descriptive of the plight of those enduring Katrina. I felt I was there suffering right along with the boys in the story.
I am loving being a part of the Monthly Short Story discussion mainly because I have never been an enthusiastic SS reader, and the stories Catherine is selecting are well written and thought provoking. In this one James Lee Burke makes Katrina come to life in a frightening but realistic way, and to me the ending was deservedly poignant. The U-Tube interview with the author that Catherine previewed the story with was an excellent lead in to this selection
Right on, once again, Catherine!!!!
I am loving being a part of the Monthly Short Story discussion mainly because I have never been an enthusiastic SS reader, and the stories Catherine is selecting are well written and thought provoking. In this one James Lee Burke makes Katrina come to life in a frightening but realistic way, and to me the ending was deservedly poignant. The U-Tube interview with the author that Catherine previewed the story with was an excellent lead in to this selection
Right on, once again, Catherine!!!!
August 9, 2007
I find Burke to be really hit-or-miss in his novels; I love the way he writes and I love Dave Robicheaux as a character, but I'm not always engaged by or interested in the stories that Burke chooses to tell. This collection hits the things that I loved about Burke -- his language, his narrative characters -- and also eliminates what bothers me, because every single story was engaging, completely.
January 9, 2009
I am a big fan of James Lee Burke, but I had never read any of his short stories before. Some of these are haunting, especially the Katrina ones and the ones that seem touchingly autobiographical. It makes me wish I knew more about JLB the man, not just the author. Definitely a "must read" if you are a fan of Burke.
January 4, 2020
Burke is a wonderful writer. There are no wasted words in these short stories; each one is a testament to the craft and skill of the author. These stories of little suburban lives, and the bigger dramas they encompass, speak of love. Love of people, and love of place. The touch - and understanding - of language speaks of of Cormac McCarthy, and Raymond Carver.
October 3, 2007
I felt a bit misled by the cover's claim that the stories focus upon Katrina and the post-Katrina aftermath. More than half did not fall into that category. That said, the characters were well developed and the stories well written. Mr. Burke's skill for evocative detail remains true to form.
October 23, 2008
A truly choppy mix of stories. Some good, a few great, the majority average. Burke's long-form stories allow you to know and love the characters despite their flaws. In the short form, the flaws are to great to overcome.
January 8, 2021
James Lee Burke is best known for his novels, notably of the Cajun detective Dave Robicheaux. This book is a collection of short stories, but Burke shows his flair for descriptive language and ability to delve into the dark and bright sides of human emotion. In the story "Winter Light," the lead character is a retired professor who lives in the mountains. He'd grown tired of academic infighting, but it had a way of coming back at him in a different way. Another story, "The Night Johnny Ace Died," feels like a departure. It's set in the early Fifties, in the dawning days of rock and roll. Johnny dies early in the story, but the narrative jumps around to follow the days of a band that had sometimes played with him. The narrator, R.B, a bassist, tells about about nights with the band and being on the road with his buddy Eddy Ray and a fine singer named Kitty Lamar as they face good times and bad.
The collection also has a couple of stories about young men in the Forties growing up in tough neighborhoods and learning hard lessons. The second story has a cameo appearance from the gangster Bugsy Siegel and his girlfriend, who takes a liking to the boys and their ability to teach him tricks using a yo-yo. The lead characters learn how adults can screw up and try to make the most of what they've got going.
The final story, "Jesus Out to Sea," offers a strong coda to the collection. Once again, we're following the world through the eyes of musicians, this time in the city of New Orleans. The narrator talks about growing up with his buddies Tony and Miles. The three of them went to Vietnam and came back, but had different lives after that, but stayed close. Music, drugs, and the mob were all part of the life. Then we flash forward to 2005 and Katrina boils up from the Gulf and overwhelms the place he and Miles shared in the 9th ward and it all becomes a battle for survival. Burke gives us glimpses of who these men were and who they are now, until the storm that doesn't care about any of that comes along.
This is a good collection and shows Burke's versatility in being able to tell stories that have both a strong sense of place and characters who are driven, but who are not always sure why or where to.
The collection also has a couple of stories about young men in the Forties growing up in tough neighborhoods and learning hard lessons. The second story has a cameo appearance from the gangster Bugsy Siegel and his girlfriend, who takes a liking to the boys and their ability to teach him tricks using a yo-yo. The lead characters learn how adults can screw up and try to make the most of what they've got going.
The final story, "Jesus Out to Sea," offers a strong coda to the collection. Once again, we're following the world through the eyes of musicians, this time in the city of New Orleans. The narrator talks about growing up with his buddies Tony and Miles. The three of them went to Vietnam and came back, but had different lives after that, but stayed close. Music, drugs, and the mob were all part of the life. Then we flash forward to 2005 and Katrina boils up from the Gulf and overwhelms the place he and Miles shared in the 9th ward and it all becomes a battle for survival. Burke gives us glimpses of who these men were and who they are now, until the storm that doesn't care about any of that comes along.
This is a good collection and shows Burke's versatility in being able to tell stories that have both a strong sense of place and characters who are driven, but who are not always sure why or where to.
April 7, 2020
Very lyrical collection of stories, many inter-connected, of characters who have lived, harshly, on the Gulf Coast. I liked how their struggles weren't maudlin, but were strong nonetheless. Many characters are drug addicts, alcoholics, struggling, but nobody ever feels badly for themselves, or whines. There's a quiet strength in their struggle in every story, even though there's no promise of a happy answer.
There are a couple of good coming-of-age stories towards the end that reminded me of Stephen King's characters from "The Body" and of that era, and their dealings with Ace and his pals. The body from that story, after all, was never the important part of that short novel. It was growing up, dealing with right and wrong, with those who can't escape feeling like "losers." With fairness and loss.
Burke is one of those writers who writers talk about all the time, but who hasn't reached the really big time. You don't see his stuff made into shows or movies. They're often very thoughtful, very perceptive, very five senses mixed with character-defining thoughts and actions. It's good writing, and writers would learn a lot from it.
Very good stories and characterization here, and a lyrically-real description of living hard on the Gulf Coast.
There are a couple of good coming-of-age stories towards the end that reminded me of Stephen King's characters from "The Body" and of that era, and their dealings with Ace and his pals. The body from that story, after all, was never the important part of that short novel. It was growing up, dealing with right and wrong, with those who can't escape feeling like "losers." With fairness and loss.
Burke is one of those writers who writers talk about all the time, but who hasn't reached the really big time. You don't see his stuff made into shows or movies. They're often very thoughtful, very perceptive, very five senses mixed with character-defining thoughts and actions. It's good writing, and writers would learn a lot from it.
Very good stories and characterization here, and a lyrically-real description of living hard on the Gulf Coast.
January 16, 2018
Burke has no time for academia, gentry folk or fake smiles. When he writes the underdogs are the champions. Burke carries their cause, even in their tragedy and the seamy side of life that darkens their day to days.
The 11 short stories in this collection present men, women and children, all up against astronomical odds, from poverty, to abuse, to addiction, to natural disaster, and forces too monumental with which to reckon.
Yet, the characters are brave souls with a grit that passersby could never imagine. They’ve got color and depth and excruciating pain that brings them off the page and into your psyche. “Jesus Out to Sea” is a story that conveys the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina which the news stories completely missed. The disenfranchised, the burnt out, the hopeless drifting away, being taken by an undercurrent beyond their control, is a striking image for Burke’s characters. How they manage to keep their heads up despite it all, packs the wallop that blows me away.
The 11 short stories in this collection present men, women and children, all up against astronomical odds, from poverty, to abuse, to addiction, to natural disaster, and forces too monumental with which to reckon.
Yet, the characters are brave souls with a grit that passersby could never imagine. They’ve got color and depth and excruciating pain that brings them off the page and into your psyche. “Jesus Out to Sea” is a story that conveys the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina which the news stories completely missed. The disenfranchised, the burnt out, the hopeless drifting away, being taken by an undercurrent beyond their control, is a striking image for Burke’s characters. How they manage to keep their heads up despite it all, packs the wallop that blows me away.
May 17, 2020
I first read James Lee Burke's story collection in 2007, and was prompted to read it again with the news that "Winter Light" is slated for the moving pictures. There are consistent themes of the evil that men do, and the capacity for violence even among peace-loving, God-fearing folk. As in all of JLB's work, I love the reflective, historical look-backs ("The Night Johnny Ace Died" and "Texas City, 1947") that make you think Jim is narrating psychic events of his youth. And then there is the spot-on patois JLB is known for: flopper, pump, dirty bop.
February 26, 2022
If you think of James Lee Burke only as the creator of Dave Robichaux you are missing out on a lot of very good writing. That is not meant to trash ole Dave because I enjoy his adventures as much as Burke’s many fans. But if you limit your reading of Burke’s writing to the Dave novels you are missing out on some of this gifted writer’s best work. This collection of short stories illustrate the diversity of Burke’s skill in what I believe to be one of the most challenging forms of writing. I think he is a master.
December 21, 2020
I enjoy JLB's novels more than his short stories, but there are some fine stories in this collection.
I sometimes felt like I was reading a snippet from a Robicheaux novel, but that's a minor nit. JLB has a distinctive voice and his dialogue has a certain feel and phrasing to it, so that was probably a big reason why this felt like one of his novels at times.
The last three stories in the collection were my favorites.
I sometimes felt like I was reading a snippet from a Robicheaux novel, but that's a minor nit. JLB has a distinctive voice and his dialogue has a certain feel and phrasing to it, so that was probably a big reason why this felt like one of his novels at times.
The last three stories in the collection were my favorites.
January 18, 2024
This book, despite being published in 2007, felt a lot like it had been written when times were different and it didn’t matter what you said or what words you said. The stories themselves were interesting and some even were stitched together by the characters and time period. A theme for this book felt as if it was written around Hurricane Katrina and the hurt of the south post storm. Yet there are stories in the book written and published well before that disaster.
March 27, 2024
This is a gritty recounting of the experience of hurricane Katrina from the inside. The writer reminisces about growing up in New Orleans and how it’s changed. This is not for the faint of heart. He mentions the bodies floating by, the ruptured sewers, the super dome covered in feces filled with angry people without food or water. It describes the hell that was New Orleans during and immediately after the hurricane.
May 24, 2025
Why Did It Take Me So Long To Discover This Author?
A marvelous collection of short stories that are most notable for the author's descriptive prowess and his ability to craft a scene and draw the reader into it. Each story is a slice of life, a moment in time, captured in history, with its cast of characters imprinted on the reader's mind. Loved this book and looking forward to reading more by the author!
A marvelous collection of short stories that are most notable for the author's descriptive prowess and his ability to craft a scene and draw the reader into it. Each story is a slice of life, a moment in time, captured in history, with its cast of characters imprinted on the reader's mind. Loved this book and looking forward to reading more by the author!
November 16, 2019
Every story in this book is a five-star story on its own. These stories recall so many authors (name drop warning): Cormac McCarthy, Richard Ford, Ivan Doig, maybe even Elmore Leonard. If you were stuck alone in a cabin for a day because of a blizzard, and all you had was this book, some whiskey and a television, I’d turn off the television.
June 14, 2025
Excellent stories.
What a wonderful writer James Lee Burke is! I have read so many of his novels and they never disappoint! I can't even imagine the horrors the people of Louisiana suffered during and after Katrina.To watch this happen to their lovely state must have been devastating.
What a wonderful writer James Lee Burke is! I have read so many of his novels and they never disappoint! I can't even imagine the horrors the people of Louisiana suffered during and after Katrina.To watch this happen to their lovely state must have been devastating.
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