Little Red Rooster

by Greg Matthews

Nearly sixteen-year-old Burris Weems, almost a dropout, almost a virgin, searches for manhood in the small-town American heartland of the eighties.

Genres: Fiction, Coming Of Age

247 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Greg Matthews is the author of eleven books, including The Further Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, heralded by the Christian Science Monitor as “the true sequel to Mark Twain’s masterpiece,” and two acclaimed sagas of the Old West, Heart of the Country and Power in the Blood. He has published three books—Callisto, The Dolphin People, and The Secret Book of Sacred Things—under the nom de plume Torsten Krol. The author describes himself as “a guy in a room, writing, writing.”

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Burris Weems is different, that's for sure!

The 15-year-old narrator of this book claims to have not only invented the "Moby Dick is a venereal disease joke" at age eleven, but insists he is solely responsible for popularizing camouflage pants, as well.

An accident has left Burris' left leg two inches shorter than his right, and thanks to his refusal to wear a special built-up shoe, his back is now hopelessly twisted and out of shape. To relieve the pain, he walks the nighttime streets of Buford, Indiana, steeped in loneliness and thinking deep thoughts like "Will I ever get laid?"

He has a prickly relationship with his mother, an aging hippie who sells black velvet paintings of Jesus and Kenny Rogers down at the mall parking lot on Saturday mornings. His older sister, Loretta, Buford's only "lady cabbie," is his one true friend. That soon changes when Burris begins a summer job at the carton factory and meets fellow employee, Lee. Soon, they're hanging out together, drinking beer and watching B-movies at the trailer park with Lee's wife Diane and her father mother, Gene/Jean, an unhappy transsexual.

Things are definitely looking up for Burris when SHIT HAPPENS and he finds himself driving to New Mexico with a dead body rotting in the trunk. He goes a bit Travis Bickle, well, the hairdo, anyway, and slips off the rails for a little while.

Lessons are learned and while things don't exactly end in a typical happily-ever-after fashion, Burris now has something he never had before - hope for the future.

Burris is a fascinating character and I had quite a love/hate relationship with him. The stuff that comes out of his mouth is so funny and original, I'm scratching my head and agreeing with him, while at the same time wanting to choke him for being so damned obnoxious.

The book also contains some of the best last lines I've ever read, and while they really don't spoil anything, I'll hide them to keep the whiners happy:

I wish I could finish everything up neat and tidy and tie it with a ribbon, but I can't, because nothing ends that doesn't somehow overlap something else that's beginning, so I'll just give you some advice for free:

Don't ever get involved with dead people.
And avoid some of the live ones too.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

The narrator's voice is a direct lift from "Catcher in the Rye," which sent up a big red flag for me. And the book has a YA feel about it: also not my cup of tea. But somehow I found Burris Weems more engaging --really, more ENGAGED-- than Holden Caulfield. He has a sense of humor about himself and his fellow grotesques, and the conceit of him talking the story into a tape recorder makes the self-conscious glibness work. And the story itself is a very human, warm one. I'm glad I stayed with it. It might be time for me to try Salinger again....

[Matthew Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I try to share this little known gem with whomever I am able. Burris Weems may not be the famous adolescent hero that Holden Caufield is, but he has every bit as much angst, humor, and attitude. His story is an unconventional one which leads to an unexpected place, but I was really glad I went there with him.

[Maryanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A different style of writing but a great story with a captivating central character. I will definitely read more from this author

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Move over, Holden Caulfield. You've got a worthy companion in Burris Weems.

[Cedar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read it when I was a kid, I don't know what I would think of it today.