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The Last Train To Memphis
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 5, 2009
Last Train to Memphis is an affecting novel that captures the unstable, sometimes depressive nature of drug addiction: the bickering, the wild swings between a giddy, carefree existence and a lowering depression. Every time starring couple Rufus and Claire get a happy moment, it's spoiled by melancholy, despair, fatalism- life. It's all very moody.
At points, it's hard to feel sympathy for these characters who are more responsible than anyone for the quagmire of their lives and sometimes find it difficult to take the steps necessary to help themselves or don't consider those steps altogether. Reading these parts is an exercise in restraint. You have to restrain yourself from judging or disdaining these characters, but by the end of the book, you realize theirs is just a human struggle, a struggle for their lives and loves, as deserving an ear as much as anyone. This becomes easier as more of the story is unraveled and the back stories of these characters is revealed. Will they make right of their lives?
She's got style! Cook's style is smooth, modern spare, and altogether riveting. No run-ons, no flowery language. The prose is as much jazz as Rufus' music. Her intuition is spot-on-- Cook's a natural. In fact, much of the narrative is moved by character dialogue, though there is internal dialogue. Just like the heated bedroom scenes, the internal dialogue is short and effective. It does not eat up pages of hemming and hawing.
It is perhaps Cook's prose and mood that keeps one reading as much as the compelling struggle of these two characters. Her imagery is vivid, powerful and familiar because she chooses it with care, such as when she describes a lonely lamppost outside Rufus' frozen window. It says so on the back cover, and it's certainly true: Elsa Cook knows her jazz.
She describes the music with flair and enough knowledge to allow the reader to hear the music thumping in her ear. These folks are devoted to their music. In a novel fully grounded in the modern, dirty, hopelessly human reality, Cook doesn't get carried away with overdone metaphor. We know we're still talking music.
These elements also clearly establish the book as modern fiction rather than romance. Last Train is part of Genesis Press' Black Coral line of women's fiction. Although the narrative revolves around a couple, it is ultimately a novel of characters, especially Rufus' journey. There is no magically happy ending. No one becomes rich or a whole new person, but it is fitting and it is powerful. I can see this becoming good theatre.
Note: the several bedroom scenes are brief, heated, and rated R.
At points, it's hard to feel sympathy for these characters who are more responsible than anyone for the quagmire of their lives and sometimes find it difficult to take the steps necessary to help themselves or don't consider those steps altogether. Reading these parts is an exercise in restraint. You have to restrain yourself from judging or disdaining these characters, but by the end of the book, you realize theirs is just a human struggle, a struggle for their lives and loves, as deserving an ear as much as anyone. This becomes easier as more of the story is unraveled and the back stories of these characters is revealed. Will they make right of their lives?
"He hated to admit it, but Garret saved his life when he and his posse hit the drug house. A couple more trips to the rock-candy mountain, and he'd have been the one diving out the window instead of Ronnie the Rube Feldon."
She's got style! Cook's style is smooth, modern spare, and altogether riveting. No run-ons, no flowery language. The prose is as much jazz as Rufus' music. Her intuition is spot-on-- Cook's a natural. In fact, much of the narrative is moved by character dialogue, though there is internal dialogue. Just like the heated bedroom scenes, the internal dialogue is short and effective. It does not eat up pages of hemming and hawing.
It is perhaps Cook's prose and mood that keeps one reading as much as the compelling struggle of these two characters. Her imagery is vivid, powerful and familiar because she chooses it with care, such as when she describes a lonely lamppost outside Rufus' frozen window. It says so on the back cover, and it's certainly true: Elsa Cook knows her jazz.
"...opened with their rendition of The Way You Look Tonight. Well into the pice, Rufus noticed Lenny and Moon played every note, turning the romantic melody into a dirge. Subtly, he tried to alter the phrasing, but Moon ignored him and spelled out the tempo in a straight fashion. Lenny's accompaniment on the piano was as dreary as a droning bee."
She describes the music with flair and enough knowledge to allow the reader to hear the music thumping in her ear. These folks are devoted to their music. In a novel fully grounded in the modern, dirty, hopelessly human reality, Cook doesn't get carried away with overdone metaphor. We know we're still talking music.
These elements also clearly establish the book as modern fiction rather than romance. Last Train is part of Genesis Press' Black Coral line of women's fiction. Although the narrative revolves around a couple, it is ultimately a novel of characters, especially Rufus' journey. There is no magically happy ending. No one becomes rich or a whole new person, but it is fitting and it is powerful. I can see this becoming good theatre.
Note: the several bedroom scenes are brief, heated, and rated R.
August 14, 2025
Fire from beginning to end
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews