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Thin Blue Smoke
This title is an epic American redemption tale about love and loss, hope and despair, God and whiskey, barbecue and the blues. LaVerne Williams is a ruined ex-big league ballplayer, an ex-felon with an attitude problem, and the owner of a barbecue joint he has to run. Ferguson Glen is an Episcopal priest, a fading literary star with a drinking problem, and a past he is running from. A.B. Clayton and Sammy Merzeti are two lost souls in need of love, understanding, and another cigarette. Hilarious and heart-rending, sacred and profane, this book marks the emergence of a vital new voice in American fiction.
462 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2009
16 people are currently reading
745 people want to read
About the author
Doug Worgul
7 books7 followersRaised mostly in Lansing, Michigan, Worgul is the oldest of three siblings. He graduated from J.W. Sexton High School in 1971, and attended Gordon College (Massachusetts) from 1971 to 1972. He graduated from Western Michigan University in 1976 with a BA in political science, and again in 1977 with a M.A. in education, with an emphasis on the teaching of reading. He lived in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, from 1973 to 1989.
Worgul moved to Kansas City in 1989 and worked for The Kansas City Star newspaper as a writer, book and features editor, and editor of Star Magazine from 1996 to 2006. He was previously editor of Kansas City Magazine. Prior to his work as a journalist, Worgul was a social worker and an advertising and marketing consultant.
A nationally recognized authority on the history and cultural significance of American barbecue traditions, Worgul has been interviewed and/or cited in numerous national and regional newspapers and magazines on the subject, and has also appeared on two History Channel programs. He is the author of The Grand Barbecue: A Celebration of the History, Places, Personalities and Techniques of Kansas City Barbecue (Kansas City Star Books, 2001).
In 2003, while at The Kansas City Star, Worgul discovered a "Toynbee Tile" at the corner of 13th and Grand in downtown Kansas City. He wrote about the Kansas City Toynbee Tile and the worldwide Toynbee Tiles mystery in an award-winning article published on The Star's website. The article has been cited frequently in subsequent articles about the Toynbee Tile phenomenon.
Worgul's first novel, Thin Blue Smoke, set in a fictional barbecue joint in Kansas City, is a story of love, loss, despair, redemption, squandered gifts, second chances, whiskey, God, and the secret language of rabbits. It was published in the UK by Macmillan Publishers in 2009. The U.S. edition of Thin Blue Smoke was published by Burnside Books, now Bower House, in September 2012. A strong sense of place permeates Worgul's writing. His writing has been compared to that of John Irving, Richard Russo, Kent Haruf, and Frederick Buechner. Thin Blue Smoke was a 2010 finalist for The People's Book Prize. The Englewood Review of Books named Thin Blue Smoke its Novel of the Year in 2012. And the publishing blog, GalleyCat, named the book as one of 2012's 'Most Overlooked' books.
Matthew Quick, author of the critically acclaimed novel Silver Linings Playbook, praised Thin Blue Smoke, saying "As Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It does for Montana fly-fishing, Doug Worgul's Thin Blue Smoke makes the poetry of Kansas City barbecue accessible to all readers. More than gorgeous prose and fully developed characters – this novel offers us catharsis. Communion has never tasted so good."
Rajiv Joseph, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright also praised Worgul's Thin Blue Smoke, saying "Emerging from this book, I want to go back, I want to live with these characters for just a little longer, I want their voices in my head. Thin Blue Smoke is a wandering through a community bound by their shared histories, their dreams, and the food they love. It reminds me of the best things in life. Like the good food holding these stories together, you can't believe your luck when you sit down before a full plate. And Doug Worgul has done what all great writers strive to do: make you crave for more."
On October 22, 2012, Worgul delivered a lecture at The Buechner Institute at King College in Bristol, Tennessee, as part of the annual Buechner Lecture Series. In July 2013, Worgul was named to the National Advisory Board of the Buechner Institute.
From January to May 2019, Worgul was the Visiting Author in Residence at University of Missouri Honors College.
Worgul is the grandson of Francena H. Arnold, author of Not My Will and nine other works of fiction. He has four daughters and eight grandchildren and lives in Leawood, Kansas with his wife.
Worgul moved to Kansas City in 1989 and worked for The Kansas City Star newspaper as a writer, book and features editor, and editor of Star Magazine from 1996 to 2006. He was previously editor of Kansas City Magazine. Prior to his work as a journalist, Worgul was a social worker and an advertising and marketing consultant.
A nationally recognized authority on the history and cultural significance of American barbecue traditions, Worgul has been interviewed and/or cited in numerous national and regional newspapers and magazines on the subject, and has also appeared on two History Channel programs. He is the author of The Grand Barbecue: A Celebration of the History, Places, Personalities and Techniques of Kansas City Barbecue (Kansas City Star Books, 2001).
In 2003, while at The Kansas City Star, Worgul discovered a "Toynbee Tile" at the corner of 13th and Grand in downtown Kansas City. He wrote about the Kansas City Toynbee Tile and the worldwide Toynbee Tiles mystery in an award-winning article published on The Star's website. The article has been cited frequently in subsequent articles about the Toynbee Tile phenomenon.
Worgul's first novel, Thin Blue Smoke, set in a fictional barbecue joint in Kansas City, is a story of love, loss, despair, redemption, squandered gifts, second chances, whiskey, God, and the secret language of rabbits. It was published in the UK by Macmillan Publishers in 2009. The U.S. edition of Thin Blue Smoke was published by Burnside Books, now Bower House, in September 2012. A strong sense of place permeates Worgul's writing. His writing has been compared to that of John Irving, Richard Russo, Kent Haruf, and Frederick Buechner. Thin Blue Smoke was a 2010 finalist for The People's Book Prize. The Englewood Review of Books named Thin Blue Smoke its Novel of the Year in 2012. And the publishing blog, GalleyCat, named the book as one of 2012's 'Most Overlooked' books.
Matthew Quick, author of the critically acclaimed novel Silver Linings Playbook, praised Thin Blue Smoke, saying "As Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It does for Montana fly-fishing, Doug Worgul's Thin Blue Smoke makes the poetry of Kansas City barbecue accessible to all readers. More than gorgeous prose and fully developed characters – this novel offers us catharsis. Communion has never tasted so good."
Rajiv Joseph, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright also praised Worgul's Thin Blue Smoke, saying "Emerging from this book, I want to go back, I want to live with these characters for just a little longer, I want their voices in my head. Thin Blue Smoke is a wandering through a community bound by their shared histories, their dreams, and the food they love. It reminds me of the best things in life. Like the good food holding these stories together, you can't believe your luck when you sit down before a full plate. And Doug Worgul has done what all great writers strive to do: make you crave for more."
On October 22, 2012, Worgul delivered a lecture at The Buechner Institute at King College in Bristol, Tennessee, as part of the annual Buechner Lecture Series. In July 2013, Worgul was named to the National Advisory Board of the Buechner Institute.
From January to May 2019, Worgul was the Visiting Author in Residence at University of Missouri Honors College.
Worgul is the grandson of Francena H. Arnold, author of Not My Will and nine other works of fiction. He has four daughters and eight grandchildren and lives in Leawood, Kansas with his wife.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
December 20, 2015
I'd rate this 4.5 stars.
Warning: If you’re a fan of barbecue, do not read Doug Worgul’s Thin Blue Smoke on an empty stomach! You will feel intense cravings that may only be satisfied by a trip to your local barbecue establishment. Perhaps twice, depending upon how long it takes you to read the book.
Hunger pangs aside, I thoroughly enjoyed Worgul’s book. It’s utterly charming, occasionally moving, humorous meditation on life’s ups and downs, surviving the challenges thrown at us, the redemptive power of love and friendship, and how sometimes life just doesn’t go the way you planned. While the book takes place in Kansas City, it honestly felt as if it were one of those wonderful little books about a small town, where nearly everyone is connected in some way.
LaVerne Williams had a brief stint as a major league ballplayer when he was younger, and the end of his baseball career still haunts him more than he’ll admit. He and his wife own a small but popular barbecue joint in Kansas City, and sometimes it succeeds despite LaVerne himself. But beneath his cantankerous exterior lies a vulnerable core, a man devoted to preparing barbecue his way, and a heart laid bare more than once.
A.B. Clayton has been working at the restaurant for as long as he can remember, and given the challenges with his own upbringing, views LaVerne and Angela as surrogate parents as well as bosses. He is a shy, sensitive man, whose world revolves around the restaurant and his few friends, but he knows there is more out there.
Ferguson Glen is an Episcopal priest who was the star of the literary world when he was younger, but he was never able to live up to his early potential. Always unsure of his place in the spiritual world, his drinking problem is his biggest challenge, and it may keep him from realizing what he truly loves.
The lives of LaVerne, A.B., Ferguson, and a number of others unfold in Thin Blue Smoke . A novel in vignettes, the chapters move back and forth in time and are narrated by different characters, but as each chapter unfolds it provides more insight into what makes them tick. This is a beautifully written book about life, love, music, friendship, and, of course, food, and it really grabbed hold of my heart.
At times it’s difficult to keep time and place straight, and there are a lot of characters to remember. And Worgul introduces one plot element toward the end that I thought was unnecessary, but luckily it disappears fairly quickly after making its mark. But in the end, this is a book with so much heart, and so many vividly drawn characters, that in addition to desiring barbecue, you want to spend more time with them.
See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Warning: If you’re a fan of barbecue, do not read Doug Worgul’s Thin Blue Smoke on an empty stomach! You will feel intense cravings that may only be satisfied by a trip to your local barbecue establishment. Perhaps twice, depending upon how long it takes you to read the book.
Hunger pangs aside, I thoroughly enjoyed Worgul’s book. It’s utterly charming, occasionally moving, humorous meditation on life’s ups and downs, surviving the challenges thrown at us, the redemptive power of love and friendship, and how sometimes life just doesn’t go the way you planned. While the book takes place in Kansas City, it honestly felt as if it were one of those wonderful little books about a small town, where nearly everyone is connected in some way.
LaVerne Williams had a brief stint as a major league ballplayer when he was younger, and the end of his baseball career still haunts him more than he’ll admit. He and his wife own a small but popular barbecue joint in Kansas City, and sometimes it succeeds despite LaVerne himself. But beneath his cantankerous exterior lies a vulnerable core, a man devoted to preparing barbecue his way, and a heart laid bare more than once.
A.B. Clayton has been working at the restaurant for as long as he can remember, and given the challenges with his own upbringing, views LaVerne and Angela as surrogate parents as well as bosses. He is a shy, sensitive man, whose world revolves around the restaurant and his few friends, but he knows there is more out there.
Ferguson Glen is an Episcopal priest who was the star of the literary world when he was younger, but he was never able to live up to his early potential. Always unsure of his place in the spiritual world, his drinking problem is his biggest challenge, and it may keep him from realizing what he truly loves.
The lives of LaVerne, A.B., Ferguson, and a number of others unfold in Thin Blue Smoke . A novel in vignettes, the chapters move back and forth in time and are narrated by different characters, but as each chapter unfolds it provides more insight into what makes them tick. This is a beautifully written book about life, love, music, friendship, and, of course, food, and it really grabbed hold of my heart.
At times it’s difficult to keep time and place straight, and there are a lot of characters to remember. And Worgul introduces one plot element toward the end that I thought was unnecessary, but luckily it disappears fairly quickly after making its mark. But in the end, this is a book with so much heart, and so many vividly drawn characters, that in addition to desiring barbecue, you want to spend more time with them.
See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
December 15, 2011
A few weeks before reading THIN BLUE SMOKE I didn’t know about the book or its author. Partway through SMOKE, I was glad I stumbled onto it. The moment I finished it and clicked off my e-reader, I knew what my answer would be to a standard question: Read any good books lately?
Yeah! Worgul’s SMOKE. Want to know the why? I’ll tell you in a moment.
First, how’d I find it? I was searching for information on Frederick Buechner, a writer I admire. In one of the references, SMOKE and Worgul were mentioned. Buechner influenced Worgul, and was apparently thanked in SMOKE’s acknowledgments. Good enough for me. And that’s how it goes, isn’t it? One link leads to another. A search for “A” takes a turn and discovers “B.” Relationships are built through other relationships.
And this leads to why I loved SMOKE. It’s about relationships. If the books you read must have a linear plot, like a mystery with a sequence of clues leading to a killer caught or the world saved, maybe SMOKE won’t make your to-read list. Try it anyway.
On the tasty, tuneful surface, SMOKE involves barbecue and singing the blues. Still on the surface, it’s about grief, love, failure and redemption. But partway through, thankful I’d stumbled across SMOKE, I realized how well it delved into the deep truth of relationships…between men, between men and women, between races, between families of blood and families of choice. I enjoyed living with and being irritated by barbecue master LaVerne Williams. Al Buddy became my buddy. When Reverend Ferguson Glen soared while delivering a graveside sermon, I also took flight. When the good reverend hit rock bottom, I felt the pinch of stone on my knees.
Many books are about “relationships.” There’s nothing unique about that. But it’s how the author handles those relationships, and how the story allows me—as a reader—to enter into those families and friendships. SMOKE joyfully, painfully, truthfully welcomed me into its world of smoked meat and complex characters.
Yeah! Worgul’s SMOKE. Want to know the why? I’ll tell you in a moment.
First, how’d I find it? I was searching for information on Frederick Buechner, a writer I admire. In one of the references, SMOKE and Worgul were mentioned. Buechner influenced Worgul, and was apparently thanked in SMOKE’s acknowledgments. Good enough for me. And that’s how it goes, isn’t it? One link leads to another. A search for “A” takes a turn and discovers “B.” Relationships are built through other relationships.
And this leads to why I loved SMOKE. It’s about relationships. If the books you read must have a linear plot, like a mystery with a sequence of clues leading to a killer caught or the world saved, maybe SMOKE won’t make your to-read list. Try it anyway.
On the tasty, tuneful surface, SMOKE involves barbecue and singing the blues. Still on the surface, it’s about grief, love, failure and redemption. But partway through, thankful I’d stumbled across SMOKE, I realized how well it delved into the deep truth of relationships…between men, between men and women, between races, between families of blood and families of choice. I enjoyed living with and being irritated by barbecue master LaVerne Williams. Al Buddy became my buddy. When Reverend Ferguson Glen soared while delivering a graveside sermon, I also took flight. When the good reverend hit rock bottom, I felt the pinch of stone on my knees.
Many books are about “relationships.” There’s nothing unique about that. But it’s how the author handles those relationships, and how the story allows me—as a reader—to enter into those families and friendships. SMOKE joyfully, painfully, truthfully welcomed me into its world of smoked meat and complex characters.
September 8, 2012
Just finished this book. I'm not putting Worgul on the same plane as Steinbeck, but I have to say that he evoked many of the same emotions I felt when I read East of Eden. Worgul's portrait of the Kansas City Barbecue joint "Smoke Meat" was masterful. The 41 seat dive is just as much a character as LaVerne and Ferguson.
Worgul does a difficult thing in his novel: He explores the spirituality of two central characters without flattening them into flimsy flannel-graph caricatures.Both characters are deeply flawed, layered, and likable characters. God intersects these men without destroying their flaws, layers, or likability. These men are cut from the same cloth as the patriarchs in Genesis, just with a dotof rib sauce on their cheeks.
If this is the quality of work that the newly launched Burnside Books intends to maintain, then I'm an instant fan.
Worgul does a difficult thing in his novel: He explores the spirituality of two central characters without flattening them into flimsy flannel-graph caricatures.Both characters are deeply flawed, layered, and likable characters. God intersects these men without destroying their flaws, layers, or likability. These men are cut from the same cloth as the patriarchs in Genesis, just with a dotof rib sauce on their cheeks.
If this is the quality of work that the newly launched Burnside Books intends to maintain, then I'm an instant fan.
January 1, 2025
Second Reading:
Summary: A meandering novel set in Kansas City with BBQ as a central setting.
In 2012 my favorite novel was Thin Blue Smoke. I ran across Doug Worgul on Bluesky and decided I needed to revisit the novel. I very much remembered the three main characters, LaVerne Williams, AB Clayton, and Ferguson Glen. There are a host of other supporting characters and part of the joy of the novel is getting to go back in time to give context to why those characters are who they are. I have previously written about Thin Blue Smoke in a way that was pretty vague and without spoilers. But I am going to give away more of the story this time. If you don't want spoilers, read this version. If you are okay with spoilers, then you can keep reading.
LaVerne Williams is a Texas-born former baseball player. After a serious sholder injury in 1967, he is let go by the Kansas City Athletics. He is young, married with an infant and without a job or any prospects. The novel is set in the 1990s and by this time LaVerne has become established with a small BBQ resturant with a number of regulars, but little recognition.
AB Clayton wandered lost into the restaurant, commonly known as Smoke Meat, when he was 15. LaVerne offered him a job on the spot and by the main timeline of the book he has been working at Smoke Meat for about 20 years and his whole life is wrapped up in the work and the people of the resturant.
Father Freguson Glen is a theology professor and Episcopal priest. In the 1960s he wrote a pulitzer prize nominated novel but nothing else of note since. He is an alcoholic and lost in many ways, but he has come to find the people of Smoke Meat are a type of family.
The other characters, including Angela, LaVerne's wife, are largely supporting characters. It isn't that they are not important to the story, but they have less developed back stories or they are the "villans" of the story. Thin Blue Smoke moves back and forth through time to help us understand how the characters came to be who they are. This is not an "excuse" for their actions, but context for understanding them.
The characters are given choices throughout the book. AB Clayton grew up with an abusive, addicted, and neglegant mother. He is naive to the way the world works outside of his experience, but he still has hope. Father Glen knows all the ways of the world. He has been given everything, wealth, access, knowledge, but he is lacking some of what AB takes for granted.
This is a novel that is more about the character and the ideas than the plot. I love that type of novel, but not everyone does. There is a climax and conclusion, but because this is a book that is in large part about the problem of evil and choice, the book is more about the journey than the conclusion.
I know that my attraction to Ferguson Glen is connected to my identification with him and his background and thinking, but he is the character that I most identify with. He knows his theology and practices. Throughout the book he often comments on theological ideas and practical pastoral care and does so with great skill. But his desire throughout the book is to see God. I am reading Fleming Rutledge’s book on Epiphany (she is a retired Episcopal priest just like Father Glen is) and she is talking about epiphany as focusing on God’s glory and Christ’s manifestations as an incarnate being.
When I read that, I thought immediately of Father’s Glen’s desire for God. In the book Father Glen is attracted to the Black church and a more Pentecostal expression of faith, but that isn’t the type of faith he has grown up with. Part of the solution in the book is to find real love so that he can understand what pure love is and know that God’s love for him is greater than that. But I also think that Fleming Rutledge if she were his spiritual director might point him toward understanding that God’s glory isn’t about an expressive emotional response, but about an awareness of the greatness of God. Glen has no issues theologically with God or with his history of radical social action in the civil rights movement. His issue is that those things are all theoretical not personal. His father and mother were distant. His brief marriage was annulled. He takes responsibility for his parts in those relationships, but we are shaped by those around us. And when the love around us is always conditional, and the church we attend demonstrates a conditional love, it is natural that we understand all love as conditional.
LaVerne and AB both had difficult childhoods. LaVerne's mother was addicted to drugs and absent and he was raised by his grandmother and her brother. For all of the challenges in his life, his family, especially his great uncle, were there for him to give him a second (or third) chance. Part of the reality of the book is that while not everyone makes good choices in the face of difficult situations, some people have more support in those situations than others. Angela and LaVerne's son passes away at 19 and AB becomes a surrogate son to them. AB's own mother is largely absent. Everyone needs help to mature. AB is naturally kind and good, but being kind and good does not mean the world is kind and good back. Without Angela and LaVerne, AB would likely end up like another side character who didn't have a support system.
LaVerne himself goes through a number of things trying to find his way in the world, but his uncle kept being there for him. Angela was also there for him, but part of what she came to understand was that she could not save him on her own. LaVerne had to take responsibility for himself even as she could continue to love and support him as part of drawing him toward a more healthy path.
Glen grapples with the concept of God's blessing throughout the book. Theologically he is resistant to claiming God's blessing because of what that can mean for those who do not have what we consider God's blessing. If you have good weather and claim it as God's blessing then what does that mean when you do not have good weather? He shifts somewhat throughout the book because he comes to see that seeing God at work is part of seeking after hope. This is not a book of simple theological answers. This is a book of grappling, the type of grappling that we all need to do throughout life.
This was originally posted on my blog at https://bookwi.se/thin-blue-smoke-by-...
______
Short review: Some stories are written to be savored. This meandering story is loosely connected to a BBQ joint in Kansas City. But that is just the setting. It is about the way that people come into one another's lives and make an impact. Both for good an ill. LaVerne is the owner of the BBQ place and a former pro baseball player. AB is his assistant and the best friend of Raymond, LaVerne's son that has passed away. Glen is an alcoholic Episcopal Priest and professor and the wise man that cannot take his own advice (think Brennan Manning). There are many other characters and the story jumps through time and from character to character giving the reader background to all of their stories of life, of redemption.
While clearly a Christian novel, this is the type of Christian novel that does not often get written. It has real people, not two dimensional cutouts. They have real struggles with sin and understanding life. They do not all believe the 'right' thing. I hope to see more by this author.
A much longer review and some quotes from that book are at my blog at http://bookwi.se/thin-blue-smoke-by-d...
Summary: A meandering novel set in Kansas City with BBQ as a central setting.
In 2012 my favorite novel was Thin Blue Smoke. I ran across Doug Worgul on Bluesky and decided I needed to revisit the novel. I very much remembered the three main characters, LaVerne Williams, AB Clayton, and Ferguson Glen. There are a host of other supporting characters and part of the joy of the novel is getting to go back in time to give context to why those characters are who they are. I have previously written about Thin Blue Smoke in a way that was pretty vague and without spoilers. But I am going to give away more of the story this time. If you don't want spoilers, read this version. If you are okay with spoilers, then you can keep reading.
LaVerne Williams is a Texas-born former baseball player. After a serious sholder injury in 1967, he is let go by the Kansas City Athletics. He is young, married with an infant and without a job or any prospects. The novel is set in the 1990s and by this time LaVerne has become established with a small BBQ resturant with a number of regulars, but little recognition.
AB Clayton wandered lost into the restaurant, commonly known as Smoke Meat, when he was 15. LaVerne offered him a job on the spot and by the main timeline of the book he has been working at Smoke Meat for about 20 years and his whole life is wrapped up in the work and the people of the resturant.
Father Freguson Glen is a theology professor and Episcopal priest. In the 1960s he wrote a pulitzer prize nominated novel but nothing else of note since. He is an alcoholic and lost in many ways, but he has come to find the people of Smoke Meat are a type of family.
The other characters, including Angela, LaVerne's wife, are largely supporting characters. It isn't that they are not important to the story, but they have less developed back stories or they are the "villans" of the story. Thin Blue Smoke moves back and forth through time to help us understand how the characters came to be who they are. This is not an "excuse" for their actions, but context for understanding them.
The characters are given choices throughout the book. AB Clayton grew up with an abusive, addicted, and neglegant mother. He is naive to the way the world works outside of his experience, but he still has hope. Father Glen knows all the ways of the world. He has been given everything, wealth, access, knowledge, but he is lacking some of what AB takes for granted.
This is a novel that is more about the character and the ideas than the plot. I love that type of novel, but not everyone does. There is a climax and conclusion, but because this is a book that is in large part about the problem of evil and choice, the book is more about the journey than the conclusion.
I know that my attraction to Ferguson Glen is connected to my identification with him and his background and thinking, but he is the character that I most identify with. He knows his theology and practices. Throughout the book he often comments on theological ideas and practical pastoral care and does so with great skill. But his desire throughout the book is to see God. I am reading Fleming Rutledge’s book on Epiphany (she is a retired Episcopal priest just like Father Glen is) and she is talking about epiphany as focusing on God’s glory and Christ’s manifestations as an incarnate being.
When I read that, I thought immediately of Father’s Glen’s desire for God. In the book Father Glen is attracted to the Black church and a more Pentecostal expression of faith, but that isn’t the type of faith he has grown up with. Part of the solution in the book is to find real love so that he can understand what pure love is and know that God’s love for him is greater than that. But I also think that Fleming Rutledge if she were his spiritual director might point him toward understanding that God’s glory isn’t about an expressive emotional response, but about an awareness of the greatness of God. Glen has no issues theologically with God or with his history of radical social action in the civil rights movement. His issue is that those things are all theoretical not personal. His father and mother were distant. His brief marriage was annulled. He takes responsibility for his parts in those relationships, but we are shaped by those around us. And when the love around us is always conditional, and the church we attend demonstrates a conditional love, it is natural that we understand all love as conditional.
LaVerne and AB both had difficult childhoods. LaVerne's mother was addicted to drugs and absent and he was raised by his grandmother and her brother. For all of the challenges in his life, his family, especially his great uncle, were there for him to give him a second (or third) chance. Part of the reality of the book is that while not everyone makes good choices in the face of difficult situations, some people have more support in those situations than others. Angela and LaVerne's son passes away at 19 and AB becomes a surrogate son to them. AB's own mother is largely absent. Everyone needs help to mature. AB is naturally kind and good, but being kind and good does not mean the world is kind and good back. Without Angela and LaVerne, AB would likely end up like another side character who didn't have a support system.
LaVerne himself goes through a number of things trying to find his way in the world, but his uncle kept being there for him. Angela was also there for him, but part of what she came to understand was that she could not save him on her own. LaVerne had to take responsibility for himself even as she could continue to love and support him as part of drawing him toward a more healthy path.
Glen grapples with the concept of God's blessing throughout the book. Theologically he is resistant to claiming God's blessing because of what that can mean for those who do not have what we consider God's blessing. If you have good weather and claim it as God's blessing then what does that mean when you do not have good weather? He shifts somewhat throughout the book because he comes to see that seeing God at work is part of seeking after hope. This is not a book of simple theological answers. This is a book of grappling, the type of grappling that we all need to do throughout life.
This was originally posted on my blog at https://bookwi.se/thin-blue-smoke-by-...
______
Short review: Some stories are written to be savored. This meandering story is loosely connected to a BBQ joint in Kansas City. But that is just the setting. It is about the way that people come into one another's lives and make an impact. Both for good an ill. LaVerne is the owner of the BBQ place and a former pro baseball player. AB is his assistant and the best friend of Raymond, LaVerne's son that has passed away. Glen is an alcoholic Episcopal Priest and professor and the wise man that cannot take his own advice (think Brennan Manning). There are many other characters and the story jumps through time and from character to character giving the reader background to all of their stories of life, of redemption.
While clearly a Christian novel, this is the type of Christian novel that does not often get written. It has real people, not two dimensional cutouts. They have real struggles with sin and understanding life. They do not all believe the 'right' thing. I hope to see more by this author.
A much longer review and some quotes from that book are at my blog at http://bookwi.se/thin-blue-smoke-by-d...
December 28, 2015
4.5 stars.
What a lovely book. This is a series of anecdotes/short stories written as chapters. They're all about the male characters connected by a BBQ joint in Kansas City.
LaVerne, A.B., Ferguson, Delbert...and the turtles. Each chapter brings out a range of emotions - but it's done so lightly. You're giggling. And you're sniffling. And you're moving forward. Through their ups and their downs there's just enough emotional space to make this an incredibly comfortable read. You'll feel, but you won't resent it. Nothing is pulled from you - you give it to a cast who deserves it.
This book is full of food and history and God and love and friendship. Bc it enthralled me and charmed me and never squashed my heart or stopped my breath it's going to be fondly remembered long into the future.
What a lovely book. This is a series of anecdotes/short stories written as chapters. They're all about the male characters connected by a BBQ joint in Kansas City.
LaVerne, A.B., Ferguson, Delbert...and the turtles. Each chapter brings out a range of emotions - but it's done so lightly. You're giggling. And you're sniffling. And you're moving forward. Through their ups and their downs there's just enough emotional space to make this an incredibly comfortable read. You'll feel, but you won't resent it. Nothing is pulled from you - you give it to a cast who deserves it.
This book is full of food and history and God and love and friendship. Bc it enthralled me and charmed me and never squashed my heart or stopped my breath it's going to be fondly remembered long into the future.
August 1, 2012
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I am also from Kansas City and Worgul did a great job of conveying Kansas City and the atmosphere here. I also appreciated his characters and their development. I wish there are had been less religious overtones and preaching, though. That sort of thing doesn't appeal to me and it grew tiresome by the end of the book. Still, Worgul is an author I would like to read again -- he is in the process of writing his 2nd novel and I will certainly keep an eye out for it!
December 30, 2015
This book is so very USA that I found it impossible to really, deeply relate: it's not my history, nor my culture, nor my country issues. Nonetheless, it is about that USA I've grown to love so much in the last ten years, it became a place I crave for, my personal source of wholeness. And this book is filled with this wholeness, with people bonding over real things, creating their own culture and code as they go, and sticking to it. I may not feel that comfortable with the religious theme - it makes me want to shield the characters from themselves - but it's a really small but.
October 23, 2015
What I thought was a book about BBQ turned out to be so much more. I was slowly drawn into the lives of the owners, workers, and regulars at a BBQ joint in Kansas City and by the end of the novel was completely engrossed. This is an insightfully written and wonderfully uplifting novel that I find myself thinking about more and more after I finished the last page.
Victoria Allman
Author of: SEAsoned: A Chef's Journey with Her Captain
Victoria Allman
Author of: SEAsoned: A Chef's Journey with Her Captain
April 3, 2013
It isn't often we come upon novels this rich, true, and arresting. I will be reading this book again, because sometimes a story deserves to be studied.
October 22, 2015
I got this book in a prize bag of local items when I won the quiz on the NPR program, "Whad'ya Know." Hmmmm... a book written by a local author and published by a no-big-deal publishing company?? -- How good can it be, right? Well, this book was amazing... It centers around LaVerne Williams, who owns a BBQ joint (known as "Smoke Meat") in downtown Kansas City. The book tells LaVerne's story and also weaves in the stories of Smoke Meat's regular customers. There are so many things I enjoyed about this book!: the local references; the author's beautiful prose; the characters that I cared about and wanted to meet... (I wanted to drive to 18th and Walnut and be a part of the Smoke Meat family - and partake of some of the BBQ!) In my opinion, the book could have been about 75 pages shorter, but this is definitely worth reading - especially if you're familiar with the Kansas City area. Bravo to author Doug Worgul!
March 4, 2017
LaVerne Williams,owner of the BBQ restaurant known simply as Smoke Meat, hates being asked by customers what his "recipe" is. "It's a technique," he insists. And as there are so many different stories, fully-realized characters and themes that work together as a cohesive, entertaining and truly moving whole, I feel the same way when describing this book. The technique of allowing the reader to see this Kansas City restaurant and get to know the people who frequent it, of hearing their conversations and sharing their joys and pains, of asking questions about God, faith and tragedy without easy answers alongside them, and enjoying an entertaining story on top of it all. As with good BBQ, all the elements work together. As a disclaimer, I will say this: don't read on an empty stomach.
November 2, 2009
You can't go wrong with Thin Blue Smoke. I read it cover-to-cover when it first became available on Amazon. It sounds like a barbecue book, and it certainly talks a lot about Kansas City BBQ. But it offers so much more than that. It's a book about life, about Kansas City, and about forgiveness. I think the chapters that focus on the character Ferguson Glen could be spun off into a stand alone novel. If a movie were made based on this fictional Episcopal clergyman, I'd be the first in line to purchase a ticket.
June 16, 2013
Although this situations felt a little contrived at times, this is a terrific book. It focuses on a small group of friends who all frequent a neighborhood BBQ joint. There is the alcoholic Episcopalian Priest, the guy who grew up in the trailer park, the old Blues singer who is getting so she can hardly move, and the proprietor who used to be a pro baseball player. Worgul weaves them together into the beloved community, and makes you see your own group of relations with new eyes.
March 26, 2012
I read this mostly because I did a little singing with Doug when he was still in Michigan where I live. It was an engaging story and the characters were well developed. The references to the barbeque restaurant business in KC were intriguing and mouth watering. The conclusion brought the stories of the characters together in an satisfying way. Hope I can look for more stories from Doug.
March 2, 2020
complex structure....fascinating story about fathers and sons and the ways women bring healing to their lives....this guy is an insider to the culture of the Episcopal Church....the author wove the book together with ever increasing complexity and insight one layer informing the next....
November 17, 2013
A great connection between Kansas City BBQ and a family's struggle to find hope and movement after a tragedy.
August 8, 2014
I loved all the characters in this bittersweet novel that expresses redemption in a colorful barbecue restaurant setting! Superbly written too.
February 2, 2016
2.5- wish the storyline was more fluid. The KC references at times seemed a little forced. But it did make me hungry for BBQ!
March 20, 2017
For the reader who loves great characters and interesting relationships.
December 8, 2019
The lives of many complicated and beloved people intersect in and around a Kansas City barbecue joint called Smoke Meat. Winding tales unfold in the present and past to reveal the things that have shaped and scarred the characters as they search for things that often seem elusive.
I grew to genuinely care for these people - rooting for them to find love, peace, success, and fulfillment.
If you like baseball, smoked meat, underdogs, questions about faith and doubt, people whose true self lies beneath the surface, this book is for you.
As the story reached its climax I couldn't put it down, wanting to know how everything was going to shake out for my friends. I stayed up way too late in order to finish the book and found myself in tears as it concluded. It was one of the more satisfying books I've read.
I grew to genuinely care for these people - rooting for them to find love, peace, success, and fulfillment.
If you like baseball, smoked meat, underdogs, questions about faith and doubt, people whose true self lies beneath the surface, this book is for you.
As the story reached its climax I couldn't put it down, wanting to know how everything was going to shake out for my friends. I stayed up way too late in order to finish the book and found myself in tears as it concluded. It was one of the more satisfying books I've read.
June 2, 2022
“We hide because we are ashamed of our rebellion. Our rebelliousness is not the proud and heroic revolt of the weak against the powerful. Ours is the sullen, indolent, empty rebelliousness of confused, pimply-faced, hormone-addled adolescents, nursing our self inflicted wounds alone in our rooms, certain that nobody, least of all God, understands and loves us” (Worgul 276).
Doug Worgul’s “Thin Blue Smoke” is an absolute dream to read. I’ve had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Worgul speak about his process of writing this book, and one highlight of this book is also one of the highlights of his lecture: the characters. Worgul sought to write a novel driven by rich, complex characters, and “Thin Blue Smoke” achieves this with flying colors. The quote above, my favorite from the book, is spoken during a Thanksgiving homily by Smoke Meat’s resident burnt-out pastor, Ferguson Glen, a character whom Worgul mentioned in his lecture as being the most autobiographical in the novel, namely via this anecdote: “Fatherhood is the relationship most akin to Christian’s following God”.
Especially if you’re familiar with Kansas City, read this book. It is the perfect existential wondering of our beloved barbecue capital of the world.
Doug Worgul’s “Thin Blue Smoke” is an absolute dream to read. I’ve had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Worgul speak about his process of writing this book, and one highlight of this book is also one of the highlights of his lecture: the characters. Worgul sought to write a novel driven by rich, complex characters, and “Thin Blue Smoke” achieves this with flying colors. The quote above, my favorite from the book, is spoken during a Thanksgiving homily by Smoke Meat’s resident burnt-out pastor, Ferguson Glen, a character whom Worgul mentioned in his lecture as being the most autobiographical in the novel, namely via this anecdote: “Fatherhood is the relationship most akin to Christian’s following God”.
Especially if you’re familiar with Kansas City, read this book. It is the perfect existential wondering of our beloved barbecue capital of the world.
July 18, 2023
This was a summer reading for book club, and with me being picky about fiction and knowing/caring little about barbecue, I didn’t plan to enjoy it much. It turned out to be one of my favorites of the year so far. There’s an array of endearing characters so developed and believable that, by the end, they all feel like close friends. This is a refreshing story of relational hope and faith in a time where both are made little of. As the characters care for one another through all their many differences, healing and joy occurs. This books isn’t well known, but I was so glad to be introduced to it. Highly recommend!
January 26, 2019
These characters are wonderful. A.B. and LaVerne are characters I will remember for a long time I have a feeling. While the book is a bit "churchy" for me at times, it's a great story. A story of regular, flawed lives, and love. The importance of community and the lives we all touch on a day to day basis.
The splashes of BBQ, baseball, and music throughout the book helped to make it a wonderful read. There are so many subtle details in this book that give it so much authenticity. I'll have the image of Smoke Meat in my head probably forever.
The splashes of BBQ, baseball, and music throughout the book helped to make it a wonderful read. There are so many subtle details in this book that give it so much authenticity. I'll have the image of Smoke Meat in my head probably forever.
March 15, 2020
Thin Blue Smoke
I don’t remember a book bringing tears to my eyes in a long time. You get to know these characters. They become people in your life. You hurt with them, you get anxious with them, you feel love when they do. God is present in these pages and so is the smell of bbq smoke and the taste of whisky. It’s earthy, it’s real. It’s a long, meandering float down a sacred river that ends with tears and then a smile.
I don’t remember a book bringing tears to my eyes in a long time. You get to know these characters. They become people in your life. You hurt with them, you get anxious with them, you feel love when they do. God is present in these pages and so is the smell of bbq smoke and the taste of whisky. It’s earthy, it’s real. It’s a long, meandering float down a sacred river that ends with tears and then a smile.
February 9, 2020
Slices of life and slices of smoked brisket set in a neighborhood barbecue joint in Kansas City. Occasionally corny but consistently engaging. Worgul's expertise about barbecue is a surprising strength of the novel, and his characters, while spotty at times, have enough heart and warmth and salty opinions about music, baseball, faith, and food to keep things interesting.
February 14, 2023
This book did a lot of jumping between periods of time and characters. It’s not a bad story, I just didn’t care for the back and forth. It felt like I needed to take notes on characters and time periods and I’m just not in that type of reading mindset right now. It does have some good themes of hope and re-inventing yourself.
April 5, 2021
Instead of a familial saga, this novel makes you close to an entire community. Reads like non-fiction in that I kept getting swept into the story and thinking it was real. LaVerne Williams is a character so well written.
May 20, 2017
Favorite novel of the year so far. Southern, Barbecue, a failed Episcopalian priest and baseball. Story of redemption on many levels. It has it all.
August 6, 2018
Not what I thought it would be. It was so much better! I highly recommend it!!
September 8, 2019
A favorite! Characters are rich and believable.
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