[book_talk] book review - James Lee Burke
- From: "Bonnie L. Sherrell" <blslarner@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Blind Chit Chat" <Blind-Chit-Chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Books for the Blind" <Books4theblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Blind Book Lovers Cafe" <bblc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Book Talk" <book_talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 22:55:34 -0800
_Lay Down my Sword and Shield_
by James Lee Burke
read by Will Patton
Hackberry Holland was many things--a Korean War veteran who'd spent
time in a Chinese prisoner of war camp, a successful criminal defense
lawyer, husband to a beautiful if repressed socialite with ambitions to
enter the realms of power, an alcoholic in the making, a womanizer, and
now a candidate for
the House of Representatives from his district in a border section of
Texas. His brother Bailey is unhappy with him because Hack can no
longer be trusted to show up in the office on a regular basis; a good
part of why he's drinking is because of his wife's judgmental attitudes
and Southern Baptist prudishness; and he has questions as to what is
motivating the Senator who's promoting his run for Congress.
Into all of this comes a request from a former Marine buddy from the
days he was a Navy Corpsman attached to a Marine platoon in Korea to
file an appeal so as to get the friend out of prison. Artie had been
part of an attempt to unionize farm workers in southern Texas, and the
charges filed against him were largely falsified. In researching the
case against Artie, Hack meets many of those involved in trying to
improve living conditions and wages for migrant farm workers, and finds
himself caught in the middle of vicious attacks on the civil rights
workers and those they are trying to help.
He has many decisions to make, and priorities to set for himself if he
wishes to be true to himself and his values. And just possibly losing
all won't be anywhere as costly as everyone assures him it will be....
Will Patton does a superb job reading this early book by Burke, and it
was a distinct improvement over the guy who read the last book I
reviewed who was reading the first Billy Bob Holland story. Between
the reading and the writing this is a well executed depiction of life
in the height of the Civil Rights era in the late sixties and early
seventies. Young Hackberry is a believable and highly sympathetic
character in spite of his behavior, and I found myself rooting for him
against the corrupt and lax establishment that promotes exploitation of
the desperate and seeks to drag idealists down into its depths.
Highly recommended.
I got this from Audible. Available from Simon and Schuster.
Bonnie L. Sherrell
Teacher at Large
"Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise
cannot see all ends." LOTR
"Don't go where I can't follow."
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