Oyster

by John Biguenet

Book Overview

With comparisons to Flaubert, Chekhov, and Faulkner, O. Henry Award-winner John Biguenet earned wide acclaim for his debut short-story collection, The Torturer's Apprentice. In his astonishing first novel, Oyster, he demonstrates the same mastery of craft and rigor of vision that led critics across the country to join Robert Olen Butler in praising this "important new writer."

Set on the Louisiana coast in 1957, Oyster recounts the engrossing...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060514477
• ISBN13: 9780060514471
• Release Date: July 2003
• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Excellent

First of all the setting takes you away from the hustle and bustle of modern day life. This story takes place in the bayous and swamps of Louisiana in the late 1950's - a time when Oyster farmers were threatened by the polution of modern industry. I happen to come from Louisiana and can say that the author captured this very well.Second, Biguenet's style is lively and rhythmic. He rarely takes refuge in boring verbs like "to be" or "to have", instead using more descriptive verbs to carry his sentences.Biguenet develops the characters like an expert psychologist, making the reader feel the struggles with guilt and family loyalties. The story unfolds very naturally and as it goes on you see how some of the characters dig themselves deeper and deeper into a hole. It's hard to put the book down once you start reading.I have also read another work by this author, "The Torturer's Apprentice", and I note that he picks interesting settings and really gets into the details of those settings. He also does a nice job of portraying the way people deal with guilt.

A rising star in southern american fiction

`Oyster' is a great book on every level. For simple reading it's a gritty story of murder, revenge and steamy passion. It centers on a feud between the two leading families of the Plaquemines Parish, LA, oyster industry. Felix Petitjean and family represent the long established leading family of the parish while Darryl `Horse' Bruneau and his three sons are the brash, heavy-fisted newcomers who have carved a niche for themselves by buying up the leases of destitute competitors. Horse ("This child wants to know why I'm called The Horse. Think she's old enough to see?") dies early in the story but his personality is so forceful that his spirit is felt long after his body sinks into the bayou. Even dead he manipulates the actions of the story's characters, for good or (more likely) ill. At first I was concerned that Biguenet was steering his readers toward a Cajun `Romeo and Juliet' but he avoided falling into that trap. That would not have worked at all in this rough-and-tumble setting. In its place, the author offered a much more compelling plot, deftly enhanced by intricately woven interrelationships of love and hatred. But Biguenet, an English professor at Loyola, didn't settle for just a simple read. Some have compared John Biguenet to William Faulkner but I don't see it. James Dickey maybe, but I never found Faulkner to be this entertaining. Nevertheless, social allegory lurks just below the surface of Bayou Petitjean, as omnipresent as the gators. Therese Petitjean is stirring up existence in Egret Pass as certainly and inexorably as the channels cut by the oil companies are changing the sedentary life of the oysters. It soon becomes very apparent that "It ain't like the old days, Darryl." This is a must read. Rustle up some shrimp etouffee, put on the Beausoleil and make yourself very comfortable. You won't want to put this down for a long time.

Wow!

This book was great. From the second I pciked it up I couldn't put it down. Super story-telling and geat characters.

An engaging read

John Biguenet hooked me and carried me into the salt marshes and small towns of Southern Louisiana in 1957. I felt the humidity, smelled the salt marsh, tasted the jumbalaya, heard the clattering of winches and felt the nets on my hands. The characters are memorable, the story engaging and the twists and turns of the plot kept me hooked until the very end. This page turning yarn explores issues such as justice or revenge, the impact of "economic development" on traditional lifestyles, and how actions - - sometimes from decades earlier - - can rear their heads and bite us, all without any preachiness. This is a strong novel and leaves me eager for number two.

A very well written trip to the bayou

John Biguenet's Oyster is a deeply dark and interesting novel that tells the tale of two familes immersed in a deadly rivalry in the late 1950s. The characters are well developed and the plot is engaging to the reader. Biguenet reminds one of Faulkner and I would highly recommend this novel which is hard to put down. I was sorry when I finished it.