The Convict: And Other Stories

by James Lee Burke

Book Overview

A collection of nine award-winning stories, set in locales along the Gulf coasts of Louisiana and Texas and battlefields around the world. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786881437
• ISBN13: 9780786881437
• Release Date: October 1995
• Publisher: Hyperion Books
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A lost treasure from an American Icon

After having read all of James Lee Burke's books I ordered this re-issue of his book of short stories. Little did I know how much enjoyment awaited me. Mr. Burke is truly an American treasure...reading his books, or in this case his short stories, transports one into the world he creates. In this collection one gets a preview of some of his future characters like Hackberry Holland...in any event I can recommend this collection of short stories to anyone who enjoys truly creative and imagination filled writing...if you haven't read any of Mr. Burke's novels...this is a great way to start. The only problem with this book and his other novels is once you've finished you are left wanting more. Thank goodness he has a new full length novel coming out this summer...I can't wait!

the convict and other stories

i read everything that james lee burke writes and this did not disappoint me,, i am not one for short stories but i did enjoy these,,the way mr. burke writes i feel like i am right there,,his discription of the areas and the people just make me wish he wrote more,,

A very good collection of short stories

As usual James Lee Burke scores big. I really enjoyed reading shorts. I own a copy of all his books. Not a bad one in the whole bunch. Pete Alford

Early Burke

This small volume (216 pages) of nine stories was originally published by Louisiana State University Press in 1985. Their power, however, have not been diminished by time. Four of the stories are about war and the effect it has on individuals--a subject that is timeless. For me, these were the best stories of the book and three of them bear noting. "Losses" takes place at St. Peter's Catholic School in New Iberia, LA (Burke's home) in 1944. The cast includes Father Melancon, parish priest; Sister Uberta, teacher; and a passel of somewhat unruly fifth graders. Claude, a student and the son of a mean drunkard, is narrator. If I hadn't known better, I would have said that Claude was doing a retrospective of my life. Until, that is, Sister Uberta began to act strangely--and there I have to leave it. "When It's Decoration Day" switches to the Civil War just after Sherman had set fire to Atlanta. This is the longest story in the book, and it follows a rag-tag bunch of Confederate soldiers making their way to Alabama away from the Yankees. The narrator is Wesley Buford, a sixteen-year-old boy from S. Carolina and one of the only survivors or non-captured in the battle at Kennesaw Mountain. Burke doesn't pull any punches in this story: this is in-your-face war, as descriptive and gory as anything Cornwell has written. The Yankees have doubled around from Atlanta to Alabama, where Buford and his fellow soldiers fight the valiant fight. The final sentence is a stunner and not one I will soon forget. "Lower Me Down with a Golden Chain" takes place in Guatemala during the rebel uprising. The nameless narrator is a journalist who has access to both Army Captain Ramos and a rebel leader. The Army is equipped with a U.S. Marine Corp. howitzer, and the journalist is outraged when the Captain blows a rebel contingent to literal pieces. The rebels, in turn, burn a local village bus filled with civilians, and again the journalist is outraged. This is where Burke makes his strongest stand against war--and the reason why I believe the publication of these stories at this time is not a coincidence. The Guatemalans ask him what is different about what they do from what the Americans did in Korea. In Vietnam. To our own Southern Blacks with vigilantes and the KKK in the twentieth century. Captain Ramos tells the journalist, "Ah, my friend, you can afford to be a moralist because you are not a participant." 5 stars with much to justify them.

Stunning.

If you've read James Lee Burke's novels, then you're in for a more than pleasant suprise with "The Convict". Because it's a book of short stories.Mind you - it's just as well these stories are short. Each tale packs enough punch for a full blown novel. Comparing just one of these stories with any of Burke's novels is like comparing whisky with strong beer. Each story is heady stuff - not only in the powerful way Burke takes a word and wrings all the blood out of it onto the page before setting it into place. The stories are of strong-headed, often wrong-headed men doing what they knew to be the best thing. They are tales of the American South, of the bijoux days, of the days of sweat and gunpowder and bowel-shaking fear.These are tales Burke must have heard as a boy, tales that have been purified in the distillery of Burke's mind until all that's left is the gritty, sweaty essence.And, at just a shade over six bucks, these are cheap thrills, indeed. But do be careful: each story packs enough of a wallop to put Mike Tyson on the canvas.