From Publishers Weekly
Louisiana native Benoit crafts a vivid, poignant composite portrait of a disjointed Cajun family navigating a blue-collar existence over more than three decades. Young Ulysse Bueche, called Russell because it sounds more American, grows up in the town of Maringouin, La., with few prospects other than working in an oil refinery or sugar mill; his violent-tempered, half-Indian father, Adam, has smacked him so hard the boy must wear special blue-tinted glasses for the rest of his life. Russell's French ancestry fades as he works transient jobs on freighters; meanwhile, his wife, Doreen, a local girl who squandered real talent as a softball pitcher, suffers back home from a recurrence of breast cancer. In episodes ranging in time from 1961, when young Russell is taken to the racetrack by his father and witnesses the gruesome death of a horse that Adam has inexpertly drugged, through the childhood and young adulthood of Russell's sons, Whitaker and Clayton, into the 1990s, Benoit enters the psyche of each of the family members. Though the characters' actions sometimes seem reported rather than viscerally experienced, the point of view shifts seamlessly, allowing Benoit to entrust the reader with such family secrets as Clayton's accidental death-by-pushing of his year-old twin, Ferdinand. The moribund Cajun heritage and language trail through this first novel like a nostalgic tune. When Whitaker, who works as an oily hotel receptionist, and his conflicted bride, Violet, announce to Doreen in the hospital that they have decided not to leave the town, the disappointing announcement leaves Benoit's tribe as hopelessly mired as they arrived.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
This first novel brings to life the Cajun community of the Louisiana bayous. The Bueches and Gidots are ordinary people who value family and friends; live in the shadow of a sugar mill whose poison often causes cancer, birth defects, and premature deaths; and see development destroying the beauty of their world. Afraid that he has inherited his father's propensity for alcoholism and violence, Russell Bueche works three- and four-year stints on oil tankers. However, his attempt to save his sons from himself in turn forces his wife, Doreen, to bear all the family responsibilities. Alone, she must raise her boys, deal with cancer, and grieve for the infant son who was accidentally killed by his slower twin brother. Narrated from multiple points of view in short, snapshot-like chapters that illuminate small but significant moments, this book introduces a talented new writer. His unblinking but affectionate portrait of a people is recommended for public libraries, especially in the South. [For another loving fictional portrait of the Cajun world, see Shirley Ann Grau's The Hard Blue Sky.-Ed.]-Andrea Kempf, Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, K.
--Andrea Kempf, Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
