Burn Down the Night [Paperback]

Craig Kee Strete (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 283 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books (May 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446370711
• ISBN-13: 978-0446370714
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #538,803 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Actually an excellent book..., April 1, 2004

By 

T.G. (Newcastle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Burn Down the Night (Paperback)

Just don't be fooled by the association with Jim Morrison; although it ostensibly conveys the "spirit" of Jim Morrison, the book is fictional.

"Burn Down The Night" is a fictionalized account of a homeless teenager in the heady days of the mid to late 1960s, and his life doing drugs and traveling as a roadie with a rock group (after accidentally committing a murder in the course of a robbery, the group takes him in). The main character bumps into Jim Morrison at a party, and they start hanging together and acting crazy. Sounds silly, but it's all in the writing style; Strete is wonderfully poetic and humorous, and the story moves with the easy flow of a 1960's friday night keg party. Very depressing in parts, very funny in others, it's a fast and easy read with a high re-readability factor.

It's kind of sad to see books like this out of print these days -- I suppose people think it glamorizes the drugging/partying lifestyle, and in a way it does. Yet Strete's talent as a writer and poet cannot be denied. The trouble is that there's no clear target audience for a book of this nature. If you bump into a copy of this book somewhere and appreciate quirky titles lacking in modern market appeal, give it a shot. I've got a copy of it myself, and it's one of those personally valued books I'd never sell or give away (along with "Auschwitz," "This Perfect Day" and other OOP but fascinating reads).

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Theres a killer on the road..., April 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Burn Down the Night (Paperback)

This book is fictional guys so don't be fooled by the cover.

However, it is a good book and a mad story (Another Day In Paradise by a guy called Eddie Little is quite similar) and well worth the read.

I loved the character Tamara.

You pays your money you take your choice.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's true! It never happened, but it's true! - Neil Gaiman, July 25, 1997

By 

R. Byrd "byrdie" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Burn Down the Night (Paperback)

Although the copy I read in high school has Jim Morrison's face on the front and the back-cover blurb suggests that he and the protagonist are together at every moment, this book simply features him as an interesting, annoying, odd and infrequent supporting character.

I think I great deal of Strete's poetry was lost on me the first few times I read this, but I have little desire to read it again. I found it compelling as a teenager, but knew at the time that I was missing something. Now that I could appreciate it, I don't think the story is complex enough to warrant another try.

I mainly get the impression that I never want to be a roadie, and that I should very carefully select the people whom I may run away from home with for a week.

If you like poetic prose and have even a slight interest in the sort of environment Morrison may have been in, you may want to pick up this book. You'll probably get more out of it than I did. However, if neither interests you, give it a miss.
It's ... okay.