Customer Reviews

Cadillac Jukebox

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yes, James Lee Burke is a terrific wordsmith who can bring the Cajun backwoods and bayous alive for readers, but this particular work is quite simply, a sprawling, literary hodge-podge. The story is loosely woven to the point of being chaotic--Dave Robicheaux skitters here, there, and everywhere, including TWO almost gratuitous mini-jaunts to Mexico. The characters are "colorful," but in some cases, such as that of Aaron Crown, the eccentricity deteriorates into cartoon-like caricature. There are various smalltime gangsters who are hard to keep straight, there is a politician's wife who turns up periodically to strip off her clothes, taunt Robicheaux sexually, and then disappear in a cloud of vituperative hissing. And there are more than a few digressions and sidebars to the story that don't ever seem quite justified--it's all a bit much, methinks, and overall it makes for a story that never really hangs together adequately.

Still, Burke is a good enough writer that it's a hard book to put down once started. I think he has done better in others of his mysteries, however.

I have read just about everything James Lee Burke has written, but my favorite character by far is Dave Robicheaux. This was actually the first of the Burke books I "read" (this one I actually listened to in audio as it was a gift to me -- and that alone was wonderful as the narrator had a fabulous Louisiana accent that brought the words alive). JLB's style is poetic, and the scenes he sets for you bring you right there to the Bayou with his words. He is a master at setting the scene and making you see the characters and hear their voice. His ability to spin a crime story with twists and turns, while getting you into Dave's head, his history and his love of his family are unsurpassed. Best advice regarding the Dave series: try to read them in the order written -- it helps to get a sense of time in Dave's personal life -- there are changes that occur and I was blind sided by a couple of them because I read out of order.

I am madly, deeply in lust/love with Dave Robicheaux AND James Lee Burke. I've lived in the enchanting state of Louisiana my entire life and Burke makes me fall in love with it all over again each time I read one of his novels set here. He's a word magician and that's putting it mildly. For instance:

"Each morning after the sun rose out of the swamp and burned the fog away, the sky would harden to such a deep heart-wrenching blue that you felt you could reach up and fill your hand with it like bolls of stained cotton. The air was dry and cool, too, and the dust along the dirt road by the bayou seemed to rise into golden columns of smoke and light through the canopy of oaks overhead. ."

Hell, that's almost poetry! And he ain't just all purty words either! The plots are intriguing and compelling. I've read all of his books and feel totally lost when I've finished the latest Dave Robicheaux adventure. Keep 'em coming Mr. Burke!

Anyone who reads Burke knows about his narrative style, and almost every fan has heard the "Chandler meets Faulkner" talk. It is all true. His style is addictive and hypnotic, producing prose that elevates the mystery/thriller genre, or rather submerges it into the murky depths of the bayou. It's all about the prose...which is why Cadillac Jukebox and the other novels in the series would not make great movies (also why Heaven's Prisoners didn't do Robicheaux or Burke justice). You can't translate this narrative to screen successfully. The plot of Cadillac Jukebox is not structured for Hollywood, and frankly, at times made little sense. But, who cares when the writing is this good. I beg you, Tommy Lee Jones, or whoever optioned this script, please don't make this a movie. You will tarnish this wonderful creation.

This is my first James Lee Burke book, and I am also from New Orleans. This book takes place mostly in Lafayette/New Iberia in Louisiana, about 2 hours away from N.O. where the beautiful cajun/acadian culture is in full force. There is no doubt he has mastered the cajun-acadiana gendre and his descriptions of the area are excellent - you can almost feel the humidity falling on you as the pages turn.

Trouble is, even I had to stop and ask my husband (who lived in Lafayette in college) what some of the words/phrases meant.

There's a whole mess of characters that I truly found hard to keep straight - especially in the first half of the book. About 4 - 5 of the characters were no problem. Once I made an extra effort to commit to memory all of the other characters' names and personalities, I was able to follow better.

Dave Robicheaux, the main character, is someone you can't help but like. Some of the other characters you can't help but hate, and others you can't help but feel sorry for them. Burke takes on some heavy subject matter: racism, Louisiana politics, etc., and I commend him for that. But his story-telling could stand to be cleaner - I felt like a kite in the wind at times during this story.

The beautiful and accurate descriptions of the people/scenery as well as the charming & complicated Dave Robicheaux will probably make me try one more of Burke's books. I think he is very talented, but truly this felt like a first time author for the first half of the read.

I spent my early adolescent years in southeastern Louisiana and have a lot of fond memories of this uniquely charming piece of America. Burke's Dave Robicheaux never fails to transport me back to the gumbo restaurant in a trailer, the trek through a Morgan City swamp that brought me awfully close to an alligator, and Pete Fountain's jazz club at the Hilton. Simply put, Burke knows Louisiana and how to evoke it.

Cadillac Jukebox is overall a good read. It's basically a tale of the dark motives that drive people across the line from good to bad. Unfortunately, Burke let the story get too complicated. I wish I had made a chart of the characters as I read the book, because keeping track of who's who got confusing. The storyline also spreads out to the point that staying on top of it becomes a chore.

I thought the story got formulaic at points. The mythological symbolism in the fate of the husband-and-wife antagonists was over the top, like a classical bass drum roll at the end of a Warren Storm tune. But Burke didn't miss a beat with his characters. I was scared by Aaron Crown and Mookie Zerrang, I felt sympathy for Buford LaRose and enmity toward his wife, and I felt like I'd known Batist for a long time. Dave Robicheaux was as polite, resolute, and conflicted as ever.

I like James Lee Burke best when he confines his books to local themes, and he does just that in Cadillac Jukebox, the 9th in his Dave Robicheaux mystery series.

Robicheaux is still working for the New Iberia Sheriff's Department. Buford LaRose comes from a prominent New Iberia family and was a former college football hero. This golden boy is now running for governor. Over three decades prior, Aaron Crown (a former Klansman) was accused of murdering a civil rights leader, although it took 28 years to bring him to trial. LaRose wrote a book that helped bring about a conviction. Now, a filmmaker is filming a documentary in New Iberia to prove Crown's innocence. Robicheaux is asked to check out Crown's claims, and Robicheaux begins to think Crown was made a scapegoat. As Robicheaux investigates this case, he gets warned away by a number of strange and unattached individuals. As in most Southern Louisiana schemes, the mob is always close at hand. Also, there is a terribly frigtening hit man, Mookie Zerrang, who tortures just for fun. He's after Robicheaux, although he doesn't know who hired him.

The more Robicheaux digs, the more dead bodies turn up (mostly those involved with proving Crown's innocence). Unfortunately, with people like Buford LaRose, evil deeds are done in their names but they never dirty their own hands. Robicheaux is determined to not only find some dirt under LaRose's fingernails, but also, some skeletons in his closet. The plot is made even more interesting by the fact that LaRose's wife, Karyn, had a romance with Robicheaux back in his drinking days. Robicheaux unceremoniously dumped this homecoming queen and Karyn now has a hidden agenda that includes humiliation and revenge.

Robicheaux's new partner, Helen Hoileau, continues to be a good match, and friend Cletus Purcel is always a scream. A former cop, Purcel tells Robicheaux he is better able to work outside the law to help solve cases. That's definitely an understatement.

I have four more books in this series to read, and I'm going to be sorry to see it come to an end.

Well, this was my first Burke book, and to say the least, it probably won't be my last. I was introduced to Detective Dave Robicheaux for the first time, and I enjoyed it. In this mystery you find that the question is about Aaron Crown, and why so many people want him dead. Join Dave as well as Clete Purcel as he squares off with Budford and Karen LaRose, tries to find out information about Mookie Zerrang!

So sit back, relax and enjoy some crawfish and something cold to drink along with this book as you read some swampy Cajun action all around the bayou! Makes an interesting read, and leaves you wanting to read more by James Lee Burke! Well done, noble mon.

I've heard such good things about Burke, so I was pretty enthusiastic about reading Cadillac Jukebox. But for all my enthusiasm, this book just didn't do it for me.

Burke's natural writing talent is obvious, and he grabbed my attention right away. The characters are all very human and real, it's a great setting, and things click along at a brisk pace. I found myself zipping my way through this book eagerly awaiting the next surprise.

And then, about halfway through the book I just got lost. A thousand different things had happened to Dave Robicheaux, his cohorts, and his enemies, and though each scene was written well, it just wasn't coming together as a whole. I realized that I either didn't know enough because I hadn't read any of the previous books, or Burke was just all over the place.

Over all a disappointment, but since this is my first Burke book, I plan to give him another chance by reading the first of the Dave Robicheaux series.

Although Burke appears to have fallen into a formulaic trap with the Robicheaux series, this entry redeems itself with its intense plotting and the carefully wrought prose his readers have come to take for granted. While the plot involves one of New Iberia's "old" families, a woman with whom Dave once had a brief fling, and New Orleans' mobsters, all familiar ingredients of past books in this series, his addition of a 28 year old murder of a civil rights leader by a crusty old misfit added zing to an otherwise tired story.

The ending seemed to forewarn of more than an end to this novel, however, perhaps an end to the series itself. Soon James Lee Burke will introduce a new character with a setting in East Texas. Alas for those of us who have come to love the Cajun detective with all of his strengths and failings. Although Burke is such an accomplished writer that his readers will no doubt learn to love the new hero as well, I will miss the people and landscape of Louisiana