Customer Reviews

Jesus Out to Sea: Stories

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Not given to reading collections of short stories as a rule, I decided to give "Jesus Out to Sea" by James Lee Burke a chance as the positive reviews were luring. I was deeply rewarded for taking the bait. Each story, written with powerful, lyrical, penetrating prose, reached inside of my psyche and touched me so deeply that I am still reeling hours after finishing. Tales of childhoods spent in New Iberia, Louisiana recollect the harshness of poverty, school bullies, disappearing parents, and crime balmed only by sense of community, patriotism, and hard held friendships. Raw reflections of wars fought on battlefields and inside the soul bleed truth of one's fragility. The final story, an embittered homage to Katrina, shines a seething spotlight on this horrific event. Not since reading "A Tidewater Morning" by William Stryon have I been so profoundly moved by genuine writing. "Jesus Out to Sea" will be a permanent fixture on my bookshelves. A brilliant piece of literature and an author as gifted as James Lee Burke deserves to be read and praised by the generations.

Many authors of yesteryear sharpened their teeth on the art of short stories. Although we don't see as many collections these days, the art is still alive and James Lee Burke is a consummate pro. "Jesus Out to Sea" sticks mostly to the haunts we've come to know and love through Burke's writing: New Orleans, Montana, and memories of Vietnam. Some of the characters are ones we've brushed past in his novels. Others give glimpses into what I can only suspect are Burke's growing-up years.

Burke, as usual, explores themes of abuse, , retribution and revenge, as well as hope and redemption. He gives us multifaceted people, rarely using strict black and white for characterizations. The details are rich and vibrant, sometimes gritty and painful. From the open-ended conclusion of "Winter Light" to the poetic justice in "A Season of Regret," we read of tension-filled situations. We discover childhood hardships in "Texas City, 1947" and "The Molester," then move to recent horrors of Hurricane Katrina in "Jesus Out to Sea."

Throughout, I knew I was in the hands of a master craftsman, a writer who refuses to candy-coat or misrepresent the world around us, yet also stands steadfastly in his belief that life is worth living.

I remain in awe of James Lee Burke. Despite the occasional yet persistent flaws in his books --- a tendency to rush his endings, a manifestation of a seemingly pathological dislike of the wealthy --- his work remains arguably unsurpassed by contemporary authors. Burke mines much of the same territory explored by Erskine Caldwell and, more recently, Cormac McCarthy --- the plight of the underclass in the rural south --- but is more poetic than the former and more accessible than the latter.

JESUS OUT TO SEA is a collection of Burke's under-appreciated short fiction, gathered from a diverse number of sources and publications --- everything from Confrontation to Esquire to Amazon Shorts. The underdogs who populate these stories seem infused with details of Burke's own past, whether it be a retired college professor who runs afoul of bikers in "A Season of Regret" or the young man who, deprived of a responsible father figure, takes matters into his own hands in "Texas City, 1947." The atmosphere is at best grim, reaching the nadir of its abyss, in the hair-raising "Mist," in which a widow struggles to escape addiction, and the apocalyptic title story, concerning the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Even at his darkest, however, Burke's collection is shot through with a beauty and clarity that is simultaneously painful and a joy to behold. Such a state makes it difficult to pick a favorite. "Water People" describes the work of drilling oil and the people who do it with such accuracy that it seems as if one will be forever haunted by its imagery, particularly when filling up the gas tank in a weekly ritual heretofore taken for granted. The triumph over adversity against seemingly insurmountable odds is an old theme yet in "The Molester" is freshly and impressively presented.

It is, perhaps, "Texas City, 1947" that is the highlight of JESUS OUT TO SEA. Excerpted from Burke's A STAINED WHITE RADIANCE, this is a dark coming-of-age tale in which the author, with just a few lines of dialogue, brings a sad story of the separation of a father and son to a sorrowful conclusion, full of loss but without apparent bitterness or anger.

JESUS OUT TO SEA is a brilliant introduction to those who have been attracted to Burke's writing but are reluctant to dive into his myriad novels, which comprise the Robicheaux mythos. It is also an indication that an investment of time into an investigation of those works will provide a welcome rate of return.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Burke's latest collection belongs with Hemingway's story collection, or The Dubliners, or any "serious" collection of short stories. Burke's "The Molester," "Why Bugsy Siegel Was My Friend," and "The Burning Of The Flag" are as stark, eerie, and important as the stuff I read in college as an Engligh major. "Jesus Out To Sea" adds a disturbing insider's view of post-Katrina New Olreans. "The Night Johnny Ace Died" is maybe as close as Burke has come to writing a "romantic" story steeped in his musical roadhouse South. Even the stories taken from characters in several Dave Robicheaux novels and renamed (for the most part) stand alone well outside of the book format. I enjoy all of Burkes novels, and I enjoyed this collection more than The Convict collection. Burke seems to get better and better, and I anxiously await the next Dave Robicheaux and Billy Bob Holland book.

James Lee Burke has compiled an amazing collection of 11 short stories in JESUS OUT TO SEA. From stories of war and it's impact, child molestation, hurricane Katrina, and stories of loners coping with those who refuse to let them be, James Lee Burke tackles them all. He has the haunting ability to reach into the souls of those placed in discordant situations and see their lives revealed. He translates the consequences of their past as they portend their reactions in the future. His stories are filled with a raw violence and a dark malevolence that bring an intensity and dark beauty to his stories. Reading this is to witness the evolution of this tremendously gifted author.
JESUS OUT TO SEA is an amazing collection of short stories by this preeminent author.

Yeah, I don't like short story collections, I don't buy short story collections. I don't read short story collections even when I find them lying around for free at my doctor's office. But, heck, this one was from James Lee Burke, so I though...well okay, maybe just this once.

And that turned out to be one of my better recent calls.

I'm still not going to start buying short story collections, but this one was a delight, a pure and perfect joy to read. These stories showcase Burke's evocative, lyrical prose in its purest, most distilled form. Characters that dig their way straight into your heart, images that could make you cry, dialogue you could dance to.

This is the antedote to the quick-frozen, assembly-line prose apparently so beloved by most mainsteam publishers these days. Buy a copy. Buy two copies and give one to someone else who loves language as much as you do. They don't write 'em like this anymore.

James Lee Burke is in a class by himself. These stories are too powerful, too relentless to dismiss them as nostalgic and sentimental, and yet they contain those qualities. But they go beyond, deeper, right down into the recesses of the human soul, tracing the affect on it by the world, and other people. This author can say more of substance and say it more eloquently in a few brief pages than any other author I know. I let a friend (who has never read one of Burke's novels) read the title story, 'Jesus Out To Sea,' and when she was finished, she simply closed the book and she didn't say a word for about 15 minutes. And then all she said, very quietly, was 'That gave me chills.' Yeah, that is a story that is only possible because of the reality of Hurricane Katrina, and yet, even though we all watched NOLA's devastation on tv, you'll never be able to guess what this story is like, because the emotional depth of it, and the pinpoint connection of character to place, is what fills the story, and not even CNN was able to convey that. That's my favorite of these stories, but I also especially like 'The Night Johnny Ace Died,' and 'Winter Light.' They're all quality, though. That's the only way Burke knows how to write.

If you're a Burke fan, this is a must.

If you've never read Burke, you'll be hooked after this

James Lee Burke has a knack for evoking the Old Testament, especially the part about an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Naturally, that approach can also lead to out-of-control escalations that have to be dealt with as well. These stories capture those themes especially well.

Most novelists don't like to write short stories. Why? It takes almost as much time and effort to work out the plot and character development as it does for an entire novel. They want to save up their ideas for places where there can be a larger payoff. Only the truly gifted writers can afford to share short stories.

This collection is totally of fiction that's already been published over the last 16 years, so Mr. Burke is frugally supplying us with what we would have a hard time finding on his own . . . without additional writing effort on his part. That's okay with me. I hadn't read any of these stories before and enjoyed them all.

Jesus Out to Sea is well chosen as the title story for the collection. The story reminds me of the best parts of his recent novel, The Tin Roof Blowdown, where the candid scenes of submerged New Orleans after Katrina breached the levees will haunt anyone who reads them.

Strangely, Winter Light was chosen as the book's opening story despite it being the weakest story in the collection. The theme is about the moral and physical challenges of standing up to the mob. A Season of Regret explores a similar theme and is a much more rewarding story.

The next story, the Village, is by comparison a masterpiece . . . capturing the worst tendencies of the 20th century in a few brief, but powerful, words.

The Night Johnny Ace Died has so much plot and character development in it, you'll find yourself not believing that this is short story rather than a novella.

Water People is classic James Lee Burke in which characters are haunted by the past in ways that harmfully affect the present.

Texas City, 1947 shows the challenges that are thrown the way of youngsters when the adults make mistakes or have bad luck. It's the first in a series of wonderful stories with children as narrators including The Molester, The Burning of the Flag, and When Bugsy Siegel Was a Friend of Mine that explore the bully-bullied conflicts of youth.

Mist is a magnificent story that takes a woman's perspective and digs deep into the challenges of recovering from being targeted by those who want to misuse you.

Most of the stories are based in the rich Louisiana heritage of the Dave Robicheaux novels dating back to World War II. You'll feel even more of the atmosphere of those days when you read Robicheaux novels in the future after enjoying these delightful, spare stories.

These eleven tales have been published before, but never together. The collection provides the audience with a deep sense of place as the Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf plays a vivid role in each entry. The themes are similar with the duality of war (man-made like Viet Nam or nature-created like Katrina) and violent atrocities, as combat against a human enemy or Mother Nature brings out the best and worst in humans. The compilation is one of the strongest anthologies of the year so far whether it occurs in "The Village" during the Viet Nam war or in the Gulf during Katrina while "Jesus Was Out to Sea" and the government fiddled. In all cases, James Lee Burke provides deep insight into the psyche of the survivor. These superb short stories are thought provoking and enjoyable.

Harriet Klausner