Customer Reviews

Memphis Ribs

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

 

 

Gerald Duff's Memphis Ribs is a funny book. Its best quality lies in the dialogue engaged by its main character, Memphis police detective J.W. Ragsdale. I'm from Minnesota, where the best we can come up with is "yah" and "you betcha," so I can't say how accurate the dialect is. But it was enjoyable reading. The comebacks and phrasing were hilarious. Ragsdale is an immediately likable protagonist. Duff's ability to write dialogue reminds me of Robert B. Parker.

The story develops nicely too: drugs and murder all set against the backdrop of Memphis and Ragsdale's passion for barbecued pork ribs. I was surprised by how much there is to learn about barbecuing pork. Up here we just throw a couple of beer-soaked brats on the grill and take 'em off when they split. Duff teaches us that the subtleties in cooking methodology and geographical origin of barbecued pork are as varied and consequential as in the world of fine wines.

Though the ending left me a bit confused, Memphis Ribs is overall a good effort.

Take a break people. This book is a great read and very entertaining. For the fact checker who detailed the 10 wrong things, really now. It's fiction!!! In fiction you change things in your story sometimes just a tiny bit. As someone who also went to Rhodes I would think that you would have learned the difference. (By the way my brother went to MUS and I have been known to refer to it as Memphis University School)

I highly recommend this book if you want a good laugh/ mystery. It is even funnier if you have any exposure to the cotton carnival element of Memphis.

This book is very entertaining and fun to read. It has a fast moving story and likeable characters. It is a good detective thriller set in Delta blues country. The hero, J W Ragsdale, is a great, hard bitten detective character. I'd like to see another book with him as the leading character. A friend bought this book for me and I wasn't sure what I was in for....I loved it.Duff did a great job.

Move over Elmore Leonard, Gerald Duff has arrived. I read this book from start to finish in one day, and then went back and read it again. Outstanding! The Memphis dialect is perfect. You can almost smell the barbecue and hear the Delta blues. I'd recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery, and for anyone who demands great literature. I've already told my friends. Can't wait for the movie.

This is not a historical document, so who cares if the "fact checkers" weren't out in force in proofing this novel? It DOES capture the feel of a good portion of Memphis-- and some of Northern Mississippi as well. It's a good, fun read... well worth the time.

Mr. Duff really struck a cord in his new novel, Memphis Ribs. I've lived in Memphis, and he's got the dialect down cold. But I can see why some in that fine city might not like what he has to say...get over it. It's just a mystery. It's supposed to entertain, and it does just that. This book is good enough to be taught in college. Go out and buy it and then pass the word to your friends.

As a long-time resident of Memphis and a graduate of Rhodes College, I really wanted to like this book. Unfortunately, I couldn't. Although the author spent a few years in Memphis, he obviously hasn't been back in a long time, or he has the worst fact-checkers in the publishing business. Besides writing an uninteresting story, Duff's book is riddled with errors. Duff attempts to show his knowledge of Memphis by filling his book with details about Memphis and ends up hoisting himself on his own petard. My space is limited so I'll be brief.

1. Captain Bilbo's ceased to exist many years ago. 2. Old Man River is sung by James Hyter. 3. Old Man River is sung on the last weekend of May at the Sunset Symphony not during Barbecue fest. Barbecue fest takes place one week earlier. 4. James Hyter retired last year. 5. There is no Butcher Block, the restaurant is called The Butcher Shop. 6. Overton Park golf course is a 9 hole course; there is no 12th hole. 7. There is no channel 6 in Memphis. 8. Highway 61 is no longer scenic nor peaceful as it is littered with billboards for the casinos in Tunica and Robinsonville. It also isn't just two lanes anymore. 9. The Memphis Chicks moved to Jackson. We have the Memphis Redbirds. 10. The Memphis Showboats were in the USFL not the WFL; the Memphis Grizzlies were in the WFL. 11. Prince Mongo's no longer exists either. 12. Anybody who lives here knows it is referred to as MUS not Memphis University School. 13. You couldn't fit a half a million people on Tom Lee Park, not even if you glued them together. 14. The downtown area is going through a revival, people are no longer afraid to go to the Arcade restaurant. 15. Danny's hasn't been open since he was put in jail.

I'm sure there were more gaffes, but frankly I got tired of keeping track of all of them. Poor quality, poor effort, inexcusable failure to check facts. I would have given it no stars, but that wasn't an option.

Gerald Duff does an interesting job mixing comedy and violent crime--no easy task. Memphis cop J.W. Ragsdale is a well developed character, who goes about solving the murder of a tourist during the International BBQ Cooking Contest and the Cotton Carnival. Duff's Southern dialects and colloquialisms are a little in the stereotypical vein, which is surprising from a former Memphis college prof. The story lines are tied up cleanly at the end, but left this reader wondering what purpose this excercise served. The framework for a great story is in place, and a good revision could have gotten this tale on track.

Residents of Memphis have good reason to abhor Duff's descriptions of their city and colloquialism. Descriptive prose involves more than dropping song titles, automobile models, Schlitz and drinking establishments into every paragraph.