Customer Reviews

White Widow

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As in classic tragedy, Master Operator (bus driver) Jack T. Oliver's fatal flaw - his attraction to a "white widow"- causes his inexorable fall from grace. Jim Lehrer's easy-going pace does not prepare the reader for the catastrophic events which ultimately occur. I highly recommend this not-too-long novel to fans of the classics and fans of suspense

WHITE WIDOW will sneak up on you.

'On Time' Jack Olsen is a well respected and well liked Bus driver in Texas.

He's a all around nice guy, with a nice house, and a even nicer wife.

Everything is fine until the 'White Widow' boards his bus..

Author Lehrer's despritions of the places and people of Texas are very effective. The story takes place in the 1950's, but there is nothing dated about WHITE WIDOW..

'On Time Jack' is much more complex then your average fictional character, his emortions, hidden away from his friends are troubling and very poignant.

Give WHITE WIDOW a try, i don't think you'll be disappointed..

After reading and enjoying Lehrur's new title, "The Special Prisoner," I read "White Widow," a book about a bus driver obsessed with a beautiful, mysterious and unknown female passenger.

The bus driver let's his imagination get carried away to the extreme. My wife, who read the book, could hardly accept that a happily married man could become so obsessed.

I guess I would characterized "White Widow" as a story about ordinary, average folks living in South Texas, struggling with the same challenges we all face -- especially who we are and can we accept our ourselves and live in peace with ourselves.

"White Widow" is a great read which will generate a great deal of thought and conversation.

High recommended

White Widow is Jim Lehrer's succinct, unadorned yet poignant account of the life of a simple man Jack T. Oliver. Oliver residing in Corpus Christi, Texas, the son of a local ophthamologist is a proud and professional bus driver for the Great Western Trailways line. He is soon to be promoted to the exalted rank of Master Operator, a result of years of exemplary service. Never one with lofty aspirations, he is happily married to an equally simple wife who was his first and only love. His sole hobby, which he shares with his wife is the decoration of his humble abode for Christmas.

Oliver who possesses a fertile, Walter Mitty-like imagination is smitten with emotion when a gorgeous raven haired passenger boards his bus. Imagining her to be the beautiful Ava Gardner he pictures himself as her paramour. She evolves into a regular passenger on Fridays causing Oliver to lose focus on those things that were truly important to him, his job and his wife. His lack of concentration results in some disastrous repercussions to his existence.

White Widow was a nice easy read, written in a flowing style that paralleled the personality of the main character.

I wasn't sure I would like White Widow. After all, just how much of a story can one make of a bus driver and his secret fantasies about a beautiful passenger who chances to take his route? So I was surprised to find myself getting caught up in this tale, finding a growing interest in a character who should be, by all counts, a total bore. But it's how he gets set-up by his own fantasies, born from his hum-drum life, which intrigues. I ended up liking this story, despite a main character who is far, too far fixated on imaginary scenes from his hoped-for life. "That's progress, you see."

This is a story that starts out rather slow, but builds up into a writhing tale that reaches a climax that will leave the reader stunned. Jim can really write a good yarn. My major interest is non-fiction, but I would recommend this book to anyone. It illustrates real human emotions and how people deal with them. Also, it shows the dangers that arise when we cease to live in reality. A must read!

I was very pleased that I picked up White Widow --it was not the type of book I usually read --it was very small town and a subject that would ordinarily not interest me --but Jim Lehrer tells a wonderful and compelling story and it left me with a good sense of post-war rural texas and what Lehrer experienced working for a bus company

The White Widow came and went, leaving our hero a shadow of a man. Although Lehrer's novel has an ending, the reader is allowed to bring further conclusions into play even after the book has been set aside. Jim doesn't let his story end with his ending...he allows his reader to end it with their own idesa or wishes. Thanks, Jim.

It never occurred to me to consider Lehrer's THE WHITE WIDOW as a mystery when I gave it a very favorable review in the DALLAS MORNING NEWS. As mainstream fiction, THE WHITE WIDOW is a most satisfactory novel about life along the Texas Coast during the heydey of bus travel--an era sadly past. Lehrer, who worked as a ticket agent in Victoria, Texas, back in the 1950s, knows the ins and outs of the bus business and makes his bus drivers and their world seem real and important. This is Lehrer's best novel, and it offers a nice complement to his non-fiction A BUS OF MY OWN. Jim Lehrer's father once owned a bus line in--as I remember it--Kansas, so Jim Lehrer knows the business better than anybody writing today. His collection of bus memorabilia is extensive--he even owns an old Flxible, the bus that clocked millions of passenger miles in an era that Jim Lehrer and I hold dear to our hearts

This portrait is so full, it really doesn't need the "white widow" of its title. In my opinion, a number of more realistic scenarios could have prompted what became the final action. This didn't, however, interfere with my enjoyment of the book.

Having been a bus rider and a resident of TX, the ride rang true. You really get to know Jack Oliver and the world of post war TX bus driving. As with any well developed character, you miss Jack when the book is over.

I recommend this book to those who like character studies or regional literature.