Before The Lost Get-Back Boogie appeared to wide acclaim in 1986, James Lee Burke had been out of print in cloth for thirteen years and his fifth novel had received a record 111 rejection letters. ""LSU Press put me back in the game and turned my career around,"" Burke says. The novels and stories Burke had written during those years of rejection eventually became the stuff of the Dave Robicheaux series, which has earned him two Edgar Awards.Reviews of The Lost Get-Back Boogie now seem prescient. ""This is the book that ...
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Before The Lost Get-Back Boogie appeared to wide acclaim in 1986, James Lee Burke had been out of print in cloth for thirteen years and his fifth novel had received a record 111 rejection letters. ""LSU Press put me back in the game and turned my career around,"" Burke says. The novels and stories Burke had written during those years of rejection eventually became the stuff of the Dave Robicheaux series, which has earned him two Edgar Awards.Reviews of The Lost Get-Back Boogie now seem prescient. ""This is the book that Burke was born to write- and you're grateful he did,"" wrote syndicated reviewer Nancy Pate. ""It's the sort of novel that could win Burke a wider readership,"" said the Wichita Eagle-Beacon. And from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, ""The Lost Get-Back Boogie was my introduction to Burke, and it is a cherished one. Burke demonstrates a rare ability to write an extraordinarily propulsive tale that borders on genre fiction without ever being less than literature."" The novel's title is also the name of the song that Iry Paret- a honky-tonk musician, Korean vet, and ex-con- wants to write to hold his memories of a ""more uncomplicated time,"" before the war, before prison. The book opens the day thirty-year-old Iry leaves Louisiana's Angola state penitentiary, after serving two years for manslaughter, and follows him to Montana, where he hopes to stay cool and out of trouble by working hard on a ranch owned by the father of his prison pal, Buddy Riordan. Iry finds the fresh start he seeks, joins a weekend band, and even falls in love. But the Riordan family's problems deal Iry a new sort of trouble with some ultimately tragic consequences. The Lost Get-Back Boogie is a novel about loyalty and friendship, betrayal and loss. It is about essentially good people and their attempts to define the value of their lives and to find their place in a changing, complicated world. And it is the work of James Lee Burke at the top of his form.
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Seller's Description:
Acceptable. Hardcover The item is fairly worn but still readable. Signs of wear include aesthetic issues such as scratches, worn covers, damaged binding. The item may have identifying markings on it or show other signs of previous use. May have page creases, creased spine, bent cover or markings inside. Packed with care, shipped promptly.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Acceptable. Ex-library book. The book has a library stamp on the first page. The book has writing along the edge of the pages. The pages of the book is a little old. The item is fairly worn but still readable. Signs of wear include aesthetic issues such as scratches, worn covers, damaged binding. The item may have identifying markings on it or show other signs of previous use. May have page creases, creased spine, bent cover or markings inside. PLEASE ASK IF THERE IS A SPECIFIC QUESTION YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE CONDITION OF THIS BOOK. Packed with care, shipped promptly.
For those unfamiliar with James Lee Burke, let me state first that he is one of the best stylists, that is writers, working today. Don't let that scare you away if you do not like MFA approved authors or snotty reviewers or 'arty' books with no discernible ending. Burke writes about meaty issues of conscience and violence and human weakness, about struggles with our evil demons and the triumph, albeit narrow, of overall good in the world.
This was his stand alone book before he started to reach a larger audience with the Dave and Clete books, and after he had had several other non series books published. It marks the beginning of his career in that he went unpublished for something like ten years while suffering a hundred or so rejections of "The Lost Get-Back Boogie".
I'll not waste space with a plot synopsis; they are available wherever the book is sold. I merely express my opinion that this is a minor masterpiece well worth the time and expense. Highly recommended.
