Flags on the Bayou- A Novel by James Lee Burke
Product Details
Web ID: 17302227Flags on the Bayou
Flags on the Bayou presents a blique view of the Civil War and the many characters involved in the foray. James Lee Burke develops the story with many narrators so the reader may see the Union Army, the Southern Army, the Red Legs, the slaves, and the plantation owners. The conditions of the war display the ugliness of the war and the people. General Robert E. Lee becomes this disparaged man who forces his soldiers to a terrible death. The Southern way of kindness and hospitality disappear in the quest for survival. The relationship between slaves and their owners falls into cruelty and bitterness. James Lee Burke attempts to speak in the language the illiterate but greatly fails in this endeavor. The story ends with redemption, but too little and too late.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Best Burke book ever
Flags on the Bayou By James Lee Burke The story takes place toward the end of the Civil War in the deep South. I is told chapter by chapter by various characters. There is Wade Lufkin, a Confederate medical assistant and non-combatant, who has killed a union soldier in a fit of anger – and never forgiven himself. Pierre Cauchon is a lower class creole, who supposedly works for the occupiers to help the freed slaves. The two slaves, Hannah Laveau and Darla Babineaux, who have been mistreated in various ways – not only by their masters, but also by northern soldiers (most notably Colonel John Endicott). Florence Milton is a northern school teacher and abolitionist who is trying to help free the enslaved blacks. And finally Colonel Carlton Hayes, the syphilitic leader of a band of rough riders who are attempting to drive out the Yanks, but also are destroying everything in their path. This is a sad story. It shows us that everyone has both good and evil in their makeup. That no one is to blame – or entirely blameless. But it does give the reader hope that humans, if they can give up their greed and their need to control their fellow man, can manage to create a heaven on earth existence. All it takes is acceptance and understanding. Mr. Burke feels that this is his best work ever. Having read his books over the years, I must say that I agree with him.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
History
This is an interesting read concerning the American Civil War as told by separate characters in each chapter. I was frustrated not knowing the names and where the battles took place. The Southern and Northern Army Generals with vigilantes were also part of the cast which would have been beneficial had I studied the war history. As an Australian, it was hard to keep up with who was fighting who. Overall it answered some questions I have about the so-called Red and Blue States in the present time and how a country can tear itself apart as it appears that the war was never finished. However, I did like the characters and the descriptions of how people from both sides managed to survive living day by day amongst hell on a massive scale. An independent review NetGalley / Atlantic Monthly Press
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Ways of War
“It’s meant to be a historical book, and it is meant to be about today. The same monsters are still out there.” James Lee Burke has recreated the hell our Civil War empowered mankind to muster. There is so much evil in these pages, unimaginable atrocities committed under the guise of patriotism and codes of honor. In recent books, Mr. Burke has used the supernatural to further some plotlines. Here there is no need to magnify what mortal men are capable of. Memorable characters from all different walks populate this novel: free men, slaves, Union troops, Confederate “irregulars.” Some are pure monsters; some are people finding themselves venturing into areas their consciences would never have imagined going. Hannah Laveau, a former slave searching for her son, is at the heart of the story. She endured repeated sexual assaults and is now not sure if she is the one who brutally murdered her assailant. A white plantation owner, Wade Lufkin, is helping Hannah evade arrest, yet he is single-handedly trying to turn the Confederacy’s fortunes around by bankrolling their fight with his gold. One of the characters mentions she disagrees with Darwin’s theory of evolution, that we are not all descended from the same line. There are people so deranged who must have evolved from a different tree. This is a theme Mr. Burke has brought up in previous books, as well. War is just the great enabler for evil, “...perpetuated its suffering from the cave to the present.” James Lee Burke is one of our greatest writers and he says this is his finest book. The South today, as shaped by the Civil War, has often had its gravitational pull in his works. “Flags on the Bayou” is the treatment on the subject he was destined to write. A brilliant work. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com