Wayfaring Stranger

De: James Lee Burke

Narrado por: Will Patton

2015 Audie Award Finalist for Thriller/Suspense

From "America’s best novelist" (The Denver Post): a sprawling thriller drenched with atmosphere and intrigue that takes a young boy from a chance encounter with Bonnie and Clyde to the trenches of World War II and the oil fields along the Texas-Louisiana coast.

It is 1934 and the Depression is bearing down when 16-year-old Weldon Avery Holland happens upon infamous criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow after one of their notorious armed robberies. A confrontation with the outlaws ends as Weldon puts a bullet through the rear window of Clyde’s stolen automobile. Ten years later, Second Lieutenant Weldon Holland and his sergeant, Hershel Pine, escape certain death in the Battle of the Bulge and encounter a beautiful young woman named Rosita Lowenstein hiding in a deserted extermination camp. Eventually, Weldon and Rosita fall in love and marry and, with Hershel, return to Texas to seek their fortunes. There, they enter the domain of jackals known as the oil business. They meet Roy Wiseheart - a former Marine aviator haunted with guilt for deserting his squadron leader over the South Pacific and Roy’s wife, Clara, a vicious anti-Semite who is determined to make Weldon and Rosita’s life a nightmare. It will be the frontier justice upheld by Weldon’s grandfather, Texas lawman Hackberry Holland, and the legendary antics of Bonnie and Clyde that shape Weldon’s plans for saving his family from the evil forces that lurk in peacetime America and threaten to destroy them all.

©2014 James Lee Burke. All rights reserved. (P)2014 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Holland is just ok

Where does Wayfaring Stranger rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

A better question is where does this rank compared to the author's previous novels. In short, not as high. As usual, the writing and performance by narrator are top notch and one of the best on Audible. However, I found the overall story a bit implausible and the main characters not as likeable as the past works. The author spends a huge amount of time on the female love interest of Holland's business partner. Holland himself dishes out constant verbal abuse to Roy Wisehart, (rich playboy) and the character seems to always come back for more - not very likely. JLB's writing is better suited to a detective mystery story plot so much better because of the astute observations he is able to make about humans and our folly.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

High level or writing and observations of human weaknesses.

What does Will Patton bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Absolutely love this narrator. Give the book an extra star.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, and that is the problem with this one. But, it is still a good listen.

Stranger, You'd Fare Way Better By Moseying On

"There's a man goin' 'round takin' names.
An' he decides who to free and who to blame.
Everybody won't be treated all the same.
There'll be a golden ladder reaching down.
When the man comes around."

Johnny Cash, "The Man Comes Around"

Here, as in his last novel, Burke has come to deify his protagonist, inserting him with a smug and pious Homunculus that floods the pages with internal dialogue judging and imprecating every character encountered and bombing the reader with bromides and worn out witticisms. Inside our hero is insufferable sanctimony (“All our dreams and hopes become as naught, and evil men are allowed to hang their lanterns on our tombstones. What greater folly is there?”), while outside, he encounters archetypal villains as he runs the whole gamut of emotions from A (sullen) to B (self-satisfied): “You’ve got another problem. Like most white trash, you’re disrespectful to your betters and proud of your stupidity and ignorance.”

O, the faint whiff of Faulkner, rolling over: “If you're wired a certain way, you'll always be in morion, clicking to your own rhythm, all of it in four-four time, avoiding convention and predictability and control as you would a sickness, the whole world waiting for you like an enormous dance pavilion lit by colored lights and surrounded with palm trees. I'm not talking about the dirty boogie. The music of the spheres is right outside your bedroom window.”

Huh?!?! Burke, approaching 80, may be harking back to early 50's Louisiana when his cousins, Jimmy Lee Swaggart and Jerry Lee Lewis (both a year older than James Lee), were raising hell only a couple of hours to the north.

Wordy

Good story but really abrupt and disappointing ending. Wonderful and engaging time frame, although hard to keep the time straight throughout. Great performance.

Burke paints beautiful pictures,characters w words

I love listening to Patton read Burke's stories. Burke weaves all his story threads together so beautifully and movingly. My library only has abridged audio versions. Burke's artistry cannot be fully appreciated, not sure why that's even an option. Burke will carry you away. Patton completes the picture.

Beyond Good and Evil

James Lee Burke paints his story with colors and detail so vivid the reader is treated to a journey as he takes us breathlessly to the edge. Will Patton's performance makes us care and feel for the characters as we go along for the ride. How fortunate we are for their collaboration.

Most Excellent, story & reading.

My first Burke book. Won't be my last. Will Patton was terrific. Voice changes, inflection and emphases were spot on and enhanced the storyline effectively.

No one does it like James Lee Burke

Another outstanding story from the man with the gifted pros and beautiful descriptive passages. He ie the best.

Wow! That's all I can say.

So wonderful I'm left speechless. The history, the characters, the interwoven stories were perfect. I couldn't stop listening.

Great action story line and drama

Would you listen to Wayfaring Stranger again? Why?

Yes, after awhile it was a great story

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

It was a great storyline that had enough twist and turns to hold my attention

Which character – as performed by Will Patton – was your favorite?

Each character had their place in the story, and Mr Patton did his usual job of making the entire book a great pleasure to listen to.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

I like the book title

Any additional comments?

Mr Burke did a great job of history and story telling that makes you want to burn thru his books, Please don't stop writing we enjoy your books

Good book, just not great

I don't really know what didn't work, I just never grew to care about the characters. Good story, well written, but not real heart in it.