• Lay Down My Sword and Shield

  • By: James Lee Burke
  • Narrated by: Will Patton
  • Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (1,517 ratings)

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Lay Down My Sword and Shield  By  cover art

Lay Down My Sword and Shield

By: James Lee Burke
Narrated by: Will Patton
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Publisher's summary

The hero of James Lee Burke's recent best-seller Rain Gods, cousin to lawman Billy Bob Holland and a genuine product of the South, both old and new, Hackberry Holland makes his first appearance in this early gem from "America's best novelist" (The Denver Post).

Against the backdrop of growing civil rights turmoil in a sultry border town, the hard-drinking ex-POW attorney yields to the myriad urgings of his wife, his brother, and his so-called friends to make a bid for a congressional seat - and finds himself embroiled in the seamy world of Texas powerbrokers. And when Hack attempts to overturn an old army buddy's conviction, and crosses paths with a beautiful union organizer who speaks to his heart in a way no one else has, he finds both a new love and a new purpose as he breaks free from the shackles of wealth and expectation to bring justice to the underserved.

©2010 James Lee Burke (P)2010 Simon & Schuster

What listeners say about Lay Down My Sword and Shield

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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    713
  • 4 Stars
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    214
  • 2 Stars
    72
  • 1 Stars
    39
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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
    234
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    67
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Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
    354
  • 3 Stars
    210
  • 2 Stars
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    42

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

The Publisher's Summary is Anemic

The Publisher's summary reads like a romance novel when this is is classic James Lee Burke: Intellent story telling based on deep introspection and human nature. Dark poetry in hot, steamy Texas in the time when "Negro" was considered polite language and Hispanics were ignored. A preclude to Rain Gods, it explains many character mysteries and painful memories. Will Patton, the narrator, layers language with meaning and tonality like silk over callouses.

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48 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

sets the stage for all of JLB's books

James Lee Burke has become one of my Top 5 favorite authors. This book was the third he ever wrote in 1971. He didn't write another novel for 16 years when he started his Dave Robicheaux series set in the Cajun country of Louisiana. Burke was then in his early 50's. Since then he has been pumping out at least a book a year, mostly Robicheaux novels but others as well including this series involving Hackberry Holland, set in west Texas along the Rio Grande river. Burke didn't write the second book in this series "Rain Gods" for 38 years, yes, he's been writing a long time now and it will be a sad day when he writes his last work. Actor Will Patton has narrated all of Burke's books and they are a great marriage in this regard. In this book, Burke sets the background for Hackberry Holland. As I made my way through the book, it came to me that Burke set the tone for all of his books, the brooding protagonist who hates bigots, hypocrites, people with money who feel that alone gives them privilege and power, etc., and he always takes the side of the underdog while trying to right wrongs, all the while fighting his own demons and struggling to keep a balance in life. If you like James Lee Burke, you'll like this book.

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39 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A character study--not a polemic or crime fiction

It is pretty difficult to forgive the self-destructive, often self-righteous subject of this powerful character study, at least until you have reached the promising denouement. Burke never soft pedals the negative aspects of Hackberry's alcoholism and self-hatred. What he does do is expose its roots in the Korean War back story, making us relive with Holland a soul destroying history in a visceral and horrifying series of memories. He does, nonetheless, have redeeming qualities even at his lowest points--a love for horses and a compassion for the helpless which he finds inescapable even while he is single-mindedly gunning the engine in his flight to his own annihilation. And a burning hatred for hypocrisy. In fact, it is this last which fuels his descent as his lingering sense of guilt concerning his final "failure" under North Korean torturers makes it impossible for him to wear a mask of respectability in the here and now.

This is not an easy book to read, and different auditors have obviously come away with widely divergent reactions. As for me, while I don't think this is Burke's finest work (that is a very high bar), I was able to engage deeply with Hack even while desperately wanting to slap him up side the head and lock him in his room. Even at his most repugnant, there was something there worth loving, and most of us have experienced that enough times in our lives to be able to relate. In addition, Burke's brilliantly poetic use of landscape and atmosphere is already in evidence in this early work. He also does a nice job of playing powerfully on the themes of hypocrisy and real cowardice which run throughout his later novels. By the last page, I was very satisfied and even moved.

I would not, however, recommend this as a first read in the Burke oeuvre. I would suggest you get to know the later Hackberry and come back to this as very interesting back story.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

this book broke my heart

Ok, I'm a sucker this author's rendering of Texas border country and its characters. Burke brings an unapologetic empathy to his stories that is rare in this genre. His novels are full of humanity at its worst and best, and somehow he never lets us slide into the dull hum of desensitized overload that can muffle the mind. I love the voice of Patton for these books, a pitch perfect reader for the dignity and imperfection of Holland and his fellows.

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Ambivalent

The title of this review expresses my ambivalence between the quality of the writing and story telling, and my intense dislike of the main character. The four star rating is largely homage to Burke's writing, and his bringing to life the farm worker's struggle for fair treatment. It's also in appreciation of the light he casts on the type of people who succeed in politics, and why.

There are scenes between Hack and Veresa that are drawn with a surgeon's scalpel, and you can almost feel the blood oozing out of your own pores. Similarly, Hack's brother's complaints have the ring of truth and I longed for him to throw Hack out on his drunk butt.

Hack's political career is drawn from the headlines. The lurid details of his drunken escapades can be found in the real reports of politicians' misdeeds, sorry to say.

Hackberry Holland is an abhorrent character. He's a selfish, self-absorbed, egotistical, alcoholic who blames all of his problems on other people. In many ways, he's stereotyped, as are the women with whom he interacts.

He falls into the farm workers struggle not out of principle, but in an alcoholic binge. I would have had more respect for him had he had some principle about it.

Yes, he was a POW in a Chinese camp and his treatment there defies comprehension. Burke describes it extensively, and in great detail. Too much is given over to this, so much so that it felt like mere sensationalism, a disappointment from a writer of Burke's ability.

Will Patton does his usual excellent job narrating the book.

Although overall I enjoyed the book, I'm not sure I'll read any more books featuring Hackberry Holland.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Sadly Mr. Burke, It Shows.

I have been a James Lee Burke fanboy… just look at my other reviews. I've called him a poet and looked forward to each new Dave Robicheaux chapter at an epic American cultural turning point. Mark Hammer is one of the greatest Audible voices of all time. So I am overwhelmed with disappointment in Hackberry Holland asa stereotypical ideologue's over-written lead character.

When writers present ideas, they can become great, when they represent ideas, they are propagandists. Maybe I should have listened to all of this polemic filled with hateful white south westerners and saintly people of color.I couldn't since quickly it seemed as if he was again visiting a stereotypical place where there was no grey, no nuance, no other side but the whiny argument that Burke presents. As the son of a union leader, I understand the struggle and its virtues. I also understand its excesses, contradictions, and frustrations.

An artist asks questions, a partisan answers them. The world of Robicheaux is riddled with questions… Hackenberry is about unambiguous answers. Robichieux's a question mark, Hackenberry an exclamation point.

Burke is singing to the choir. How disappointing. Once upon a time a young writer turned in an assignment to his editor. She read it, looked up and said, 'Ted, you're really enraged by this issue aren't you?" "YES!" he retorted.

She slid the article back across her desk, "It shows. Rewrite it."

Mr. Burke, it shows.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Intense, gripping tale ... Great narration!

The combination of James Lee Burke and Will Patton is unbeatable. This is my favorite of Burke's recent books. Billy Bob Holland has grown and added a lot of depth to his character. He inhabits a world that is not black and white, but solidly comprised of shades of gray ... as is the real world.

All of James Lee Burke's characters have history, baggage and flaws. Some are purely evil. Others manage to overcome their flaws to display extraordinary courage.

A great story, beautifully narrated, I loved it from start to finish.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Only Burke could have gotten me into this book.

Any additional comments?

This is a hard book to listen to and Burke walks the knife's edge through the horrors of war both abroad and at home. He puts you into places of terror without ever glorifying the violence. His books always make me feel like I've been some place real and met people I would otherwise never meet. Will Patton's reading brings the story alive.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

In living color

This is another perfect conjoining of Burke and Patton, vivid in intensity and clarity. The audio-book was made for them. The voices are all there with nothing held back. The language is rough and necessary giving the listener the reality demanded by the characters. Burke and Patton never hold back; they flood our senses to overload making it up to us as the audience to rise to the occasion. Never look for an apology from these two. If you love what you hear, there is much more Burke / Patton out there. Hosanna, life is good.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Maybe it's time for James Lee to hang 'em up.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

No. Not when you have read as many of his books as I have. His gifts are so outsized that I have come to expect truly marvelous entertainment from him, particularly when he is paired with the remarkable Will Patton. However, the well just has to run dry sooner or later, and I am afraid that in Hack Holland we are seeing the grisly death of Mr. Burke's outlandish writerly talents. When he sinks this low, he becomes compulsively violent. Other readers have commented on this, and it is most certainly true. The violence is relentless and by now pointless. We know that Dave Robicheaux and Clete Purcell and now Hack Holland have all brought back the horrible nightmares of Korea and Viet Nam, as have minor characters galore, but the piling on is serving to diminish the point here, not to heighten its emphasis. The reader can only listen to so many nightmares about grisly murders, decapitations, etc. etc. etc. before the shock value of these wears off completely. By this time I have lost the point. At first I understood the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that these men bring home and try to cope with in their lives after war, but these thousands of pages cannot serve simply to make those points over and over again. The books, and this one in particular, are so much about conflict in so many relationships across such a broad spectrum of people in Texas that you wonder how it is that they don't just kill each other off and be done with it. There'd be no one left to write about, I spose.

If you’ve listened to books by James Lee Burke before, how does this one compare?

As above, the emphasis on conflict in its multifarious manifestations (sorry; I won't do that again) just begin to make the mind roll over and lose the point completely. Let's see: Texas law enforcement is a rotten, corrupt-to-the-core pigsty; politicians are lying whores who will say and do anything for money and their own despicable personal gain and ambition (gee whiz!), the women are just as nasty as the men, etc. Are we taking notes here?

Would you listen to another book narrated by Will Patton?

I do love Will Patton. His voice is delightful, with that gravelly texture that is easy to snuggle up to at night. He is a great selling point for any audiobook.

Did Lay Down My Sword and Shield inspire you to do anything?

Like, move to Texas, become oil-rich and run for political office? Uh, no.

Any additional comments?

No. Time to either retire, or to change the focus, and as the boys at Monte Python would have it, do something completely different. How about exploring some uplifting aspect of human nature? I hear uproarious laughter. Just a thought. Doesn't sell many books.

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7 people found this helpful