Lay Down My Sword and Shield

By: James Lee Burke

Narrated by: Will Patton

Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins

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

Love JLB

Would you consider the audio edition of Lay Down My Sword and Shield to be better than the print version?

Yes

Any additional comments?

James Lee Burke should only let Will Patton read his books for him. His voice is smooth, with good ups and downs. Knows just where to put the right ? on the words. I could listen all day to Will Patton reading JLB books.
Great, keep them coming....faster.....

Will Patton's Performance Saves It

The main character, Hackberry Holland, is a very difficult to like drunk through most of the book. If it had not been for Burke's descriptive prose and Patton's excellent reading, I doubt that I would have finished it. However, I stuck it out through the end, and I am glad I did. It is definitely worth reading if you are a fan of James Lee Burke, but it is not as good as his more recent work.

Wonderful

There isn't anyone I know with a greater mastery of words. Always a visual vacatiosn.

Is there any better lyrical western author?

You can’t beat Will Patton serving up the poetry, cadence, and wisdom in James Lee’s work. Never have I heard a reader more suited to an author; no other reader can do Burke like Will does. Let me say right here — whenever at such time as my own paltry scribblings get public, please god, let Will Patton read them aloud, at least to my family and friends, under a cool gallery out front.

I love anything with the Holland clan, and this Hack was very interesting — a different kind of Holland. The section on his POW experience in Korea has to have been noted somewhere for its authenticity and strength of narrative. It is exemplary and should be excerpted in any book that recalls the horrible time that those men had in such camps.

James Lee Burke is a national Treasure. And so is Will Patton. This duo makes Texas seem like a new planet full of wonders, dangers, and moral challenges.

Way too much verbage

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Take out all the descriptive stuff and tell the story

What do you think your next listen will be?

don't know

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Will Patton?

?

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

Not read any more books by this author

Fantastic book!

I love James Lee Burke, but this was my first in this series of books!! Will listening to them all now!! Hack is my new hero!!

A Texas story

Will Patton and James Burke set a scene you cannot leave nor can you forget.

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.

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.

Love Mr.Burke and Mr. Patton,"BRAVO"!!!!!

as usual Mr Burke does a fantastic job of making the characters in the land and the ambiance Texas come to life and Mr Patton job of reading this book is beyond marvelous loved it loved it loved it