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kathydavie's review against another edition
5.0
First in the Hackberry Holland series revolving around an alcoholic lawyer trying to find himself after his release from a Korean POW camp while trying to live up to his family legend.
My Take
Keep in mind that Burke wrote this in 1971, four years before the end of the Vietnam War.
Burke spends most of the book setting Hack up for his transformation. Steeping us in his degeneracy — the alcohol and whoring. The engrained expectancy of his social class. A shallow peek in the cesspool of politics and campaigning.
It takes the desperate plight of an army buddy to force the change onto Hack while the finish is "the love of a good woman". It sure didn't hurt that he had "the hate of a snotty one" back home.
Hack is not a lovable, let alone a likable character. He's so busy schmoozing and drinking with long visits across the border in the brothels, that I spent a lot of time wondering why I was pushing myself to read it. To be honest, if I hadn't read Feast Day of Fools, I very likely would have put it down. It does, however, provide a brutal look at the violent treatment of farm workers and negroes as they tried to survive in the white man's world of the early 1960s.
I get the feeling that Burke needed to release a lot of anger when he wrote this. Hack rages throughout, drowning his fears with booze, hoping to get through a night without the nightmares of the war. I'm curious if Hack began questioning the [email protected] motives and [email protected] his social milieu because of his experiences in Korea and the friendships he made with his fellow soldiers. Men outside his social class.
The Characters
Hackberry Holland is running for office and is partners in a law firm with his brother Bailey. Verisa is his socially conscious wife more concerned with her parties and barbecues.
Art Gomez was Hack's buddy in the Navy and he's been railroaded into prison. Rie Velasquez has volunteered with the United Farm Workers carrying on a family tradition of protest.
Senator Samuel Dowling. The man who was using Hack to fulfill his own political debts. Cecil Wayne Posey was the public defender who did nothing for Art; I'd certainly like to do something for Posey and all the assholes in that town, the prison, the police department, the Texas Rangers...jesus, the list could go on forever. I'd like to think we've been making progress since then...
The Cover and Title
The cover is quite patriotic with its flag waving across the middle of the cover, a sunset shining through it with steeples rising in the background, a rifle with helmet standing upright in the foreground.
Lay Down My Sword and Shield refers to Hack giving up. He's been questioning the people in his life and the war. The sincerity of politicians like Dowling and the people with whom he associates is way more than questionable. By the time we survive Hack's ephiphany, I think we all are ready to lay that shield down as well.
My Take
Keep in mind that Burke wrote this in 1971, four years before the end of the Vietnam War.
Burke spends most of the book setting Hack up for his transformation. Steeping us in his degeneracy — the alcohol and whoring. The engrained expectancy of his social class. A shallow peek in the cesspool of politics and campaigning.
It takes the desperate plight of an army buddy to force the change onto Hack while the finish is "the love of a good woman". It sure didn't hurt that he had "the hate of a snotty one" back home.
Hack is not a lovable, let alone a likable character. He's so busy schmoozing and drinking with long visits across the border in the brothels, that I spent a lot of time wondering why I was pushing myself to read it. To be honest, if I hadn't read Feast Day of Fools, I very likely would have put it down. It does, however, provide a brutal look at the violent treatment of farm workers and negroes as they tried to survive in the white man's world of the early 1960s.
I get the feeling that Burke needed to release a lot of anger when he wrote this. Hack rages throughout, drowning his fears with booze, hoping to get through a night without the nightmares of the war. I'm curious if Hack began questioning the [email protected] motives and [email protected] his social milieu because of his experiences in Korea and the friendships he made with his fellow soldiers. Men outside his social class.
The Characters
Hackberry Holland is running for office and is partners in a law firm with his brother Bailey. Verisa is his socially conscious wife more concerned with her parties and barbecues.
Art Gomez was Hack's buddy in the Navy and he's been railroaded into prison. Rie Velasquez has volunteered with the United Farm Workers carrying on a family tradition of protest.
Senator Samuel Dowling. The man who was using Hack to fulfill his own political debts. Cecil Wayne Posey was the public defender who did nothing for Art; I'd certainly like to do something for Posey and all the assholes in that town, the prison, the police department, the Texas Rangers...jesus, the list could go on forever. I'd like to think we've been making progress since then...
The Cover and Title
The cover is quite patriotic with its flag waving across the middle of the cover, a sunset shining through it with steeples rising in the background, a rifle with helmet standing upright in the foreground.
Lay Down My Sword and Shield refers to Hack giving up. He's been questioning the people in his life and the war. The sincerity of politicians like Dowling and the people with whom he associates is way more than questionable. By the time we survive Hack's ephiphany, I think we all are ready to lay that shield down as well.
colorfulleo92's review against another edition
4.0
I don't know what took me so long to read James Lee Burke, been meaning to read Rain gods for a while but it was good I looked carefully today it was the second in a series. This was a very enjoyable read and I can't wait to continue on with the story!
sandin954's review against another edition
4.0
First published in 1971, this had the author's usual descriptive and vivid writing along with realistic characterizations. I really enjoyed the audio version which was ably narrated by Will Patton.
walter_hadwick's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
perednia's review against another edition
5.0
Hackberry Holland came on the literary landscape in 1971, talking about the bullet holes in his porch left by John Wesley Hardin when the outlaw confronted Hack's grandfather before relating how an up-and-coming politician ended up far from the corridors of power.
In 2009, Hack was seen again in Burke's brilliant RAIN GODS. Now, Hack's introduction, LAY DOWN MY SWORD AND SHIELD, has been reprinted.
Son of a congressman, Hack is on the verge of becoming one himself. All he has to do is live through endless cocktail parties, meetings with donors and pretending to be happily married to his ice queen wife. Anyone who survived being a Korean prisoner of war should be able to put up with a few wealthy Texas housewives and a senator, right? Instead, Hack is drinking himself into oblivion.
When an Army buddy calls from jail after being arrested walking a picket line with Mexican workers near the border, Hack hightails it to help. It's the end of his old life and the beginning of his new one.
This isn't just Hack's story. Burke uses his questing, honest hero not only to show Hack's personal journey to make his life meaningful. He also shows what it meant when the song would soon be "The Times They Are A'Changin' ". Whether it's non-white people trying to make the American dream come true, whites who brutally try to stop time's progress or an opportunistic politician and someone who scares even him, Hack crosses their paths.
Their combined stories provide a fascinating and important glimpse into what life was like for some people during the 60s. LAY DOWN MY SWORD AND SHIELD is a stirring remembrance of a time when people's actions made profound impacts. That Burke brought Hack back in RAIN GODS only makes the original story more powerful.
Those who have read RAIN GODS will want to see where Hack came from, while those who are introduced to him through this first novel will want to pick up the later book right away. Even though they are set decades apart, they are connected by a character who remained true to himself throughout the years. That's the kind of power James Lee Burke brings to his stories.
In 2009, Hack was seen again in Burke's brilliant RAIN GODS. Now, Hack's introduction, LAY DOWN MY SWORD AND SHIELD, has been reprinted.
Son of a congressman, Hack is on the verge of becoming one himself. All he has to do is live through endless cocktail parties, meetings with donors and pretending to be happily married to his ice queen wife. Anyone who survived being a Korean prisoner of war should be able to put up with a few wealthy Texas housewives and a senator, right? Instead, Hack is drinking himself into oblivion.
When an Army buddy calls from jail after being arrested walking a picket line with Mexican workers near the border, Hack hightails it to help. It's the end of his old life and the beginning of his new one.
This isn't just Hack's story. Burke uses his questing, honest hero not only to show Hack's personal journey to make his life meaningful. He also shows what it meant when the song would soon be "The Times They Are A'Changin' ". Whether it's non-white people trying to make the American dream come true, whites who brutally try to stop time's progress or an opportunistic politician and someone who scares even him, Hack crosses their paths.
Their combined stories provide a fascinating and important glimpse into what life was like for some people during the 60s. LAY DOWN MY SWORD AND SHIELD is a stirring remembrance of a time when people's actions made profound impacts. That Burke brought Hack back in RAIN GODS only makes the original story more powerful.
Those who have read RAIN GODS will want to see where Hack came from, while those who are introduced to him through this first novel will want to pick up the later book right away. Even though they are set decades apart, they are connected by a character who remained true to himself throughout the years. That's the kind of power James Lee Burke brings to his stories.
kaisu's review against another edition
4.0
der Auftakt einer Reihe sollte vor den Fortsetzungen erscheinen. Das hätte dem Buch gut getan...so kennt man quasi den Ausgang der Geschichte schon.
lexyt2's review
3.0
I'm giving it three stars because his writing is beautiful.
This is a hard book to explain. It's a story, yes, but it's not tight in the way we are used to stories being tight. It's more a character study and a vivid description of locations and interesting minor characters. You are wherever Hack is, and you see it clearly through his eyes. Not that it isn't interesting, but the plot wasn't what one expects in the way of plots.
It sort of rambles through some of the big events in Hack's life, showing us his background in the war quite vividly and his relationship to people in his life, but in the end, it doesn't really gel into something I could sink my teeth into. Then again, that's a little the way life is, one event after another, some bigger, some smaller, but all moving at a clip.
It is a book originally published in 1971. He uses language we don't use anymore and might even consider offensive, but those are the words they used in the early 70s. They were jarring through no fault of the author. Hack is not a racist and is in fact standing up for decent rights for farm workers, but he is still describing his world through the eyes of someone from that era. There was also a lot of "not trying to look at her breasts" kind of thing, which I almost feel was added just to have something there that involved sex. Very random.
I loved Burke's 'Wayfaring Stranger', and although the writing is just as beautiful, I didn't close the book and say 'wow'.
This is a hard book to explain. It's a story, yes, but it's not tight in the way we are used to stories being tight. It's more a character study and a vivid description of locations and interesting minor characters. You are wherever Hack is, and you see it clearly through his eyes. Not that it isn't interesting, but the plot wasn't what one expects in the way of plots.
It sort of rambles through some of the big events in Hack's life, showing us his background in the war quite vividly and his relationship to people in his life, but in the end, it doesn't really gel into something I could sink my teeth into. Then again, that's a little the way life is, one event after another, some bigger, some smaller, but all moving at a clip.
It is a book originally published in 1971. He uses language we don't use anymore and might even consider offensive, but those are the words they used in the early 70s. They were jarring through no fault of the author. Hack is not a racist and is in fact standing up for decent rights for farm workers, but he is still describing his world through the eyes of someone from that era. There was also a lot of "not trying to look at her breasts" kind of thing, which I almost feel was added just to have something there that involved sex. Very random.
I loved Burke's 'Wayfaring Stranger', and although the writing is just as beautiful, I didn't close the book and say 'wow'.
heyhawk's review
4.0
My third Burke novel, an earlier one.
Hackberry Holland, an alcoholic Korean War vet and candidate for office in Texas runs afoul of his family and of the establishment senator who is supporting him for office when he gets involved with a citrus picker's union strike.
Burke's prose does not follow Elmore Leonard's dictum to not "sound like writing" but he pulls it off. He has a real gift for description especially in regards to the places and landscapes through which his characters move.
Hackberry Holland, an alcoholic Korean War vet and candidate for office in Texas runs afoul of his family and of the establishment senator who is supporting him for office when he gets involved with a citrus picker's union strike.
Burke's prose does not follow Elmore Leonard's dictum to not "sound like writing" but he pulls it off. He has a real gift for description especially in regards to the places and landscapes through which his characters move.