HALF OF PARADISE by James Lee Burke

Finished Tu 10/29/19

This is one of Burke's 'stand alone' novels and is not tied to one of his series. I received this from Amazon on Fr 9/13/19.

I'm surprised he called this book 'Half Of Paradise' since it really should be 'A THIRD OF PARADISE' because it deals with three principal characters.

1) Avery Broussard- He is from a family that used to own a big cotton farm, but now it's only fifty or so acres. Avery works on the oil rigs off the Louisiana/ Texas coasts. He comes back to help his father work the farm. His father dies and he gets involved with smuggling booze. He gets caught while trying to load booze on a boat. The DEA is waiting. When he gets out, he reacquaints with his teenage girlfriend, Suzanne. They have a tender love affair until Avery gets a DUI while on parole and ends up to finish his sentence. Suzanne's last name is ' Robicheaux'.

2) J. P. Winfield- He is a musician that finds a promoter and ends up a fairly popular country-western singer. He gets hooked on drugs and becomes an alcoholic. He gets a backup singer, April, pregnant and marries her. He continues to visit prostitutes, drink heavily, and ends up dying of a heart attack. His promoter books him on a tour to promote a segregationist politicians. 


3) Toussaint Boudreaux- He is a black longshoreman that is trying to make his way as a professional fighter. During a fight he breaks his had and can no longer do his day job or fight. He ends up driving a truck and is set up. They send him out with a load of stolen furs. They want the police to be tied up with his arrest while they can get through with the more expensive stolen items. He ends up in one of the large prison work farms (Angola) and is shot to death while trying to escape.


From the book's page at Amazon:

"Toussaint Boudreaux, a black docker in New Orleans, puts up with his co-workers' racism because he has to, and moonlights as a prize-fighter in the hope of a better life-but the only break he gets lands him in penal servitude. J.P. Winfield, a hick with a gift for twelve-string guitar, finds his break into show-biz leads to the flipside of the American dream. Avery Broussard, descendant of an aristocratic French family, runs whiskey when what remains of his land is repossessed...

The interlocking stories of these three men are an elegy to the realities of life in 1950s Louisiana, their destinies fixed by the circumstances of their birth and time. Yet each carries the hope of redemption..."

I thought the book was very well written and although the story skips between the three  men it's easy to follow and very interesting and compelling.

It's very grim and none of the men end up in a happy place. Two die tragically and one returns to prison.