Tin Roof Blowdown

[tonyd]

A couple of comments on Tin Roof:

I think the biggest compliment I can say about how you treated the aftermath of Katrina is that it wasn't sadness I felt (like I did when I watched on the news)...no, I felt desperation, as if I was down there with your characters struggling to find my way. Those pages following the hurricane were truly some of the most powerful words I've ever read.

Also, I always like Clete, but in this novel I feel as if we have seen another side of him in his heartbreak at seeing what's become of his city. We've always known of Clete's "soft side" (yeah, I know that sounds silly) , but it was really exposed with the destruction of New Orleans.

I really like the depiction of Alafair. She has become a strong, admirable woman.

I think you handled the many shifts of POV in this novel masterfully. No easy task.

Thanks, Mr. Burke. I can hardly wait to see what you have in store for us next year.

Tony

[jamesleeburke]

Thanks, noble mon.

Best,

Jim

[tonyd]

I can't believe I forgot to list this:

Bertran Melancon was one the most empathetic characters you've created IMO. Fantastic study of his inner struggle.

Tony

[jamesleeburke]

Thanks, Tony.

Best,

Jim

[Robley Bishop]

Mr Burke, I always wait for your books to come out on audio format.....so I can live the story with you. This week, I spent 3 glorious days with Dave and Company. Im now just a housewife from St Louis. But thanks to you, I can escape( in grand style) to my beloved Lousiana .

TRB is acually 2 excellent books , in my opinion.

While I loved the story and the intricate charectors... I really am impressed with the lessons taught, the philosophy. The thoughts you produce are remarkable to me!

You used a quote from Confederate that I share with so many people : " ...The field is never quite ours". "Vulnerablity is the power we give to others. " I acually had to pause the disc often, just to scribble down your quotations. Ahhhhh...the words are bliss to me!

Well, Mr Burke , I send you and yours lasting peace, and my gratitude to you for being a teacher as well as the supreme writer. Nobody writes a sentence with blazing color, like you. You have given me such wonderful moments !!

Robbie

[jamesleeburke]

Thanks for your fine letter. General Hood, as he appears in "Electric Mist," is one of my favorite characters. I hope you enjoy some of the other books as well.

All the best,

Jim

[Jude Hardin]

Hi Mr. Burke. I only recently discovered your work. I'm reading The Tin Roof Blowdown and In the Moon of Red Ponies concurrently, and they're both blowing me away. What an extraordinary talent you are! I plan to get your entire backlist now, and I'm looking forward to new titles in the future.

[jamesleeburke]

Thanks, Jude, for your good e-mail. Are you any relation to John Wesley?

Keep the faith.

Best,

Jim

[Jude Hardin]

LOL! No relation that I know of, Jim. I'm just kind of happy my last name isn't LeBlanc.

[Wendy]

I seized and devoured the book the instant it arrived in the stores. And almost immediately I had the opportunity to come to Louisiana to work on hurricane evacuation planning for New Orleans. This morning, the Baton Rouge Advocate's headline read: "State 'lucked out': Hurricane season ends today." This means not only that complacency deepens, but that I have to go home.

I am heartbroken. I am head-over-heels in love with Louisiana. After four months of graciousness, lovely weather, and consistently good coffee, I have to pay my respects to Roscoe (now Mike the Tiger) and get on a plane to Washington DC, with a striped yellow tail hanging from the handle of my laptop case.

Weeks after I arrived, the lights in the water came to me again. And I suddenly recalled that the Society of Friends holds that there is an "in-dwelling Light" in every person. What a galaxy of lights shone in the water in those days, and how shameful was their extinction.

Mr. Burke's books started my love affair with Louisiana, and now I'm ready for a permanent relationship. I have my eye on a shotgun in Spanish Town...

Thank you.

Wendy