Rating: 
Summary: Civil War Stunner
Review: "White Doves at Morning" ia stunning, hypnotic departure from James Lee Burke's detective series. The characterization is vivid and the decaying upper crust of New Iberia, Louisiana society is depicted in unrestrained passages which will captivate the reader. The main protagonist, Willie Burke is born of impoverished Irish stock, yet enlists in the Confederate to uphold states rights issues, not disguising his unrequited passion for a confirmed abolitionist woman. Flower Jamison is the illegitimate daughter of Ira Jamison, a sadistic businessman, whose gentile demeanor conceals a soul besotten with carnality and an insatiable desire to exploit the unfortunate. Through Willie, Flower becomes literate and allies with Abigail Dowling, whose fiery abolitionism causes her to be a focal point in the Underground Railroad. Against the tragic backdrop of the Civil War, these characters live are inexorably entwined and their individual ordeals are harrowing and their survival miraculous. Mr Burke presents to the reader a deliberate polarization of good and evil and his characters are illustrative of the dividing line between humanity and depravity. "White Doves at Morning " will convey to the reader how an individual emancipation can take place within the soul of each person involved and how present choices will inevitably have repercussions in future courses of action. Mr Burke's prose is lyrical and devoid of any superficial, sugar-coated phrases which would demean this striking epic. "White Doves at Morning" is immensely perceptive in that it offers the reader a panoramic scope of the Civil War and does not apologize for its commentaries on the unpredictability of human nature.
Rating:
Summary: "What a treat!"
Review: "White Doves at Morning," by James Lee Burke, was such a treat to read. I truly enjoyed this book from the first page to the last. The characters are wonderful, the dialogue amazing, and the plot leaves the reader longing for more.John Savoy
Savoy International
Motion Pictures Inc.
Rating: 
Summary: Louisiana and Confederacy
Review: Although at times the characters seem stilted on further reading
find entire scenario of interest.
Rating: 
Summary: 3 1/2 Stars -- Good Book But Nothing Special!
Review: I have several James Lee Burke books in my home library but White Doves at Morning was the first that I've read. Burke succeeds strongly in creating the atmosphere of the South prior to, during and after the Civil War, as well as in developing rich, multi-dimensional characters. Where the book let me down somewhat, however, was in the area of plot development. While the plot starts off interesting and holds your attention, it drags on for much too long a time. The paperback edition I read at 434 pages would have been much more exciting for me if it was 50-100 pages shorter. Nevertheless, White Doves at Morning is a good book that I think you'll like if you enjoy historical fiction about this period. Burke is a very good writer and I now plan to read his other books that I have. I just wish that this book would have a provided a more enthralling story line.
Rating:
Summary: Burke is a Master...But Here He Tries too Hard
Review: I love the manner in which Burke turns a phrase, paints a picture, creates a mood. He's a master of language, one of my favorite authors. When I saw this newest outing, a departure from his other series, I was thrilled. Early on, I wrapped myself in Burke's beautiful sentences, allowing myself to slip into the easygoing rhythm of his words. I noticed immediately the familial connections to his other works, names that echo from the Robicheaux books all the way back to the Civil War. I kept reading, waiting for these characters to draw me in. They were evocative, yes, but I didn't find myself breathlessly waiting to see what befell them. For me, this book was a disappointment. This is the first time that I've felt I was reading about the same male characters in every Burke novel, just different names and costumes. It was the first time I found myself skimming over many of his lengthy descriptions. The one shining note was his brave and nuanced depiction of female characters. This alone redeemed the book. I believe he wrote this with the same passion he always does, I simply felt that the editors gave him free reign and allowed him to fall in love with his own writing. Burke expects us to dig deep--for that I admire and respect him. In "White Doves at Morning" he forgets that we can fill in some of the gaps ourselves--for that I feel jilted. The fantastic writer that Burke is, I'm sure he'll serve up more great literature. Here, I think he was consciously trying to do what he usually does so naturally.
Rating:
Summary: farfetched in spots
Review: I think the part of the book that makes the least sense is that Flower Jamison's father would ever acknowledge her as his daughter. In that time period white plantation owners just didn't do that. That she was able to become free and read and write without more problems from the people in the area is hard to accept as well. The depiction of the Civil War I think was accurate, it wasn't portrayed as at all glamorous. Some parts of it were good.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but overbaked
Review: I've enjoyed many of James Lee Burke's Robicheaux novels (and intend to enjoy more of them) so I jumped into the Civil War-era novel "White Doves" eagerly, but was ultimately disappointed. Burke seems to have lost the tight control of his best work; this book feels overwritten and underplotted, dealing with a small group of angst-ridden characters acting out dramas of oppression and revenge against the backdrop of the war and its aftermath. The pot boils, and boils, and boils some more, but as the pages turned I found myself thinking "Just get on with it and stop the DRAMA, please!" There are quite a few good moments, but this isn't prime stuff. Maybe the historical genre just isn't Burke's forte.
Rating:
Summary: No Heroes
Review: In a departure from Burke's spellbinding Dave Robicheaux mysteries, James Lee Burke aims his lyrical prose at historical fiction, taking on the American Civil War. Leaning on family ties - reluctant Confederate soldier Willie Burke is the author's ancestor - Burke's antebellum south is a dark and somber place, ripe with suffering, death, and inequity. At its best, it is a compelling portrait of the horrors of our Civil War, capturing in vivid and brutal detail the battles of Shiloh and Shenandoah Valley. Some will recall Stephen Crane's "Red Badge of Courage", as young Willie Burke wanders dazed behind enemy lines in search of his unit. In the carnage of the battlefield, the suffering among the filth, disease, and severed limbs of field hospital charnel houses, the reader will ask, "did we really do this to our own countrymen?" At its worst, "White Doves at Morning" slips into preachy stereotype: the corrupt plantation owner, the noble slave, the evil overseer. But through it all, Burke tells the story with his own brand of passionate prose, stating his views with power and clarity, while limiting his palette only to shades of gray and black. Notwithstanding, Burke's characters as always are strongly developed, flawed and vulnerable, and ultimately believable. "White Doves" delivers precious little "feel good" closure and little in the way of redemption, instead shining an all-too bright light on a period of American history most of us would just as soon pretend never happened. While not a perfect effort, "White Doves" is a powerful novel, demonstrating Burke's versatility and adding further proof that he is perhaps the most talented living American writer of fiction.
Rating:
Summary: No Heroes
Review: In a departure from Burke's spellbinding Dave Robicheaux mysteries, James Lee Burke aims his lyrical prose at historical fiction, taking on the American Civil War. Leaning on family ties - reluctant Confederate soldier Willie Burke is the author's ancestor - Burke's antebellum south is a dark and somber place, ripe with suffering, death, and inequity. At its best, it is a compelling portrait of the horrors of our Civil War, capturing in vivid and brutal detail the battles of Shiloh and Shenandoah Valley. Some will recall Stephen Crane's "Red Badge of Courage", as young Willie Burke wanders dazed behind enemy lines in search of his unit. In the carnage of the battlefield, the suffering among the filth, disease, and severed limbs of field hospital charnel houses, the reader will ask, "did we really do this to our own countrymen?" At its worst, "White Doves at Morning" slips into preachy stereotype: the corrupt plantation owner, the noble slave, the evil overseer. But through it all, Burke tells the story with his own brand of passionate prose, stating his views with power and clarity, while limiting his palette only to shades of gray and black. Notwithstanding, Burke's characters as always are strongly developed, flawed and vulnerable, and ultimately believable. "White Doves" delivers precious little "feel good" closure and little in the way of redemption, instead shining an all-too bright light on a period of American history most of us would just as soon pretend never happened. While not a perfect effort, "White Doves" is a powerful novel, demonstrating Burke's versatility and adding further proof that he is perhaps the most talented living American writer of fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling
Review: James Lee Burke's "White Doves at Morning" is richly written, peopled with well-drawn characters and beautifully atmospheric. It is an historical novel set in the Louisiana bayou country during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Fictional characters mingle with true-life figures---abolitionists, slaves, overseers, white trash, secessionists, madams and war profiteers. And. we see the origin of Angola Prison. The dialogue is magnificent, the moods created extraordinary and the pace is rhythmic. I found it compelling reading that engaged me from start to finish. The white trash villains are particularly despicable. The central protagonists, while flawed, are easy to cheer for. JLB maintains his high standards.
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