The Convict: And Other Stories Book

This book benefited from the concurrent reading of two other short story collections which proved far inferior to this one. Nameless the other two shall remain. This might have been a four star book except that the power and quality of the stories varied greatly -- a four star book would have been powerful cover to cover.

Here's my scoring:
Uncle Sidney and the Mexicans - 2/5
Losses - 1/5
The Pilot - 2/5
Taking A Second Look - 2/5
Hack - 3/5
We Build Churches Inc - 4/5
When Its Decoration Day - 4/5
Lower Me Down With A Golden Chain - 3/5
The Convict - 3/5

Most of the stories seemed flawed by reliance on stereotypes. The exceptions, for me, were "We Build Churches Inc" and "When Its Decoration Day" which seemed far more human and believable. "Lower Me Down With A Golden Chain" seemed accurate for the '70s, but the characters seemed caricatures of themselves. Perhaps I had read "The Convict" before because nothing in the story surprised me, which disappointed me. "Uncle Sidney" had no real ending; "Losses" made no sense; "The Pilot" was implausible; "Hack" was better than the score I gave it, but was cheapened by the stereotyping.

Forgive me if you think I'm harsh; you should see the savaging I gave to the other two collections. Burke is a gifted writer who needs to dive below the superficial and stop depending on stereotypes to convey an impression to the reader -- let the reader discover for themselves with dialogue, with action, with description. Stereotype change over time, but that which defines the character does not. That is the difference between pulp fiction and literature.