Reviews for To the Bright and Shining Sun

The average rating for To the Bright and Shining Sun based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-08-11 00:00:00 Bastien Eric It is the early 1960's, and work is scarce in the Kentucky coal mines. Having gone on strike for something more than the pittance they are currently drawing, these miners are desperate men struggling to feed their families and they don't cotton to those who cross the picket lines. With the black coal dust etched into the lines of their faces, in the back of their throats, and slowly clogging their lungs, they are not about to let strike breakers take their jobs. Perry James is 17, already a two-year veteran in the mines, and all he wants is to get out. Nefarious dealings with the J.W.s may preclude his realization of that dream. Perry has run afoul of the J.W. brothers, known as Big and Little. Big is tall with long yellow teeth and a quick temper; Little is short, pot-bellied, and pure D mean stupid. You can't play fair and expect to win with these two. Read of taking up snakes to prove devotion, moonshine, bootlegging, and explosives. Paw-Paw trees, raggedy overalls, dresses made of feed sacks, jenny-barns, a "barmaid with a face that looked as hard as plaster of Paris." Mothers who are used up and bone weary, resigned to their hard lives with no light at the end of the tunnel. Depressing and excellent.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-11-06 00:00:00 Marlene Mclain This would have been a 3.5 rating but for the ending, which was absolutely perfect and completely unexpected. This was written in 1970 and was JLB's second novel. The setting is not his usual Louisiana, Texas, or Montana placement, but the coal mines and depressed areas of Kentucky. In checking out a bio of Burke, I found that he had spent time working for Job Corps in Kentucky, so that was obviously an influence on this book, as the young hero was offered a way out via that possibility, but couldn't take full advantage of it due to the death of his father. I really appreciated the fact that Burke did not introduce a love element in this novel, but instead showed us the bleakness of lives controlled by the mining company and the Mine Worker's Union. Both sides only took advantage of men who simply wanted a job to enable them to take care of their families. Burke is also great when it comes to describing the beauty of the landscape, once you look beyond the damage done by the mining operations. This was a beautiful book in many ways, most particularly in letting us see inside the souls of men beaten down on all sides by their society, yet never giving up. Definitely recommended to all James Lee Burke fans, but don't expect a mystery. What we have here is just a damn good story.