|
First, he hates women. He seems to kill one or two every novel just to do it. Dave goes through wives faster than Rush Limbaugh.
Second, he is the worst, maybe second worst, sex scene writer I've ever read. Dude has marlins cresting waves and sunlight gleaming through streams and I don't know what else. He has some of the most descriptive metaphors for everything, but when it comes to sex, they are just goofy.
Third, don't ask Dave about the time he caught his mother with another man. Just don't. Blech.
Fourth, if you listen to the audiobooks, neither Mark Hammer--the original reader--nor Will Patton--the current reader--can pronounce a single place name from Pascagoula to New Iberia properly. Calliope, Biloxi, Prejean... Okay, that's not Burke's fault. But still. And Will Patton does the worst Clete Purcell voice I can imagine. I don't know where he came up with that voice, but it's not New Orleans, it's not Irish Channel, and it's not southern. It sounds like a Chicagoan hyped on crack, maybe. Other than that, both were great readers.
Fifth, some of his earliest books, in the 80s and early 90s, tend to be a bit racially dated. Burke seems to get better in that regard later on, but he still has very few educated African Americans.
Great, great books, though. Some of the middle ones get mechanical, but if you bear with them to the latest books, they get breathtaking, even if he treats objects like women, man.
Just in case anyone cares about my opinion. :)
|