Taps: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Lacks a strong narrative drive
Review: Gifted, with a clear distinct voice, Willie Morris' TAPS while insightful to a time past, yet lacks a strong narrative drive. With all the well-drawn characters, Morris sets up the reader in a way that suggests something is going to happen. It doesn't. I would recommend the book, but don't expect to be riveted, rather rocked by the wonderful prose.

Rating:
Summary: A lovely end to a remarkable career
Review: I had tears in my eyes as I finished this book, knowing that it would be the last love letter from the South from Willie Morris. The sheer beauty of his voice comes through in every line of TAPS, and in every character. This was an author who loved his home and the people around him. I'm so glad that JoAnne Morris was able to bring this final work to Willie's millions of fans and I commend her strength of spirit as well as his. God bless Willie Morris--he will be missed.

Rating:
Summary: Obviously not all written by Morris
Review: it is wonderful regardless. It is very obvious that the author himself did not get a chance to do the necessary editing as some parts of it (albeit a small number and mostly in the beginning) are SO BAD I almost never got engaged.
So, buy it, read it, you will enjoy it. When you come to a passage that is awful, overwritten, out-of-context with the beautiful, straightforward language that comprises most of the book, just skip down a bit! You don't pay by the word, but by the overall product, which is a wonderful tale of the people of a small southern town dealing with life during the Vietnam War.
I've got to remove 1 star and only give it a 4, as the characters are a bit stereotypical: the evil town rich guy, the nice rich girl who feels such empathy for the poor blacks of the town. This book is wonderful comfort-reading, but not going to challenge the reader.

Rating:
Summary: Okay, but not great
Review: Morris captured the "Big Picture" of how the Korean War affected a small town in Mississippi well, but his writing style was very inconsistent. The story is good and the narrator, Swayze is compelling, but I didn't find it worthy of more than three stars.

Rating:
Summary: Okay, but not great
Review: Morris captured the "Big Picture" of how the Korean War affected a small town in Mississippi well, but his writing style was very inconsistent. The story is good and the narrator, Swayze is compelling, but I didn't find it worthy of more than three stars.

Rating:
Summary: Best of 2001
Review: Simply the best book I read in 2001. Completely satisfied my hunger for a great read -- now hungry for more, of course -- the same feeling I had after reading some of my other favorites: Flamingo Rising, by Larry Baker; Tomcat in Love, by Tim O'Brien; Wildlife, by Richard Ford; Straight Man, by Richard Russo and, of course, anything by Pat Conroy. Morris' last book is the first of his I've read. I'll work my backward through his library now.

Rating:
Summary: If you enjoyed reading My Dog Skip, you will love Taps.
Review: Taps is a beautifully written novel by a connisseur of letters. The word imagery is wonderful. It is exhilarating, it is sad, it is poignant. You will never hear Taps again without thinking of Swayze, Luke, Amanda, Georgia and the dog Dusty. It is even better than John Grisham's A Painted House.

Rating:
Summary: Taps by Willie Morris
Review: Taps is a wonderful book. After reading just a little I
wished that the book was much, much longer. I grew up during
this period and believe it to be true to my experience.
This is the first book I have read by this author. Based on
this book I plan to read all he has written. Very sorry that
mr Morris died so (relatively) young.
I read 20-25 books a year. This is easily the best in quite a
few years.

Rating:
Summary: Taps by Willie Morris
Review: Taps is a wonderful book. After reading just a little I
wished that the book was much, much longer. I grew up during
this period and believe it to be true to my experience.
This is the first book I have read by this author. Based on
this book I plan to read all he has written. Very sorry that
mr Morris died so (relatively) young.
I read 20-25 books a year. This is easily the best in quite a
few years.

Rating:
Summary: TAPS by Willie Morris
Review: TAPS is more than a title, it is the background of a bygone era. It is the very footsteps of youth frozen in time and memory. The setting of Fisk's Landng, Mississippi is the stage on which Swayze Barksdale and his friends learn about life, its hardships, pleasures, and sometimes about tough decisions on day to day priorities. When Swayze and his friend Arch are drafted by the hardware store owner and World War II veteran, Luke Cartwright, to play Taps at a military funeral because as members of the high school band they are the only trumpet players in town, it marks the beginning of the return of casualties from the Korean conflict. Swayze and Arch play Taps and 'echo' at the many funerals which come to punctuate the days and experiences of their young lives. The town's bullies led by Durley Godbold, scion of the wealthiest family in town, make life miserable for Swayze and his friends until Durley leaves for service. He proves opposities attract by marrying his girlfriend Amanda before he leaves. She is as beautiful and well liked as Durley is arrogant and mean. When Durley is reported missing in action, it is bad news to no one but his parents. Soon after that, Swayze and his girlfiend, Georgia, discover that Luke and Amanda have become lovers. They keep their secret, enjoying their friends' comraderie in spite of the age difference, right up to Luke's shocking murder. Swayze's mother teaches tap dancing to the town's more affluent children and he welcomes every chance he has to escape his mother's constant surveillance and the irritiating sound of the tap dancing. The characters and scenes are so skillfully done you can almost hear their voices and picture the school, the teacher, and the old hearse at the funeral home. The developing affection between Swayze and Georgia, between Luke and Amanda, and the intrigues and shocks of life and sudden death in Fisk's Landing are drawn against a rural background which quickly becomes familiar in the first few pages. The playing of Taps captures the reader's imagination and winds its way using the characters' experiences and emotions along a pathway strewn with the reader's own milestones and memories, to touch the heart. Willie Morris died at the age of sixty-six in August of 1999 and TAPS is a fitting memorial of the pleasure he bequeathered his readers.
Submitted by: Jackie Griffey, columnist for The North Shelby Times, Memphis, Tennessee.