Rating: 
Summary: A rising star in southern american fiction
Review: 'Oyster' is a great book on every level. For simple reading it's a gritty story of murder, revenge and steamy passion. It centers on a feud between the two leading families of the Plaquemines Parish, LA, oyster industry. Felix Petitjean and family represent the long established leading family of the parish while Darryl 'Horse' Bruneau and his three sons are the brash, heavy-fisted newcomers who have carved a niche for themselves by buying up the leases of destitute competitors. Horse ("This child wants to know why I'm called The Horse. Think she's old enough to see?") dies early in the story but his personality is so forceful that his spirit is felt long after his body sinks into the bayou. Even dead he manipulates the actions of the story's characters, for good or (more likely) ill. At first I was concerned that Biguenet was steering his readers toward a Cajun 'Romeo and Juliet' but he avoided falling into that trap. That would not have worked at all in this rough-and-tumble setting. In its place, the author offered a much more compelling plot, deftly enhanced by intricately woven interrelationships of love and hatred. But Biguenet, an English professor at Loyola, didn't settle for just a simple read. Some have compared John Biguenet to William Faulkner but I don't see it. James Dickey maybe, but I never found Faulkner to be this entertaining. Nevertheless, social allegory lurks just below the surface of Bayou Petitjean, as omnipresent as the gators. Therese Petitjean is stirring up existence in Egret Pass as certainly and inexorably as the channels cut by the oil companies are changing the sedentary life of the oysters. It soon becomes very apparent that "It ain't like the old days, Darryl." This is a must read. Rustle up some shrimp etouffee, put on the Beausoleil and make yourself very comfortable. You won't want to put this down for a long time.
Rating: 
Summary: Downhill all the way
Review: *Oyster* by John Biguenet begins so beautifully that it's a pity how far it bogs down as the story winds on. Initially, a wonderful, exotic ambience and a shocking deed capture the reader -- but once's s/he's captured, the reader is tortured with prose that grows ever more labored and didactic. Explaining the technical aspects of fishing-boat engines in the context of crime doesn't make them more interesting. And, having one character tell another how oystermen find their beds by checking trees on the bank doesn't make that exciting, either. These kinds of details can be lively and add to a book's power, but they have to be handled wisely.
At the end, the author's need to tie up all loose ends results in nearly a grade-schooler's obviousness and dull simplicity. What a pity! Perhaps this is the result of a first attempt to move from short stories into full-novel format. Biguenet has a gift, and it shows up early in this book, but it's betrayed by the rest. I wanted to continue to feel that bayou water on my skin as I read, but instead I felt a kind of irritation of the brain.
Rating: 
Summary: Southern Comfort
Review: A enjoyable read that catches the tempo of the Louisana Coast. I read this book without ever wondering if I wanted to put it down. If you like a good story with a lot of local flavor, than this is the book for you. Don't listen to the reviewer in the New York Times he wouldn't know the South from the South Bronx.
Rating:
Summary: Swamp Sister
Review: All these comparisons to Faulkner, Chekov, etc. ... instead I found myself thinking of the Noir, pulp novels, such as the Grifters by Jim Thompson and Swamp Sister by Robert Edmond Alter. Oyster is more literate than the latter but Oyster is peopled by amoral characters (albeit Catholic ones)in a swampy, bayou setting.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: First of all the setting takes you away from the hustle and bustle of modern day life. This story takes place in the bayous and swamps of Louisiana in the late 1950's - a time when Oyster farmers were threatened by the polution of modern industry. I happen to come from Louisiana and can say that the author captured this very well. Second, Biguenet's style is lively and rhythmic. He rarely takes refuge in boring verbs like "to be" or "to have", instead using more descriptive verbs to carry his sentences. Biguenet develops the characters like an expert psychologist, making the reader feel the struggles with guilt and family loyalties. The story unfolds very naturally and as it goes on you see how some of the characters dig themselves deeper and deeper into a hole. It's hard to put the book down once you start reading. I have also read another work by this author, "The Torturer's Apprentice", and I note that he picks interesting settings and really gets into the details of those settings. He also does a nice job of portraying the way people deal with guilt.
Rating: 
Summary: Faulker?? Not quite
Review: How anyone who has read Faulkner can compare this book to his works is beyond comprehension to me. This book was average at best--certainly nothing approaching a classic. The protagonist is a cold-blooded murderer--yet this fact doesn't seem to bother anyone--least of all the author. The worst part of this novel was the amateurish gimmick of having Therese's mother tell her whole life story to her daughter over hot chocolate one night. Much easier than trying to weave those facts into an actual plot I guess. This book was a waste of my time.
Rating:
Summary: A page-turner
Review: I don't often find a book I am reluctant to put down, but this one kept me going, even with the predictability of plot. The characters are realistic and believable. One sympathizes with them, in spite of their faults and cruelty. I was disappointed in Mathilde's overly long confession to her daughter of a youthful love affair. Why was she compelled to tell all on the night of her son's funeral when she had kept it a secret for two decades? The dialogue was true, catching the cadence and syntax of the Cajuns. Setting was done extremely well, and not overdone. Imagery borders on the poetic. Biguenet is a good writer, and we expect him to get better as time goes on.
Rating:
Summary: A page-turner
Review: I don't often find a book I am reluctant to put down, but this one kept me going, even with the predictability of plot. The characters are realistic and believable. One sympathizes with them, in spite of their faults and cruelty. I was disappointed in Mathilde's overly long confession to her daughter of a youthful love affair. Why was she compelled to tell all on the night of her son's funeral when she had kept it a secret for two decades? The dialogue was true, catching the cadence and syntax of the Cajuns. Setting was done extremely well, and not overdone. Imagery borders on the poetic. Biguenet is a good writer, and we expect him to get better as time goes on.
Rating:
Summary: WELL-WRITTEN, BUT...
Review: I would really prefer to give this book 3½ stars - it's not as bad as the 3 star rating would indicate. Biguenet is a fine writer - his short story collection, THE TORTURER'S APPRENTICE, which was published in 2001, simply blew me away. I was anticipating reading OYSTER immensely on the strength of that earlier work. The novel, however, reads like the author has turned himself down a notch. The characters are well-developed, and the story is an interesting one - and the setting, costal Louisiana in the late 1950s, is vividly depicted. I guess it's just that he seemed to be taking more risks with his shorter fiction, and not just for the sake of appearing to be 'innovative' - there was an educated, controlled abandon about those stories that was actually rather thrilling to experience as a reader. By comparison, the novel hit me more like a made-for-TV movie - albeit a well-made one. Too much of it was predictable - the characters' personalities and the conflicts they engendered, as well as several of the plot turns, could be seen coming 'with the headlights on'. I'm sure that the author will continue to work - he's got an amazing talent, just read the short story collection if you haven't, it's breathtaking. I'm hoping that this novel turns out to be a stepping-stone to something greater - I know he has it in him.
Rating:
Summary: WELL-WRITTEN, BUT...
Review: I would really prefer to give this book 3½ stars - it's not as bad as the 3 star rating would indicate. Biguenet is a fine writer - his short story collection, THE TORTURER'S APPRENTICE, which was published in 2001, simply blew me away. I was anticipating reading OYSTER immensely on the strength of that earlier work. The novel, however, reads like the author has turned himself down a notch. The characters are well-developed, and the story is an interesting one - and the setting, costal Louisiana in the late 1950s, is vividly depicted. I guess it's just that he seemed to be taking more risks with his shorter fiction, and not just for the sake of appearing to be `innovative' - there was an educated, controlled abandon about those stories that was actually rather thrilling to experience as a reader. By comparison, the novel hit me more like a made-for-TV movie - albeit a well-made one. Too much of it was predictable - the characters' personalities and the conflicts they engendered, as well as several of the plot turns, could be seen coming `with the headlights on'. I'm sure that the author will continue to work - he's got an amazing talent, just read the short story collection if you haven't, it's breathtaking. I'm hoping that this novel turns out to be a stepping-stone to something greater - I know he has it in him.
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