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: An engaging read
Review: John Biguenet hooked me and carried me into the salt marshes and small towns of Southern Louisiana in 1957. I felt the humidity, smelled the salt marsh, tasted the jumbalaya, heard the clattering of winches and felt the nets on my hands. The characters are memorable, the story engaging and the twists and turns of the plot kept me hooked until the very end. This page turning yarn explores issues such as justice or revenge, the impact of "economic development" on traditional lifestyles, and how actions - - sometimes from decades earlier - - can rear their heads and bite us, all without any preachiness. This is a strong novel and leaves me eager for number two.
Rating:
Summary: A very well written trip to the bayou
Review: John Biguenet's Oyster is a deeply dark and interesting novel that tells the tale of two familes immersed in a deadly rivalry in the late 1950s. The characters are well developed and the plot is engaging to the reader. Biguenet reminds one of Faulkner and I would highly recommend this novel which is hard to put down. I was sorry when I finished it.
Rating:
Summary: Some things are done well.
Review: Oyster is a tale of 2 families set in the backwaters of Louisiana. One family is rapacious, crude and successful, the other is decent but failing. Oh, the decent family has a murderous daughter, who is otherwise very appealing. The book is crafted at the level of a fairly well written crime novel. Biguenet is good with the fishing life, bayou version, and his scenic passages are very well done.
Rating:
Summary: Some things are done well.
Review: Oyster is a tale of 2 families set in the backwaters of Louisiana. One family is rapacious, crude and successful, the other is decent but failing. Oh, the decent family has a murderous daughter, who is otherwise very appealing. The book is crafted at the level of a fairly well written crime novel. Biguenet is good with the fishing life, bayou version, and his scenic passages are very well done.
Rating:
Summary: (3.5) Fear and loathing in the bayou...
Review: Oyster is set in the heart of the Louisiana bayou, a tale replete with strange characters, infidelity, greed and murder. It is a world filled with violence as ominous and sudden as the bite of a crocodile. The Petitjean's own the richest oyster beds in the parish, but they are heavily in debt to their rivals, the Bruneau's. "Horse" Bruneau and his three sons are ready to take over all the beds still producing in spite of the ongoing damage from the oil companies that are slowly polluting the waters. Planning to join the holdings of both families through a marriage of convenience, Horse Bruneau pursues Therese Petitjean. But Therese is not about to be tendered as a piece of merchandise, although she does realize that the union would benefit her family financially. Family loyalty is paramount in both clans, and blood defines every action. Suddenly, violence erupts, two are dead and there are questions that cannot easily be answered. Local citizens are curious about the crimes, but never surprised by bizarre circumstances. Sheriff Christovitch, a man who is familiar with the histories of all the suspects and has a past of his own, attempts to ascertain exactly the who, how and why of the murders. As twisted and mysterious as the murky bayou, the novel takes one unexpected turn after another. Some of the more colorful characters, including Horse and Horse, Junior, have natures as bent and narrow as the gnarled roots of the ancient trees that extend deep below the waterline. A challenge to man's true nature, there is no pity, or easy answer when life and death are at stake. Two wrongs never make a right. Or do they? Luan Gaines/2003.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: This book was great. From the second I pciked it up I couldn't put it down. Super story-telling and geat characters.
Rating: 
Summary: Insipid story, leaden prose
Review: This novel never went anywhere. It is hard to understand how such a weak story, poorly written, populated by so many one-dimensional characters, could find its way into print. Biguenet is a pretentious writer, with little to say, who offers up caricatures better found in made-for-TV movies. His dialogue is embarrassing; his attempts at "regional flavor" an affront; his plot utterly devoid of originality. There is a ton of Deep South fiction to savor -- Welty, Percy, Faulkner -- before turning to the likes of Oyster. I regret that I bought this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Story Told Well
Review: This review is for the first Ecco Paperback edition published in 2003, 291 pages. Ecco Press is an imprint of HarperCollins.
OYSTER by John Biguenet is the story of two rival families, the Bruneau's and the Petitjean's, who have the largest oyster leases in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. Fifty-two year old Darryl Bruneau holds loans on Felix Petitjean's home and boat. Felix is on the verge of default. To avoid losing everything, Felix agrees to give Darryl his eighteen-year old daughter, Therese.
Oops, Therese has other ideas. She tells Darryl, "I don't get bought for the price on no damn boat." In one of the most engaging first chapters I've ever read, Therese irrevocably upsets her daddy's plans. Go to the bookstore and read the first seven pages of OYSTER by John Biguenet; I'll wager that you buy the book.
With masterful dialogue and just enough sensory detail, John Biguenet captures the sounds and feel of the oysterman's plight in the fall of 1957. There are some rough passages, like Mrs. Petitjean's confession to Therese, and occasionally Biguenet goes head hopping with omniscient POV, but he never forgets that it's all about story. This is a good story told well.
Rating:
Summary: SUPERB
Review: this was one of those that i seen on the shelf in the bookstore that buy me and read. I sure was glad i did this was a excellent book and would recommened it to everyone
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