![Cover image for Jealous Kind, The [electronic resource] : A Novel](https://images.yourcloudlibrary.com/delivery/img?type=DOCUMENTIMAGE&documentID=kv1kgg9&token=nobody "Cover image for Jealous Kind, The [electronic resource] : A Novel")
Summary
Summary
New York Times bestselling author and "the reigning champ of nostalgia noir" ( The New York Times Book Review ) James Lee Burke returns with a powerful novel in the Holland Family series, an atmospheric coming-of-age story set in 1950s Texas, as the specter of the Korean War looms.
On its surface, life in 1950s Houston is as you'd expect; stoic fathers, restless teens, drive-in movies, and souped-up Cadillacs. But underneath that surface lies a world shifting under high school junior Aaron Holland Broussard's feet. The underlying class war between the haves and have nots is growing steadily, along with the menace of conflict overseas in Korea, providing a harrowing backdrop to his growth to manhood. But when Aaron spots the beautiful Valerie Epstein at a drive-in, he steps in when he sees her fighting with her boyfriend, Grady Harrelson. Aaron's newfound confidence helps catch Valerie's eye, and the two begin dating. Grady is a live wire though, and presents a looming problem for Aaron.
You will recall the feelings and inspirational power of your first love, and empathize with Aaron's extraordinary challenges to protect himself and the ones he loves in "this dark, atmospheric story" ( Publishers Weekly ). The Jealous Kind illustrates how first loves, friendship, violence, and power can alter what traditional America means for the people trying to find their way in a changing world.
Reviews (1)
New York Review of Books Review
Strife between fathers and sons propels this acrid portrait of 1950s Houston, the latest of Burke's Holland family novels. Aaron Holland Broussard, as he stiffly introduces himself, is a teenager ensnared by a bipolar mother and an alcoholic father. He takes solace in his pets, a Gibson guitar, the occasional bull ride. After he intervenes in a spat between Valerie Epstein ("known for her smile and singing voice and straight A's") and her rich, swaggering beau, the son of a local tycoon keen on eugenics and Ayn Rand, the seemingly negligible encounter precipitates a host of clashes - with a hot rod full of greasers; a mob mistress; a sadistic mob enforcer and his unhinged son; an ex-Communist and an ex-O.S.S. agent; a dogged detective; a cadre of heroin dealers; a corps of Sicilian assassins. Beware whiplash: Burke likes things fast and furious. The author, in fact, maintains command, even through Aaron's woefully convenient spells of amnesia. This thoroughgoing entertainment is garnished with descriptions both delightful (a car painted "a creamy pink that you could eat with a spoon") and less so (a "guy sitting behind the steering wheel like a tall drink of water") and a slowly accumulating poignancy. As the paternal relationships of Aaron's contemporaries implode, he uncovers quiet strength in his own principled father. Burke hammers the tension between his old-fashioned, charmingly naïve hero and the unfolding bedlam. Even after a Mafioso menaces Aaron ("I'll pull your insides out with a pair of pliers"), the boy clings to his optimism. Surely most folks, he tells himself, are "better than we think they are."
