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Cajun Waltz
The lyrics of a Cajun waltz may be dark as midnight with heartache and trouble, but still the music swings. The same goes for what happens after a shifty musician and a lonely shopgirl let destiny sweep them into an ill-suited marriage in swampy southwest Louisiana on the eve of the Depression.
Love doesn't much figure between Richie Bainard and Esther Block. They build a business together while dreaming opposite dreams of fulfillment. But like a gumbo simmering with peppers and spice, desires finally come to a boil.
Three generations of the volatile clan grapple with the region's economic struggles and racial tensions. The Bainard children, twins Bonnie and R.J. and their half-brother Seth, pursue separate cravings for money, sex, and religion. The chase in each case runs off the rails thanks to an ex-marine with a soft heart and a brutish devotion; a dazzling young stepmother of mixed race and mixed motives; and a high school tart who proves tougher and truer than all of them. Ultimately it takes the mass devastation of Hurricane Audrey in 1957 to cleanse the reckless passions. The aftermath is painful but pure, like an old blues song that puts tears in your eyes while you dance.
Love doesn't much figure between Richie Bainard and Esther Block. They build a business together while dreaming opposite dreams of fulfillment. But like a gumbo simmering with peppers and spice, desires finally come to a boil.
Three generations of the volatile clan grapple with the region's economic struggles and racial tensions. The Bainard children, twins Bonnie and R.J. and their half-brother Seth, pursue separate cravings for money, sex, and religion. The chase in each case runs off the rails thanks to an ex-marine with a soft heart and a brutish devotion; a dazzling young stepmother of mixed race and mixed motives; and a high school tart who proves tougher and truer than all of them. Ultimately it takes the mass devastation of Hurricane Audrey in 1957 to cleanse the reckless passions. The aftermath is painful but pure, like an old blues song that puts tears in your eyes while you dance.
260 pages, Hardcover
First published June 14, 2016
3 people are currently reading
1062 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
October 16, 2016
Cajun Waltz is a Greek tragedy with roots deep in black delta soil. The story begins with Richard (Richie) Bainard, a white musician from Texas who finds himself in Lake Charles, Louisiana in 1928. Richie is a bit of a shiftless layabout, thinking about getting out of the music business and into something a bit more profitable. A chance encounter with the spinster daughter of the local dry goods store seems to offer him a way out, and a violent encounter with some good old boys after a performance with a black musician cements his choice. Richie marries the spinster and finds himself heir to a burgeoning retail empire.
Unfortunately, with a small taste of power and control, we find that Richie Bainard is not exactly a very good person. He is a violent and unfaithful drunk, terrorizing his family, friends, and mistress.
Like any good Greek tragedy, the sins of the father carry forward to the next generation. Here we have the twins: Bonnie, cold and pathologically calculating, and R.J., shiftless and casually violent. And then there is Seth, Bonnie and R.J.’s half brother, partially blinded and crippled in an accident as a child, trying to feel his way free of his poisonous family. Also exiting and entering the plot are the Bainards’ hangers-on, enemies, and victims, everyone’s stories weaving in and out of one another to form a tapestry of a dysfunctional family.
This book is the fictional debut of history writer Robert H. Patton. His style reflects his past; Cajun Waltz is written in the style of novelized nonfiction, and Patton draws on actual historical events and people to give the story bite. In the style of southern gothic tragedy, all the characters in Cajun Waltz (even the protagonists, such as they are) are deeply flawed, and occasionally difficult to sympathize with.The book being set in the 1920s through the 1950s, the issue of race indeed comes up, but is largely discarded later in the book. The book also features two women prominently: Bonnie Bainard (daughter of Richie) and Adele (one of the family’s victims) who choose very different (and not necessarily successful) routes to deal with the casual misogyny (and violence) of both their era, and the Bainard family.
In all, this book is a quick read and difficult to put down once started. I think it speaks well of the author’s characters when I want to reach through the page and slap/strangle a few of them. History buffs, or those into historical fiction will enjoy this book.
A copy of this book was provided by the author via Goodreads in exchange for an honest review.Cajun Waltz is currently available for purchase.
More review on my blog!
www.theirregularreaderblog.wordpress.com
Unfortunately, with a small taste of power and control, we find that Richie Bainard is not exactly a very good person. He is a violent and unfaithful drunk, terrorizing his family, friends, and mistress.
Like any good Greek tragedy, the sins of the father carry forward to the next generation. Here we have the twins: Bonnie, cold and pathologically calculating, and R.J., shiftless and casually violent. And then there is Seth, Bonnie and R.J.’s half brother, partially blinded and crippled in an accident as a child, trying to feel his way free of his poisonous family. Also exiting and entering the plot are the Bainards’ hangers-on, enemies, and victims, everyone’s stories weaving in and out of one another to form a tapestry of a dysfunctional family.
This book is the fictional debut of history writer Robert H. Patton. His style reflects his past; Cajun Waltz is written in the style of novelized nonfiction, and Patton draws on actual historical events and people to give the story bite. In the style of southern gothic tragedy, all the characters in Cajun Waltz (even the protagonists, such as they are) are deeply flawed, and occasionally difficult to sympathize with.The book being set in the 1920s through the 1950s, the issue of race indeed comes up, but is largely discarded later in the book. The book also features two women prominently: Bonnie Bainard (daughter of Richie) and Adele (one of the family’s victims) who choose very different (and not necessarily successful) routes to deal with the casual misogyny (and violence) of both their era, and the Bainard family.
In all, this book is a quick read and difficult to put down once started. I think it speaks well of the author’s characters when I want to reach through the page and slap/strangle a few of them. History buffs, or those into historical fiction will enjoy this book.
A copy of this book was provided by the author via Goodreads in exchange for an honest review.Cajun Waltz is currently available for purchase.
More review on my blog!
www.theirregularreaderblog.wordpress.com
November 26, 2016
I won this novel in a Goodreads giveaway. I'm very pleased I did!
This is not the sort of fiction book I would normally read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The story focuses on several generations of a family in the Southern part of the USA - featuring lots of drama and tension, it's quite a saga. But the way the story is narrated really appealed to me and encouraged me to keep turning the pages - imagine someone sitting you down in a cosy chair, by a roaring fire on a cold night and regaling you with a tale that keeps you riveted to the spot, that's how I felt reading this! Great book.
This is not the sort of fiction book I would normally read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The story focuses on several generations of a family in the Southern part of the USA - featuring lots of drama and tension, it's quite a saga. But the way the story is narrated really appealed to me and encouraged me to keep turning the pages - imagine someone sitting you down in a cosy chair, by a roaring fire on a cold night and regaling you with a tale that keeps you riveted to the spot, that's how I felt reading this! Great book.
May 9, 2020
Honestly, I'm not even sure where to begin with this one. Parts of the book will leave your mouth hanging open, while others will have you scratching your head trying to understand what's even going on. It's packed with sex, murder, rape, betrayal, identity theft, and domestic violence. There are A LOT of twists and turns and things that you would never expect. I did find it hard to follow at some points, but overall it's an easy read if intensely dark subject matter doesn't bother you too much.
July 4, 2016
I won this book on Goodreads Giveaways. This is an excellent book, it is a story of a family for three generations. It takes place in Louisiana and there is a rape, murders and adultery. It starts right out with Richie and Esther meeting and grows from there. There is a very exciting ending when Hurricane Audrey arrives in 1957. Who will survive? This is a very engrossing story, almost like a soap opera or television serial. I recommend it highly.
August 16, 2020
Rare Treasure: Sweeping Family Saga Delivered with Economy
Been a long time since Robert Patton has given us a novel, and I’ve been so taken by his nonfiction that I didn’t mind the layoff. However, with Cajun Waltz, Patton demonstrates why fiction, even fiction carefully scaffolded around real characters and events, is where stories take off for real. Right off the bat, Patton is to be commended for having delivered a rare gift in a multigenerational family saga that is strikingly concise. Historical family novels have a habit of wandering (thinking popular Michener, Wouk, Follett – even Steinbeck got expansive in East of Eden), but Cajun Waltz manages to be both sweeping and spare, and the result is a dazzling achievement. Loose ends are tied up (oh, and beautifully, but I will get to the ending), questions are answered and conflicts resolved with the economy of a tight thriller. This concise novel deserves better than to be praised with a wordy review, but I can’t help throwing out a few more lines about what makes Cajun Waltz so special. This is not a novel with good guys and bad guys. In this novel you simultaneously pull for and against every character on the page, and, if you ever get the feeling you like somebody all the way, get ready, because he or she will make you angry soon enough. Here is Patton’s true gift – he makes you care about the characters, even as every woman and man reveals a selfish and flawed (at a minimum) or corrupt (more typically) core. Cajun Waltz carries a grim worldview, but you believe every minute, and, like the characters in the book, you keep waltzing to each progressively darker turn, until all the light is (literally) blotted out of the story. On that note, it needs to be said – with no spoiler alert necessary – that the climax, during which a hurricane bears down on the remaining characters in their little Louisiana town, is a piece of unforgettable writing with details that will captivate during the read and haunt forever after. Those pages by themselves are worth the price of the book, and Cajun Waltz packs so much more.
Been a long time since Robert Patton has given us a novel, and I’ve been so taken by his nonfiction that I didn’t mind the layoff. However, with Cajun Waltz, Patton demonstrates why fiction, even fiction carefully scaffolded around real characters and events, is where stories take off for real. Right off the bat, Patton is to be commended for having delivered a rare gift in a multigenerational family saga that is strikingly concise. Historical family novels have a habit of wandering (thinking popular Michener, Wouk, Follett – even Steinbeck got expansive in East of Eden), but Cajun Waltz manages to be both sweeping and spare, and the result is a dazzling achievement. Loose ends are tied up (oh, and beautifully, but I will get to the ending), questions are answered and conflicts resolved with the economy of a tight thriller. This concise novel deserves better than to be praised with a wordy review, but I can’t help throwing out a few more lines about what makes Cajun Waltz so special. This is not a novel with good guys and bad guys. In this novel you simultaneously pull for and against every character on the page, and, if you ever get the feeling you like somebody all the way, get ready, because he or she will make you angry soon enough. Here is Patton’s true gift – he makes you care about the characters, even as every woman and man reveals a selfish and flawed (at a minimum) or corrupt (more typically) core. Cajun Waltz carries a grim worldview, but you believe every minute, and, like the characters in the book, you keep waltzing to each progressively darker turn, until all the light is (literally) blotted out of the story. On that note, it needs to be said – with no spoiler alert necessary – that the climax, during which a hurricane bears down on the remaining characters in their little Louisiana town, is a piece of unforgettable writing with details that will captivate during the read and haunt forever after. Those pages by themselves are worth the price of the book, and Cajun Waltz packs so much more.
August 23, 2017
At times funny veering into insanity with characters who charm, frustrate and then make you cringe all over again. Nice prose, good sense of place and time.
January 31, 2019
A dark and compelling saga about a Louisiana family from WW1 to the 1950s. It was well written and hard to put down. I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway. Thanks.
September 26, 2016
**I received this book through a Goodreads Giveaway**
This book took me completely by surprise. I think I'd expected something a lot more sentimental, somehow. By any case, I wasn't expecting it to be so dark. Because this isn't a sugary tale of the sleepy south, but delves into racism, rape, murder, and corruption -to name a few. It's chaotic and full of despicable characters, which sometimes I found hard to keep up with, but after a slow beginning, it definitely had me hooked.
This book took me completely by surprise. I think I'd expected something a lot more sentimental, somehow. By any case, I wasn't expecting it to be so dark. Because this isn't a sugary tale of the sleepy south, but delves into racism, rape, murder, and corruption -to name a few. It's chaotic and full of despicable characters, which sometimes I found hard to keep up with, but after a slow beginning, it definitely had me hooked.
June 17, 2016
Cajun Waltz by Robert H Patton is a multi-generational novel that starts in 1920s Louisiana that follows the Bainards, a temperamental family, and those outsiders who become intertwined within the Bainard clan. Economic strife, family loyalty vs romantic love, and racial prejudices are among the challenges faced throughout the book. All the while the Depression, war, and the gulf weather add to the complicated situations.
I found Cajun Waltz to be written in a unique prose that drops the reader into each scene and tiptoes around what each character in each scene is really thinking. I found myself filling in the gaps and therefore connecting to the book as if I was part of the story, not just an observer of it. While often I was wrong about who the main characters really were, that discovery of truth was part of the fun of the read. The book delves deeply into the theme of family allegiance. Patton poses often throughout the book whether standing by family no matter what is a better choice than standing by what is right. The structure of the book was well done as well, tying people together over time, generations, and settings in a extremely intricate and complicated, and yet wholly believable way. The only thing I felt a little confused about was that the book was advertised as darkly comic, but expect for a couple of humorously constructed death scenes, I didn't find much laughable about Cajun Waltz. That being said, I enjoyed Cajun Waltz and would recommend it to a friend.
I receivedCajun Waltz as part of a Goodreads Giveaway.
I found Cajun Waltz to be written in a unique prose that drops the reader into each scene and tiptoes around what each character in each scene is really thinking. I found myself filling in the gaps and therefore connecting to the book as if I was part of the story, not just an observer of it. While often I was wrong about who the main characters really were, that discovery of truth was part of the fun of the read. The book delves deeply into the theme of family allegiance. Patton poses often throughout the book whether standing by family no matter what is a better choice than standing by what is right. The structure of the book was well done as well, tying people together over time, generations, and settings in a extremely intricate and complicated, and yet wholly believable way. The only thing I felt a little confused about was that the book was advertised as darkly comic, but expect for a couple of humorously constructed death scenes, I didn't find much laughable about Cajun Waltz. That being said, I enjoyed Cajun Waltz and would recommend it to a friend.
I receivedCajun Waltz as part of a Goodreads Giveaway.
October 19, 2016
I received this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway.
The story looks at the life and times of three generations of the Bainard family in Louisiana of the mid-20th century. There are many themes that the author interweaves and, at several points, it gets to be a little overwhelming. Although the author, Robert H. Patton, uses words quite deftly in order to craft his tale, I needed to be very vigilant in keeping up with the story itself.
One of the things that stood out to me in this story was that there wasn't a single character that I was able to identify with. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, is flawed in a significant way. I was looking for an act of redemption on the part of someone, and some genuine regret. What I got were (what felt like) hollow gestures in an attempt at keeping or elevating the status of the people in the story. By the end of the story, I was hoping that the hurricane would take everyone and whip them out to sea as a punishment for their sins. Alas, I was disappointed in this.
Patton did weave a good yarn and I found myself interested in what comes next. I hoped for more detail or expanded scenes some of the time, however, this did not usually detract from the story.
All in all, I did enjoy reading the story. It was fun and was not a bad way to pass the time.
The story looks at the life and times of three generations of the Bainard family in Louisiana of the mid-20th century. There are many themes that the author interweaves and, at several points, it gets to be a little overwhelming. Although the author, Robert H. Patton, uses words quite deftly in order to craft his tale, I needed to be very vigilant in keeping up with the story itself.
One of the things that stood out to me in this story was that there wasn't a single character that I was able to identify with. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, is flawed in a significant way. I was looking for an act of redemption on the part of someone, and some genuine regret. What I got were (what felt like) hollow gestures in an attempt at keeping or elevating the status of the people in the story. By the end of the story, I was hoping that the hurricane would take everyone and whip them out to sea as a punishment for their sins. Alas, I was disappointed in this.
Patton did weave a good yarn and I found myself interested in what comes next. I hoped for more detail or expanded scenes some of the time, however, this did not usually detract from the story.
All in all, I did enjoy reading the story. It was fun and was not a bad way to pass the time.
August 17, 2016
This book overwhelmed me with its troubled people, low morals, and dark moments. I wish I could say it just moved along seamlessly, but I can't, it did so much jumping from place to place scene to scene, but I will say it took my hand and pulled me right along with the events.
The author really knows how to describe characters, from the quirky to the wide eyed innocents you get the feel of who they really are. It would have been easier if in this wide cast of characters only one person would have had a fake name, but there were name changes, nick names, fake names it was a little hard to keep up with who was who.
I won an advance uncorrected proof of this book.
The author really knows how to describe characters, from the quirky to the wide eyed innocents you get the feel of who they really are. It would have been easier if in this wide cast of characters only one person would have had a fake name, but there were name changes, nick names, fake names it was a little hard to keep up with who was who.
I won an advance uncorrected proof of this book.
September 4, 2016
There is so much packed into this story - marriages, affairs, schemes, blackmail, revenge, etc. - that, at times, it was challenging to follow easily. The characters, while developed well, are messy and broken, each in their own way, and while that added flavor to the story, it left me feeling less engaged with them. As I was reading, the thought that kept returning to my mind was what a visually-stunning dramatic mini-series this would make...because the writer definitely has a way with words, crafting intricate contexts and settings that play the backdrop to the Cajun soap opera he has unfolded.
December 1, 2016
Highly charged story recounting a family's struggles--between themselves and society--from WWI until Hurricane Aubrey in 1957. Taking place mainly in western Louisiana, the book mixes race, class, and money at a time when such a thing had far-reaching consequences; and this book surely demonstrated how all those factors did.. Highly recommend for those interested in Southern history, families, or just an all-around exciting read.
July 15, 2016
I won this book on a Goodreads giveaway.
This was an interesting book, it was a little difficult to get into at first (for me) but once I got through the first chapters it became a lot more interesting. It tended to ramble sometimes but it was still a good book chock full interesting characters and a lot of drama. I recommend giving it a try.
This was an interesting book, it was a little difficult to get into at first (for me) but once I got through the first chapters it became a lot more interesting. It tended to ramble sometimes but it was still a good book chock full interesting characters and a lot of drama. I recommend giving it a try.
August 10, 2016
this is a goodreads give away its a excellent book true love and twist and turns keeps you reading
May 28, 2019
This book was...... interesting. It took me a while to get through. And there's only three chapters in the whole book which kind of threw me off. There were a lot of unlikable characters. I feel like some things that were supposed to be long and drawn-out happened very quickly and then other parts that I would have preferred to be quick were long and drawn-out. I did however like that it touched upon different points of view or different perspectives on the same situation and that we are following multiple characters. And I do like that it touchdown redemption and forgiveness.
June 10, 2019
A decent little one day book that kept me turning the pages.
February 11, 2020
I didn’t finish it. Over halfway through and I couldn’t take it. Boring.
February 23, 2025
This book brought back memories of my home state. I love the Cajun culture but the author did not present it in a good light.
January 8, 2017
I really enjoyed the way Patton crafted the story and his writing is really solid, but I could not get over how completely unlikeable the characters are.
Just when you think one might be showing some redeemable quality, out comes some secret or action that totally destroys any empathy one might feel with them.
It might just be that I wasn't in the mood for flawed characters, but it's mostly that they were too flawed to be enjoyable.
Just when you think one might be showing some redeemable quality, out comes some secret or action that totally destroys any empathy one might feel with them.
It might just be that I wasn't in the mood for flawed characters, but it's mostly that they were too flawed to be enjoyable.
December 16, 2016
Didn't care for this book at all. It's a very dark book with lots of questionable sex, rape and murder. Not what I was expecting. I didn't care for any of the characters and thought they were too simplistic and I found the ending sad.
May 10, 2016
I received this book for free as part of a first reads promotion
November 26, 2016
Started out slow and easy but it moved a little bit easier in the middle to the end. Would recommend for friends to read.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews