3.5, rounded down.

I wanted to love this book. I contains all the elements that usually make up great reading for me: coming of age, strong character development, important topics to ponder; the shadow of war, with the return of the bodies of men lost in the Korean War being a paramount plot line. There was, however, something that interfered with my connection and kept these characters at arm’s length, so that I never felt I was experiencing the time with them but simply spying at them over someone’s shoulder.

I had not ever read Willie Morris before, and this last book of his was finished by his wife, so I am unsure how much of it reflects his style and contribution and how much is her voice slipping in. The writing is sometimes remarkable and superbly descriptive. The mood changed so often, though, that I felt like I was on a roller-coaster. Some of the episodes seemed misplaced, or even totally unnecessary, and some just plain interrupted the flow of the story for me. I wondered if it was a novel trying too hard to be all things to all people. Parts of it rang true and others seemed oddly incongruent, as if Morris could not decide if he were playing the main trumpet or the echo.

The decision to read this novel at this time was precipitated by its being chosen for a group read at the Southern Literary Trail. There are some extremely astute readers there, and I am looking forward to seeing what they will have to say about this one. After the discussion, I might have a different view or understanding than this first impression is leaving me. It is, indeed, a novel that should spark some discussion. ( )

Very well-written coming-of-age story set in the 1950s in Fisk's Landing, Mississippi. Swayze is a teen-ager whose father died some time ago and whose mother, it is quite obvious, suffers from some kind of mental illness. Swayze creates his own family including his best friend Arch, veteran Luke, the funeral home director, his girlfriend Georgia, and many others in his small town. Swayze and Arch are trumpet players in the high school band and are drafted into playing "Taps" at the funerals for the local boys who have died in the Korean War. The book focuses on Swayze and the ups and downs of his relationship with Georgia, basketball, the war, bigotry, and there is a sense of foreboding that builds throughout the book and which leads up to the dramatic last scene involving Swayze and Arch and Luke. Excellent read and highly recommended to all. ( )

3922. Taps A Novel by Willie Morris (read 18 Aug 2004) I finished reading this book on Aug 18, 2004. Supposedly Willie Morris, who died in 1999, was working on this book before he published his first book. This book is fiction, but tells of Swayze Barksdale in 1950 and 1951 in a town much like Yazoo City, Mississippi,. at an age much like Willie Morris was in those years. Swayze has a dog, Dusty, and a girl, Georgia, and he plays taps at military funerals. There is a love story, two in fact. One is adulterous but the husband is an evil man who mistreats his wife, Amanda, and goes to Korea where he is missing. but turns up alive and comes home to Mississippi. The story is poignant and has really stunning heights of powerful and evocative writing, and while one deplores the sins of the heroes in the book they are so portrayed that they are characters one is very sympathetic toward. This is a touching and moving book, and I am glad I read it. ( )

I'm going to admit right up front that I have always had a soft spot when it comes to Southern writers who write well about growing up in the American South of the first half of the twentieth century. That positive prejudice comes from how easily I can identify with the stories that these writers have to tell. Willie Morris is one of those writers and, sadly, we lost him in 1999 at the relatively young age of 64.

Taps turned out to be Willie's last book and it was not published until 2001 after his wife, JoAnne Prichard Morris, working from notations that Morris made on the original manuscript, released it to Houghton Mifflin for publication. Willie Morris treasured his memories of growing up in Mississippi during the forties and fifties and, in Taps, he does a wonderful job of creating the atmosphere which he remembered so well. The story takes place in early 1950s Fisk's Landing, Mississippi, and is told through the eyes of Swayze Barksdale, a young high school student who finds his life forever changed by the Korean War.

The changes begin when Swayze and a friend of his are recruited by World War II hero Luke Cartwright to play "Taps" at the funerals of the many Fisk's Landing boys who are so steadily being killed in Korea. Fisk's Landing is small enough that Swayze can easily recall each of the boys being buried in the town cemetery and, in fact, some of them had been classmates of his until they dropped out of high school to join the military. The circumstances of 1951-52 force Swayze to mature in ways, and at a pace, that few 15-year-old boys ever face. He has to deal with the fact that his mother is more than just a little "odd," he finds his first love, discovers sex, gets drawn into a conspiracy to help his two best adult friends hide their own love affair, and loses his girl to the football captain.

But it is when Swayze finds himself playing "Taps" for his closest friend in the world that he really understands what it is to be a man. He has learned lessons in that one year that will serve him well for the remainder of his life and he will never forget the people of Fisk's Landing who helped make him into the man that he ultimately became. Taps is a touching story and Willie Morris wrote it in the style that the best southern writers have, a style that seems to come from growing up in the South during a certain period in time. Frankly, I haven't read all that much of his work, but I suppose I can look at that neglect as being a good thing because now I can look forward to reading the rest of it.

Rated at: 3.5 ( )