Review of The Jealous Kind by James Lee Burke:

There is a famous line in the movie, “Jerry Maguire,” in which the female lead says in response to Maguire’s babbling on as to how much she means to him, “You had me at ‘Hello’.” In the case of James Lee Burke’s third novel in his Holland Family series, The Jealous Kind, Burke had me on page three as the central character, Aaron Holland Broussard, relates the experience of encountering his first love: “I was about to enter a country that had no flag or boundaries, a place where you gave up your cares and your cautionary instincts and deposited your heart on a stone altar. I’m talking about the first time you fall joyously, sick-down-in-your-soul in love, and the prospect of heartbreak never crosses your mind.” As it never crossed mine when I realized for the first time that I was head-over-heals in love. The Jealous Kind is about a lot of things. Friendship. Family. Combating evil incarnate. But above all it is about a first love and the utter naivety that comes with it when you are young. That is why I found this particular work of Burke so relatable. I could see myself in the character of Aaron Holland Broussard, no longer able to conceive of life without this new other that God Almighty certainly injected into his/my very being. As the biblical narrative has it in Genesis chapter two as the first man lays eyes on the first woman, he sings, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man.” With the final note, “and the two became one flesh.” Each no longer being complete without the other. And as Aaron concludes in Burke’s epilogue, “The changes in our lives, the geographical separations, the pull of the earth on our bodies, none of these things ever affected the contract and bond that took place in our youth; over the years neither one of us ever suffered a tragedy or bore a burden or celebrated a success without the involvement of the other. I could not draw breath without feeling that __________ (fill in the blank with the name of your first love) was at my side.” How true that is of first loves. One never forgets. The story itself takes place in the summer between Aaron’s junior and senior years of high school. He barely escapes a school of jelly fish. He falls in love. He struggles in his relationship with his parents. He and his BFF get embroiled in two murder mysteries and mob corruption. Burke does his best in keeping us guessing as to how it will all end right up until the end which is the gift of a great mystery novelist. And without question, James Lee Burke has that gift in spades! He keeps us hanging. One final note about the Holland Family series. Burke injects some pearly bits of wisdom every now and then that warrant a pause for reflection. Here is one from The Jealous Kind: “People have their quirks. It’s what makes us human. If we ignore other people’s faults, we don’t have to be defensive of our own.” Here is another: “Every word you utter to an evil man either degrades you or empowers him. Evil men fear solitude because they have to hear their own thoughts.” Read, recall, and perhaps ruminate a little over The Jealous Kind by James Lee Burke. Reviewed by Richard Dick, Library Assistant, O’Kelly Memorial Library