Border Music

By Robert James Waller

Book Overview

Most people don't run out the back door of a place called the Rainbow Bar in Dillon, Minnesota, with someone they don't even know, get in a pickup truck, drive all day, and end up without any clothes on in a motel room. But that's what Texas Jack Carmine did with Linda Lobo. It was the kind of thing Jack was famous for doing. The people who knew Texas Jack Carmine - such as songwriter Bobby McGregor and Jack's uncle Vaughn Rhomer back in Iowa - called him God's only freeborn soul, rider of the summer roads, traveler of the far places. Where he was headed with dark-haired, long-legged Linda was not just back to his one-horse Texas ranch. It was somewhere he had never been: face to face with his own heart and the wild, strange things that live there. Border Music is the story of Jack and Linda, of long, hot days on a high desert ranch, nights wild with loving beneath West Texas skies, and times when their relationship tears them both apart. It's about Vietnam and the Midwest, and Vaughn Rhomer, an old man who, tries in his own fumbling way to be free. It's about men and women who work hard and care intensely, about romance and the passion that you only find once...and you never stop wanting to find again.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446518581
• ISBN13: 9780446518581
• Release Date: February 1995
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Prose - Not Plot - is Why I like it

The best thing about this book is not the plot but the language Waller uses to describe the thoughts of the characters. I felt that I was reading F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald's plots were fairly simple but his descriptive prose and making the reader get inside the characters was his specialty. Waller does the same thing. You can feel what the lonely housewife was feeling in the BRIDGES and you can identify with Linda and Jack and all the other characters in this novel. You know what they are thinking and you can understand their internal strife. It reminds me of Jack Kerouac or even Steinbeck in TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY. The uncle and his sojourn in New Orleans was classic. He was truly a Walter Mitty but unlike Mitty he followed his instincts and headed for Mexico. This may have been a sub plot but it all tied together. A really good book if you look beyond the plot and concentrate on character development and the way Waller writes.

A beautiful book.

This is the first book that I have read by Waller. It is a beautiful story that explains perfectly how the human mind always yearns for somthing that it doesn have. It is also a story of growing old and romance. It follows characters through their depressing pasts living in the midwest. Being only 16 years old perhaps this story would be even more impressive if I were 50 years old because I would then be able to relate more to the novel and how it portrays the lonelyness of getting old. This book gives an insight into the actuall thought process of the hopeless romantic, somthing I have not ever experienced in any other novels.

The Bible for those with gypsy souls...

Robert James Waller's prose reads like poetry. There are images and passages in "Border Music" that stun me everytime with there insight and beauty and passion. I knew when I read the dedication that this work would be a masterpiece. Read it to find out. I think everyone dreams of being like Jack Carmine. Some have the courage to try...

love it!

This is a story that will haunt your senses forever more. Beautiful imagery, an indirect love story and should teach you alot along the way. Makes you feel that your on the road living each and every chapter.

A thoughtfull alternative to Bridges.

I read this book before I read Bridges and find it much more inspirational. If you thought Bridges was good, but a little too sappy, you might find Border Music a more adventurous ride. This book is the story of a modern day explorer living his life to the fullest despite the mundane obstacles in today's world. Its the story of the road less traveled. You won't cry while reading Border Music, but you might get a new perspective on life. Bridges might be one of the best all-time romance novels, but if you're looking for a broader look at a great way to lead a life, Border Music is a great choice.