Junior's Leg

July 16, 2001
Wall Street Journal
scribe Wells's semisequel to his first novel, Meely LaBauve, is a zesty, Cajun-flavored bouillabaisse of gritty melodrama, warts-and-all character study and old-fashioned morality tale. It can be abrasively entertaining, and demonstrates the author's considerable flair for offbeat Bayou-country characterization. Unfortunately, too many mismatched genre elements and a heavily predictable, almost schematic "road to redemption" story line scar an otherwise promising sophomore outing. Narrated by Joseph "Junior" Guidry, an embittered, boorish former roughneck who lost his left leg in a freakish drilling-rig accident, the novel paints a chronically self-destructive man's ever-so-gradual journey toward moral and spiritual self-improvement. Junior is a memorable creation, an inveterately nasty, unabashedly cynical recluse who tosses off quips about how he won't take any breakfast he can't drink, and who even considers tossing his prosthetic leg at a well-meaning interloper on one occasion. He's undeniably crude, bad-tempered and ignorant, but his self-mocking sense of humor and no-nonsense attitude make him a perversely sympathetic character, vaguely reminiscent of some of James Ellroy's or James Lee Burke's more likable losers. Into his barren, loveless life comes Iris Mary Parfait, an ethereal mystery woman fleeing a violent past, who turns lost-cause Junior into her pet project. Of course Junior and Iris Mary fall in love; and, of course, Iris Mary's ostensibly dormant past blazes back into life, plunging the two into a corrupt world of crooked cops, shady lawyers and urbane Mafia dons. If only Wells had been able to decide exactly what kind of book he wanted to write, this could have been a full-on winner. As it is, its piquant and pugnacious analysis of its protagonist's deeply flawed character is ultimately tarnished by a series of trite confrontations with scowling, textbook villains and by Junior's rushed, unrealistic and oversimplified romance with the too-perfect Ms. Parfait. Agent, Joe Regal of Russell Volkening. 6-city author tour.

July 1, 2001
In this vivid, spicy work, Wells returns to the Bayou country setting of his first novel, Meely LaBauve. Junior Guidry is a three-time loser well on his way to drinking himself into oblivion when a young woman named Iris Mary Parfait arrives at his trailer on the edge of the Great Catahoula Swamp. As Junior recounts some of the details of his sordid past, he learns from the ghostlike Iris Mary, an albino, that she is on the run. They soon find out that they have more in common than they first suspected in a tale ultimately involving attempted murder, rape, pornography, crooked police, and organized crime, Louisiana style. As this web of evil is about to close in around them, Junior summons new-found strength and almost reluctantly finds himself acting heroically when he realizes that his brief relationship with Iris Mary has already started to change him. Characters and events from the previous novel figure into the various twists that resolve the story. The energy levels off in the book's latter half, but Wells knows the lingo and rhythms of Cajun language and culture as only a native can, and his depiction of the lowlife Junior and his twisted psyche is gritty and humorous. Recommended for all fiction collections. Jim Coan, SUNY at Oneonta

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2001
Junior Guidry, the schoolyard bully from Wells' debut novel, " Meely LaBauve" (2000), takes center stage in his latest novel, which takes place 15 years later. Junior is more dissolute than ever--he's an unemployed drunk who has a wooden leg thanks to an oil-rig accident. Junior is slowly drinking himself to death when Iris Mary Parfait walks into his life, seeking refuge in his trailer. She is on the run from the law after killing her brutal employer in self-defense. Junior does his best to get Iris Mary to leave, but she is tenacious, and soon she has cleaned up his trailer and started to do the same for his life. But when Junior learns that the man Iris Mary supposedly killed is in fact alive and offering a reward for her arrest, Junior is tempted to turn her in and collect the cash. But complicating matters is the fact that Junior might be falling for Iris Mary. The magic of Wells' novels is his optimism for his characters: even angry, bitter Junior has a shot at redemption and happiness. Told from Junior's point of view in Cajun dialect, the novel is filled with both humor and honesty. Even though Junior complains about Iris Mary, saying "The girl always wants ole Junior to feel this or that," ultimately even he is smart enough to recognize that she is where his salvation lies.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)