From Publishers Weekly
Louisiana native Benoit crafts a vivid, poignant composite portrait of a disjointed Cajun family navigating a blue-collar existence over more than three decades. Young Ulysse Bueche, called Russell because it sounds more American, grows up in the town of Maringouin, La., with few prospects other than working in an oil refinery or sugar mill; his violent-tempered, half-Indian father, Adam, has smacked him so hard the boy must wear special blue-tinted glasses for the rest of his life. Russell's French ancestry fades as he works transient jobs on freighters; meanwhile, his wife, Doreen, a local girl who squandered real talent as a softball pitcher, suffers back home from a recurrence of breast cancer. In episodes ranging in time from 1961, when young Russell is taken to the racetrack by his father and witnesses the gruesome death of a horse that Adam has inexpertly drugged, through the childhood and young adulthood of Russell's sons, Whitaker and Clayton, into the 1990s, Benoit enters the psyche of each of the family members. Though the characters' actions sometimes seem reported rather than viscerally experienced, the point of view shifts seamlessly, allowing Benoit to entrust the reader with such family secrets as Clayton's accidental death-by-pushing of his year-old twin, Ferdinand. The moribund Cajun heritage and language trail through this first novel like a nostalgic tune. When Whitaker, who works as an oily hotel receptionist, and his conflicted bride, Violet, announce to Doreen in the hospital that they have decided not to leave the town, the disappointing announcement leaves Benoit's tribe as hopelessly mired as they arrived. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This first novel brings to life the Cajun community of the Louisiana bayous. The Bueches and Gidots are ordinary people who value family and friends; live in the shadow of a sugar mill whose poison often causes cancer, birth defects, and premature deaths; and see development destroying the beauty of their world. Afraid that he has inherited his father's propensity for alcoholism and violence, Russell Bueche works three- and four-year stints on oil tankers. However, his attempt to save his sons from himself in turn forces his wife, Doreen, to bear all the family responsibilities. Alone, she must raise her boys, deal with cancer, and grieve for the infant son who was accidentally killed by his slower twin brother. Narrated from multiple points of view in short, snapshot-like chapters that illuminate small but significant moments, this book introduces a talented new writer. His unblinking but affectionate portrait of a people is recommended for public libraries, especially in the South. [For another loving fictional portrait of the Cajun world, see Shirley Ann Grau's The Hard Blue Sky.-Ed.]-Andrea Kempf, Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, K.--Andrea Kempf, Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
In this downbeat, impressionistic story, first novelist Benoit jumps back and forth in time, highlighting key moments in a 30-year overview of the Louisiana Bueche family. Cursed by illness and limited opportunities, the family is tied to the small town of Maringouin, whose prospects seem to rise and fall with the Texaco plant that towers over it. Ulysse Bueche, abused by his dad, attempts to make a better life for his own family, but when his two-year-old son accidentally kills his twin brother by knocking his head into the pavement, the family seems permanently broken. Then his wife, Doreen, begins a long, arduous battle with cancer, and Ulysse takes an assignment on the other side of the world, living on an oil tanker for months at a time. Whitaker, the oldest boy, seems destined to repeat the isolation he has learned so well from his father, but, by novel's end, a transformation seems within reach. Artfully illuminating a truly foreign Cajun culture, Benoit plies his themes of class and repressed emotion in elliptical prose. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
All Saints' Day is a bold and provocative southern novel in the tradition of Walker Percy and John Kennedy Toole. Brent Benoit's debut movingly chronicles two generations of the Bueche family of Maringouin, Louisiana, a family of Cajun ancestry that has been defined by a tragedy-the accidental death of their gifted, infant child at the hands of his feeble twin brother. The lives of both parents, Ulysse (a.k.a. Russell) and Doreen, are driven toward this event, and in putting it behind them the child's brothers, Whitaker and Clayton, reach toward resolution while teetering on the verge of catastrophe.

In All Saints' Day the lives of simple people attain the status of myth. It is a novel that both captivates the reader in its rendering of a vanishing culture and surprises at every turn. Tautly written, harrowing and heart-filled, All Saints' Day marks Brent Benoit's emergence as a writer to watch.

About the Author
Brent Benoit was born in 1974 and raised in South Louisiana. He works as both a writing teacher at Louisiana State University and a homebuilder in Baton Rouge. He is a graduate of Loyola University in New Orleans and holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from LSU.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

All Saints' Day is a southern novel in the tradition of Walker Percy and John Kennedy Toole. Brent Benoit's debut movingly chronicles two generations of the Bueche family of Maringouin, Louisiana, who have been defined by a tragedy - the accidental death of their gifted, infant child at the hands of his feeble twin brother. It is an event that seems almost preordained, sending shock waves into both the past and future. The lives of both parents, Ulysse (a.k.a. Russell) and Doreen, are driven toward it, and in putting it behind them the child's brothers, Whitaker and Clayton, reach toward resolution while teetering on the edge of catastrophe.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Louisiana native Benoit crafts a vivid, poignant composite portrait of a disjointed Cajun family navigating a blue-collar existence over more than three decades. Young Ulysse Bueche, called Russell because it sounds more American, grows up in the town of Maringouin, La., with few prospects other than working in an oil refinery or sugar mill; his violent-tempered, half-Indian father, Adam, has smacked him so hard the boy must wear special blue-tinted glasses for the rest of his life. Russell's French ancestry fades as he works transient jobs on freighters; meanwhile, his wife, Doreen, a local girl who squandered real talent as a softball pitcher, suffers back home from a recurrence of breast cancer. In episodes ranging in time from 1961, when young Russell is taken to the racetrack by his father and witnesses the gruesome death of a horse that Adam has inexpertly drugged, through the childhood and young adulthood of Russell's sons, Whitaker and Clayton, into the 1990s, Benoit enters the psyche of each of the family members. Though the characters' actions sometimes seem reported rather than viscerally experienced, the point of view shifts seamlessly, allowing Benoit to entrust the reader with such family secrets as Clayton's accidental death-by-pushing of his year-old twin, Ferdinand. The moribund Cajun heritage and language trail through this first novel like a nostalgic tune. When Whitaker, who works as an oily hotel receptionist, and his conflicted bride, Violet, announce to Doreen in the hospital that they have decided not to leave the town, the disappointing announcement leaves Benoit's tribe as hopelessly mired as they arrived. Agent, Amy Williams, ICM. (Nov.)

Library Journal

This first novel brings to life the Cajun community of the Louisiana bayous. The Bueches and Gidots are ordinary people who value family and friends; live in the shadow of a sugar mill whose poison often causes cancer, birth defects, and premature deaths; and see development destroying the beauty of their world. Afraid that he has inherited his father's propensity for alcoholism and violence, Russell Bueche works three- and four-year stints on oil tankers. However, his attempt to save his sons from himself in turn forces his wife, Doreen, to bear all the family responsibilities. Alone, she must raise her boys, deal with cancer, and grieve for the infant son who was accidentally killed by his slower twin brother. Narrated from multiple points of view in short, snapshot-like chapters that illuminate small but significant moments, this book introduces a talented new writer. His unblinking but affectionate portrait of a people is recommended for public libraries, especially in the South. [For another loving fictional portrait of the Cajun world, see Shirley Ann Grau's The Hard Blue Sky.-Ed.]-Andrea Kempf, Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS

Kirkus Reviews