A Lesson Before Dying: A Novel by Ernest J. Gaines, Publisher: Vintage; 1 edition (September 28, 1997), ISBN-10: 0375702709
Rating: 4 of 5 STARS
Source: 2009 Award-Winners TBR List (See sidebar list)
This book caught my eye because it's set in my native Louisiana. The setting is a little deeper into Cajun country than I grew up, but I was still looking forward to the flavor of home.
A young, mentally slow, black man, Jefferson, is convicted and sentenced to death for a murder he didn't commit in a small community in the 1940s. The murder and subsequent trial only take up the first ten pages or so. The rest of the book tells the story of a black teacher set on escaping the racist confines of his hometown who is drawn, albeit unwillingly, into helping Jefferson to die with dignity.
I enjoyed Gaines' writing and his story-telling ability. Especially moving were Jefferson's diary entries at the end of the book written as he prepares to die in the days just before his execution. This book is full of great topics for discussion: religion, faith, racism, family, the death penalty. I would recommend A Lesson Before Dying as a book club selection. There's a lot of meat worth tearing into.
There weren't a lot of likable characters in this book. The teacher, Grant Wiggins, I found very crass, cold, and selfish. It's hard to really like a book when you don't like the main character. Jefferson, though pitiable, was hard to really like because you weren't given a whole lot about him other than he was semi-literate, caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, and scared to death.
And on Friday too. Always on Friday. Same time as He died, between twelve and three. But they can't take this one's life too soon after the recognition of His death, because it might upset the sensitive few. It can happen less than two weeks later, though, because even the sensitive few will have forgotten about their Savior's death by then.
"Me, Mr. Wiggins. Me. Me to take the cross. Your cross, nannan's cross, my own cross. Me, Mr. Wiggins. This old stumbling nigger. Y'all axe a lot, Mr. Wiggins." He went to the cell door and grasped it with both hands. He started to jerk on the door, but changed his mind and turned back to look at me. "Who ever car'd my cross, Mr. Wiggins?"
Not a favorite, but worth the read.
Rating: 4 of 5 STARS
Source: 2009 Award-Winners TBR List (See sidebar list)
This book caught my eye because it's set in my native Louisiana. The setting is a little deeper into Cajun country than I grew up, but I was still looking forward to the flavor of home.
A young, mentally slow, black man, Jefferson, is convicted and sentenced to death for a murder he didn't commit in a small community in the 1940s. The murder and subsequent trial only take up the first ten pages or so. The rest of the book tells the story of a black teacher set on escaping the racist confines of his hometown who is drawn, albeit unwillingly, into helping Jefferson to die with dignity.
I enjoyed Gaines' writing and his story-telling ability. Especially moving were Jefferson's diary entries at the end of the book written as he prepares to die in the days just before his execution. This book is full of great topics for discussion: religion, faith, racism, family, the death penalty. I would recommend A Lesson Before Dying as a book club selection. There's a lot of meat worth tearing into.
There weren't a lot of likable characters in this book. The teacher, Grant Wiggins, I found very crass, cold, and selfish. It's hard to really like a book when you don't like the main character. Jefferson, though pitiable, was hard to really like because you weren't given a whole lot about him other than he was semi-literate, caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, and scared to death.
And on Friday too. Always on Friday. Same time as He died, between twelve and three. But they can't take this one's life too soon after the recognition of His death, because it might upset the sensitive few. It can happen less than two weeks later, though, because even the sensitive few will have forgotten about their Savior's death by then.
"Me, Mr. Wiggins. Me. Me to take the cross. Your cross, nannan's cross, my own cross. Me, Mr. Wiggins. This old stumbling nigger. Y'all axe a lot, Mr. Wiggins." He went to the cell door and grasped it with both hands. He started to jerk on the door, but changed his mind and turned back to look at me. "Who ever car'd my cross, Mr. Wiggins?"
Not a favorite, but worth the read.
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1 comment:
I read this book a few months back and really liked it. It was depressing to me though. I thought of you the whole time cause of LA> Love, Lynn
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