A Lesson Before Dying (Oprah's Book Club) by Ernest J. Gaines
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Book Reviews of A Lesson Before Dying (Oprah's Book Club)
Book Review: Well written books suffers from slow plot.
Summary: 5 Stars
An Oprah's book club selection, A Lesson Before Dying was a book requiring much reflection and interpretation. The trial in which Jefferson was found guilty was over with before then end of the first chapter. Having been finished nine pages into a book of over 250, the most exciting part of the book quickly digresses into many chapters of very little action. The lack of action will make the casual reader lose interest. Although the plot slows down, there is still action going on. The action shifts from what happens to the characters physically to what happens to the characters emotionally. For this reason, someone looking for an exciting story about a man on death row should not read this book. A Lesson Before Dying is the perfect book for someone interested in reading a beautiful crafted story about the relationship of two men who are perfect complements to each other. Throughout the book, when Jefferson feels hopeless, Grant -whose job is it to educate Jefferson- gives him hope. When Grant is weak Jefferson had strength. This award-winning book is required reading for many schools. Many students, not wanting to read this book, will find it boring. Someone who is genuinely interested in this subject matter will find this book an amazing piece of literature.Book Review: Great Book!
Summary: 5 Stars
Ernest J. Gaines's, A Lesson Before Dying, was a great book. The characters in the book were very well developed. The main theme in the story was; heroism is not discrimination, racism, and the death penalty. The setting of the book was during the time when racism was the biggest thing around. During the time period, there were strict rules of blacks using water fountains for blacks, sitting in the back of the bus, eating in a black only cafe, etc. This book was very strong and contained many different views of racism. Harper Lee's, To Kill A Mockingbird, was similar to this book because they both contained signs of racism and discrimination. Both stories had a character(s) who defended blacks, trying to show that they weren't bad or to be discriminated against.
From reading this book, I found that Blacks or any other kind of race different from whites, should be respected and not treated with cruelty. I recommend this book to everyone because this book can really tell you lots of things. This book teaches you lessons about how to judge people and that violence is not the way to solve things. I think that this book is not only a story, but also a book filled with advice and lessons which people learn overtime. This was a great book.
Book Review: A Tour de Force in American Literature
Summary: 5 Stars
It is late 1940s' Louisiana. A simple-minded black man is wrongly accused and convicted of murdering a white owner of a liquor store. He is condemned to death in the electric chair. The setting is familiar to readers of American literature, but the lesson to follow is not. Gaines has brilliantly woven a tale of bravery vs. cowardice; strong vs. weak by creating a hero of the humble prisoner and giving meaning and direction to the life of a reluctant, mediocre teacher. The teacher, the malcontent Grant Wiggins, has been bullied by his aunt and her grieving friend, the aunt of the jailed boy, into making a man of him before he dies. This project is launched when, during the trial, the white defense lawyer referred to the captive, as nothing more than a farm animal. A "hog" to be precise. At the aunts' relentless urging, Wiggins drags himself to the jailhouse weekly with no idea how to begin this lesson, when he hasn't learned it for himself. How can a man can die like a man if he has never lived like a man? The text to follow, particularly the prisoner's diary, is an amazing, inspiring piece of work. A winner of the 1994 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, A LESSON BEFORE DYING is certainly worth reading.Book Review: Excellent; I teach the book (and I know Mr. Gaines)
Summary: 5 Stars
The tighly-constructed book holds a central argument that death cannot be restricted to the body. (However, I must comment that the book takes place in a part of Louisiana that is not Cajun--but more New Orleans Creole, and the culture is not Catholic French Cajun, but that of the old South with antebellum plantation houses, African-American religion, and slave quarters.) The setting with the house and quarters serves as visual metaphor for the continued social enslavement of the African Americans into the 1940's. I teach the book in a classroom with Black and White students, and Mr. Gaines presents the stupidity of racism more via this tighly woven novel with its many messages about justice and goodness, than any preachy multicultural jargon could accomplish. His characters, no matter what race, are very human (with both flaws and strengths) and the writing, with visual detail and psychological insight, admits us all into Jefferson's world. A great book and a great read. Like the teacher, the community, and Jefferson we learn too, through this journey into a Black forties community, that nothing can kill the human spirit. Mr. Gaines's book will be talking to people long after we are able to speak. DianeBook Review: A Lesson Before Dying
Summary: 5 Stars
Ernest J. Gaines's, "A Lesson Before Dying", was a great book. The characters in the book were very well developed. The main theme in the story was; heroism is not always expressed through action. This book talks about many different things, discrimination, racism, and the death penalty. The setting of the book was during the time when Racism was the biggest thing around. During this time period, there were strict rules of blacks using water fountains for blacks, sitting in the back of the bus, eating at a black only cafe, etc. This book contained many different views of racism.This relates to the book of To Kill A Mockingbird, since they both took place when people were discriminating blacks. Both these stories had characters who helped the blacks and tried to help them, while other people were racist and tried to kill them.
From this book, I think that racism is bad, and that people should respect peoples' differences. I think that people who are racist should just leave the "colored" people alone.
"A Lesson Before Dying" was a great book and can teach many readers a lesson, and how to treat others that are different.