Cane River (Oprah's Book Club)

This is a totally engrossing read. The author uses beautiful phrases, esp. in her descriptions of people. I experienced a remarkable feeling each time I became emotionally invested in a character and then realized/remembered that these weren't just characters, but REAL people who actually existed! There's an amazing insight here into the simple unfairness, ugliness, and sadness that comes from people's belief in race, invented solely to separate us and to make one group feel superior to another for no decent reason. It's also a lovely and respectful story of women. This side of the master/slave relationship has barely been looked at before. (I hope those silly and hurtful stories of how Sally Hemmings the slave "loved" her master Thomas Jefferson will stop soon!) And the way the same treatment was maintained for decades, not allowing unsanctioned marriages and keeping children from inheritance -- how cruel and unfair. The photos include beautiful faces full of strength, and they have a magical quality in bringing the characters to life. There are a few loose ends not followed and a couple of confusing moments, as well as leaps in time or action. But this is a huge undertaking, and I think these can be forgiven. It's obvious that the author is writing lovingly about the people who were a part of her. She can be very proud. I'm recommending this to everyone I know.

I don't know if anyone could read this book and NOT feel somehow changed by it.Although written as fiction, the documents, family histories and pictures give not-so-silent tribute to this REAL family, and their very real experiences. I found myself pouring over the pictures, flipping back frequently to put a face with a name, and thinking the whole time "It's like Lalita Tademy sat down and talked with her ancestors!" I would love to see this book hit the "required reading" lists of high schools. It's a lesson in so many things, not the least of which is the author's tenacious search for details, documentation and something else...something hard to define...but it's almost like she slipped into a time machine and brought back the past for us. I can't wait for her next book! I feel like I've learned a more valuable lesson than any text book could have taught. I learned instead from Elisabeth, Philomene, and Emily.

I will be the first to admit I know nothing of what it is like to be of African heritage or to grow up in America, since I fall into neither catagory. It was my quest to learn more of other people's cultures and traditions that prompted me to read this book and I was not disappointed. If each of us is to live in peace and harmony it is important to understand, first of all, where we came from in order to have a clearly set plan as to where we are going. The trials and tribulations set out in "Cane River" are enough to make one forever thankful they were born in the current generation and not in an earlier one. Freedom is by far the greatest human right we have. To be born into slavery with the humiliation, degradation, poverty and dehumanizing conditions that went with it are almost unthinkable in today's society, although it still exists to a certain degree (legal or illegal) in parts of the world today. "Cane River" spans four generations and through the eyes of Lalita Tademy, we are able to trace the stories of four women and witness how their lives are interwoven. We read with anticipation how Elisabeth, Suzette,Philomeme and Emily build their lives in a time few people who live today can truly understand. Lalita Tademy has written an extremely emotional and poignant saga of an era they is portrayed today through books and film. As a person who is "white", though not American, it absolutely appals me that my "white ancestors," regardless of what country they came from, could treat any human being as a slave and force them to live a life as portrayed in this book. However, the Holocaust, is also equally as horrendous and beyond comprehension, too - but it happened!Our history and our heritage are very important. Hopefully, we will learn from the past and the sacrifices our ancestors made so that the attrocities of the past will never again happen. The greatest affirmation I gained from this book was the fact we all have our challenges and obstacles to bear, but we are, also, all children of the universe to be loved and respected. This is definitely a well-written, emotionally charged book and highly recommended.

I was completely drawn into Lalita Tademy's history of her family. Weaving her own fictional narrative to tie together the real family tree and history that she has researched, she has created a beautifully written, compelling story that illuminated a world I knew little about. Elizabeth, Suzette, Philomene, and Emily are all such rounded, interesting, strong women, and they would be proud of this book and the latest strong, talented woman in their lineage!

Lalita Tademy pulled me right into her family. I came to care so much about these women that I couldn't stop, I had to see what came next. She handles the different cultures represented (slave to free, free creole, French emigre, white southern) so well that everyone's motivations seem to make perfect sense as you move through the changing scene. In 2001 it's not easy to understand the fathers' abilities to separate their emotional ties from their social "obligations," but this book leaves me with no doubt that's the way it was. If this were a novel, I would want the family to leave Louisiana and marry the men they love, but history wrote it another way.