Catherine Carmier

Gaines captures Louisiana culture to a 'T'. As someone who spends a lot of time there, the Carmiers, Jackson, Charlotte and Mary Louise ring true. HIs descriptions and elegant choice of words are just plain gorgeous. Wonderful classic.

I throughly enjoyed this novel by Mr. Gaines. It was vivid, realistic, and delighful.This is an easy read.Read it and discover who Catherine really is.

The reviews thus far tell little of what this story is about. Although I read it several years ago, as I remember this book, or at least a part of it, centered on the intra-racial divide between those of African descent. The Creoles of color, particularly in the region of the book, have long maintained a somewhat separate status from blacks based on a caste system determined by mixed blood and lineage. The "forgotten people" have maintained they have black blood, but emphasize their heritage also include French, Spanish, and most times Native American blood. Although a great many Creoles eventually assimilated into the black community, during the time of this story, (the 60s, I think) most of them kept a separate status from blacks, thought they were subject to the most part to the same Jim Crow laws and racism as blacks (unless of course, they chose to pass for white- a whole other subject). When Jackson encounters Catherine, they act upon an attraction they had from their school-age days. The unwillingness of both families to accept is at the heart of the story. That a group of people by virtual of the fact they have mixed blood (for that matter, how many blacks are not mixed- whole other book)descended from French planters deem themselves better or superior to others of more distinct African blood and all the ignorance that prevails because of this belief is what this is all about. The reviews talk about Cajuns and indeed this is Cajun country and the different cultures interact, but it is the Creoles of Color that this book is about. Mr. Gaines handles this with his first-hand knowledge of growing up in Louisiana and all of its idiosyncracies regarding race and class. Though the book left me saddened, I enjoyed the subject matter.

Catherine Carmier is on the surface a story about a young man that returns, after a ten year hiatus and recieving an education, to his boyhood home in the rual parts of Louisiana and falls in love with a local girl. This love sets the tense and uneasy tone throughout which Earnest J. Gaines craftfully reveals much deeper issues; issues of race, distance, family loyalty and shame, and the consquences of forbidden love. Gaines also shows that every part of society has its own set code of honor and unwritten and unspoken ediquette. These are revealed through the furtive glances and actions of the characters as well as dialog, which carry subtle meanings and implications. These are like tyring to disguise the meaning of a telephone conversation when someone else walks into the room, and the person who has walked in is trying to figure-out what is being implied. Gaines has talent for pianting ordinary life with such color that at times the reader feels smoothered by the feelings and characters flowing from the pages, thus it is impossibles not to be drawn into the story. He brings the ordinary person closer to this part of our history and culture.