The House Behind the Cedars

If published today, I would have given this book 3 stars because of the amount of contrivance it contains. But considering that it was first published in 1900, it must be given higher esteem. Historically, the study it provides of being biracial (considered Black then) and able to pass as white in the Carolinas 100 years ago is invaluable to the African American literary canon. The dilemmas faced by this ability are brilliantly portrayed in this book. I was fascinated with the dilemmas whites and "dark-skinned" blacks faced socially when dealing with the Rena and her brother. I especially enjoyed the conversation between her brother John and the town lawyer when John asks him to teach him to become a lawyer - I thought that was the most brilliantly written passage in the book. Despite the contrivances and that it takes a bit to get into the writer's style, this was a compelling read. Though not especially likeable, the characters are interesting, complex and well-drawn. I recommend this to anyone interested in the racial history of the South after abolition.

This book, written at the beginning of the 1900's, looks back to a period right after the Civil War, and it explores topics that are still evolving today and will keep on evolving - race relations and relations between men and women. The author explores what happens when people are defined differently by themselves, by society, and by those close to them. It's fascinating to read this book in all its contexts - of today, the era in which it was written, and the era it covers.It's also a poignant story of dreams and gentle hopes crushed by society and by the unfeelingness of others. I found it a sad book, but also a very thought-provoking one. It has something to say to us today, though it treats another era.

I had to read this book for a Senior Seminar in English and was surprised to find that it was an entertaining read. Granted, one must suspend disbelief in a few places in order to allow for coincidences but what Chesnutt does is something of a pastiche of different writing genres. He also goes to the very limits in portraying the many gradations that existed in the Southern color line. In truth, most of the characters are not necessarily likeable, but one cannot help turning the pages to see who will do what next. Those who chanced to pass for white were never far from an intrigue of some kind. This is a fast read as well as an entertaining one, and while Chesnutt plays with many different styles and humors, it is not without historical merit.