Cane River

Cane River is an exceptionally written book that portrays the lives of three generations of women, as they endure and survive slavery in Louisiana. This extraordinary story, which consisted of 137 years of family history surfaced when author Lalita Tademy began researching her family tree, and stumbled upon the remarkable lives of her ancestors. After leaving a very well paying job, Tademy committed herself fulltime to research, and wrote this profound story to share the strong and resilient lives the women in her family. I absolutely loved this novel, and found it to display the determination, tenacity, and intellect of African American women. I recommend 'Cane River' to anyone to who is interested in reading a story concerning African American history in slavery, and who appreciates the strength and preserverance of a woman.

I don't ever remember reading Roots, by Alex Haley. I do remember liking the miniseries when it came out, more for the experience of understanding how lives so different from my own unfolded in times very different from my own. Cane River is like Roots. Maybe not quite as non-fictional, but nonetheless a compelling story of the lives across three generations of African-american women in the 1800's and early 1900's. It's thick, very thick. It touches upon the issues of "bleaching the line", the reasons for lack of strong male presence in many African-american families during that transitional time in history, and of course the racism of the south. The nice thing about the book is that it does this without hitting the reader over the head -- it is quite matter-of-fact. The detracting thing about this book is that it doesn't set up these issues as issues very well or in any intellectual sense, thus the importance of these issues in shaping future generations is lost to most readers. It might have been better as a series of stories, and continued on through to the author's generation and their struggles. Then a comparison of the struggles of each generation, and the different paths chosen in order to overcome those struggles, would really have added importance or some intellectual meaning to the work.

Cane River covers 137 years of a rich family history by the author. In the beginning of researching her family, this was not destined to be a novel, however I am so glad author Lalita Tademy saw it differently and brought us a spell binding work of fiction to be enjoyed by those of us who love this genre in the days when working hard for a dollar by women takes on a whole different meaning. Elizabeth, Suzette, Philomene and Emily (great grandmother of the author) are the best.

2.5/5

n  [A]s much as she would do to protect the new life inside her, their making had nothing to do with how careful she was allowed to be.n

Judging by the fallout, this work spent too much time on my shelves, but then again, I don't think I would've put up with the level of the quality and structural integrity of the writing even back when I first acquired the book, or even when I first digitally added it to my shelves. I've read critiques of the handling of swinging back and forth between fiction and non, and I have to agree that the composition, however well intentioned, merited a more thorough editing, even on the level of fixing dangling pronouns and properly punctuating clauses. The story is fascinating when one takes into account the context, but considering the amount of money and time and ideals that went into this piece and the fame that resulted, it should have stood well on its own, rather than as a patchwork monotone structure whose contextual story of gumption merits the reading more than the reading actually sustains itself. It is laudatory to rescue one's history from a land which has spent so much time denying said history ever occurred, but the hype this work has receives does a disservice to the rest of the books of the genre, of which this is likely the most well known representation. There are no A's for effort in literature; just a violently enforced imbalance of demographics.

n  What am I to do with a white man's heart?...I want his head, his mind.n

It does well for my reading if I have something to fall back upon when my energy is low and my mood is not in for any of my more intense works, but it doesn't bode well for the appraisal of the fall back work itself. For all that this work is 500 pages, it is either less densely packed in typography or more familiar in historical context than the other works I had on hand, so it was a breather in more ways than one. However, the number of mistakes made in grammar, as well as the too blurred consistency between dialogue and description made for a disappointingly crafted piece, especially when taking into consideration that the two more arduous works I had on hand were both translation and thus, theoretically at any rate, should've been more prone to such mistakes. In addition, the history the story covers was not too me, and while following the family tree and related historical records added a measure of intrigue, I didn't come away with feeling of having gained anything. Again, I may have learned more had I read the work when i first acquired it, but this is no children's book, and a few choice quotes can't justify how poorly the fiction elements were handled. I didn't expect the level of Memoirs of Hadrian, but reading historical fiction shouldn't feel like trawling through poorly disguised plagiarism.

n  They can make me marry, but they can't make me live.n

This is the second to last work that I have leftover from Black History Month 2018, the penultimate being Queen Margot. I'm rather disappointed, to say the least, more so because I know for a fact that many will treat this work as their one and only knowledge bank with regards to US-centric slavery and freedom in blackness, seeing as how it's both technically fiction and non and on an acceptable respectability politics platform. To be perfectly honest, Tademy's doing some interesting things in her later books than she is here, but the lack of editing that went into this work is off-putting, and doesn't bode well for the future of her prose. It's admirable to look at the sections of history that are the most commonly passed over, but I hope Tademy's grasp on historical fiction has improved over time, no amount of The More You Know justifies choosing poor fictioning over less easily fudgeable nonfictioning.

n  Generations had been sacrificed for his look.n

One of the best parts of being involved with a community of fellow readers, is by discovering a book that you wouldn’t have known about otherwise.

Cane River is one of the best five star reads that I’ve read this year, and it’s not only the writing of Lalita Tademy, but the generational stories that are woven through this book, and partly based on her own family.

Told through generations of women from the Creole plantation in Louisiana, to through years that followed, it was such a powerful story and I loved it more than words can even express.

Each woman tells a story more heartbreaking than the last, yet I found myself admiring them for their strength. Books like this can be so heavy, yet the author brings a lightness to the book through slivers of hope and a future for each new generation.

Cane River by Lalita Tademy these kind of books about white plantation owners owning slaves make me so sad. The way blacks were treated even when thought to be good was abominable. This was a story based on the authors true family history. A black thorn forever stuck in America’s eye. And rightfully so. This was a hard book to read. But to ignore the past is to continue the sins to the present. Everyone deserves love and respect.

Bravo Ms. Tademy for her first work of historical fiction. I know I’m late with this as this book has been out for some time, but achieving success in the historical fiction genre is no small feat. This book is very easy to read. You can tell immediately that she has certainly done her research in regards to this time period involving Louisiana, slaves and emancipation. It is also evident that she has done her homework discovering how her personal family history fits into this. Trying to research family history is difficult and time consuming within itself let alone trying to trace ancestral lines that go back into slavery. Most of us reach the “wall of slavery” in our research efforts and the trail goes cold. So, once again, kudos for her diligence, progress and success.

Lalita Tademy successfully mixes elements of her families factual history with researched period details to create a sprawling generational account of love, family, choices and sacrifice. Four stalwart generations of women of color tell the story of their lives and the steps they took living life in response to the twists and curves that were thrown at them. Our journey starts with Suzette but at the head of the family is our grand matriarch Elisabeth, a slave who works in the cook house on the Derbane plantation. Elisabeth is described as a dark complexioned woman who was sold to the Derbanes from a relation’s plantation in Virginia. Elisabeth, who has experienced real hardship and loss within the bounds of slavery is a quiet woman who sees a lot but tries to stay in her place. Suzette, one of her daughters, carries us through most of her and her mother’s story of heartbreak, strength and resolve there on the plantation. Philomene, Suzette’s mulatto daughter picks up the narrative breaking the mold in a line of subservient slave women. Philomene tells us a true love story in the midst of bondage. Philomene, described as a woman with piercing eyes, who when pushed to the brink, learns to manipulate the components of her situation to get what she wants and needs for her family. She is the strength and level head of her family young and old. Lastly, we meet Emily who carries the torch into the future. Emily, is described as a petite fair skinned quadroon. Emily, who’s had many advantages considering her status, carries a certain air of grandeur, pumped up pride and conceit about her what she feels is the privilege of her fair skin. Emily, the last leg from the heavy past, begot the seeds of the future leading to our author in the present.

My feelings on the book: As I noted when I started reading this book, I've actually owned this book for some time. I attempted to start it previously but I assume I just wasn't in the right frame of mind to take on the subject matter. Although the reading of this book is quite smooth and flows nicely, slavery, is no easy subject to digest. I must admit that a few times some of the hardships these women had to deal with within the bounds of slavery brought me to tears. I had to stop and compose myself before continuing. I actually thought near the beginning of book that I would have to put it down and switch books. Not due to any disturbing detail just the emotion brought on by the fact that this is a situation some of my very own ancestors dealt with, gave me pause. It wasn't all bad and these women, as I'm sure most during this time in America's history, learned to persevere in whatever little ways they could. This was the encouragement to keep reading. If they could press on, I could keep reading about it.

I'm giving this book 4 stars for two reasons.
#1 Although I respect the author for her efforts and success, towards the very end of the book, the last few chapters seemed rushed and weary. As if after all the tiring detail throughout the majority of the book, the last few chapters were a quick run down of relative names and a few quick little stories to get the reader to the link between these people and the author. It just seemed rushed and maybe the steam had gone out.
#2 Reason is a heavy one. In the words of one of my favorite comedian's who did a skit on it, "this racism is killing me!" I can take a book about the history of slavery in America. We all know what that entails as a subject. It's heavy enough but this inner race racism between the various colors and shades of African American people, though it is a reality, I can't take it. I don't subscribe to it. I personally think it's debilitating to the strength of a people and it enrages me. One shade on the canvas is not better than the other, although some may feel otherwise. One is not more true or real than the other. I've seen it, I've heard it, I've experienced it. Yes, unfortunately it is a reality in history and surprisingly yes, even in present times but I hate it. These are my own personal opinions and they tie in with my rating because of the overtone that annoyed me. The impression that this one or that one had more opportunities based on her skin tone, ticked me off because at the end of it all, she still had to get waited on second in the store and still needed to sit in the back of the bus. Maybe because I'm from a later generation but to deny one's true, God blessed identity and mask with this air of superiority that is rooted in self hate, preposterous to me. It's a self induced repetition of the ideals that slavery was built on. A self induced slavery. And I could be wrong but this is my opinion that in some ways, there was an undertone that glorified this way of thinking. All, of that was my own opinion, which I'm entitled to.

All in all, this was a good thought provoking, emotion stirring historical fiction and I do recommend it to those who can handle the subject.

Enjoyed reading this knowing the author had the satisfaction of pulling this from her family’s history. I’m curious about the modern bend/perspective that may have been imposed upon the lives of the generations. I like the different focus placed upon each of the generations of Mamas and how that played out in their expectations and experiences. I was hooked and enjoyed a fairly quick read of what could have been a very long book.