Beautifully, if plainly written, and epic in scope, this is the story of of multiple generations of Black women living in Cane River, Louisiana. It is the fictionalized history of Tademy's family. The people in the book are all real people, discovered through painstaking research and a short family history written by a cousin. The research included wills, newspapers, family photographs, and bills of sale for some of the enslaved people. The people, and especially the women must have been amazing, making as much of their lives as they could under slavery and Jim Crow. While the people were real, the author does a good job of filling in the gaps through imagined dialog and feelings. The people come alive, the women and the men who loved them, black, and in one case white, who gave his life because he couldn't give up the woman he loved.

The beginning took place during slavery and it ended in the 1930s well before the civil rights era. What would Elizabeth, Suzette, Philomene, and Emily think of the United States today? They would probably be thrilled and pleased but also disappointed.

A story of resilience in the face of evil.

4.25

Historical fiction

Well written novel of one family’s history of challenges and success. Each character comes alive to weave the determination to better themselves.

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.

Although I initially thought this book was going to throw me into another depression, it really redeemed itself. I think it was not the book itself that made me sad, but the unfairness of the world we live in,especially in the past. There were so many injustices done to those in slavery, (and thankfully this book didn't dive too deep into the harsher side). But it was enough to make me realize the unfair position they were in. As I finished it, I had a great desire to find out what parts are true and to see the photos of these women (and men). I couldn't find as much information as I wanted but the author's website has a few.

This is a captivating novel, based on the author's own genealogy. Set in antebellum Louisiana, it traces the lives of African Americans, particularly women, from slavery to freedom. Tademy's ancestors lived at a fascinating, if often grim, time in the nation's history, and the novel depicts the many obstacles they faced even after the Civil War, particularly for couples of mixed race. Highly recommended.

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.

A wonderful book, I loved the history, the story the setting. I've been to this area and live fairly close, so learning about the history of the people through the eyes of slave women really brought it to life for me. The tragedies that the slaves went through are unthinkable but to come out on the other side still intact is amazing. Although this book is historical fiction the author's piecing together her family history here is nothing short of a miracle.

This had been on shelf for some time. Usually avoid OW books. I was looking for a possible book to review for the local paper and pulled this one out. I know people from the area so thought it might be interesting.
Once I got into the book I could not put it down. I know what will happen-have to see what happens-know what will happen-have to see what will happen. This over and over. Also found the history of the author and how she came to write the book a great story.
It will be the next review.

Cane River covers 137 years of the author's family history, written as fiction, but rooted in research, historical fact and family stories. The matriarch of the line was the Negress, Elisabeth, sold away from a plantation in Virginia to the backwaters of Louisiana. It was heartbreaking at times to read the stories of her descendants' families as they were torn apart by slave auctions, abandoned by their fathers who were white, and faced the sentence of illiteracy. At the same time, it was inspiring to read of the resourcefulness of the women I met in the book. They were smart, strong, hard working, loving mothers who were human just like me. Through Tademy's words and easy-to-read writing style, I could smell the wood fires and cooking greens, see the sweat glisten around the cotton pickers' necks and the dust on their feet, and hear the lilt of the Creole French spoken by the inhabitants of Cane River, Louisiana. That period in time was wrong, and if there is a judgement day, many sins must be accounted for from that ugly time in our history.

I am always wary when it comes to books written by regular people who decided to discover their family history. They more often than not are of interest only to the authors and their relatives. And they are usually badly written.
Also this was an "Oprah" book, so I was expecting lots of gooey 'women power' yadda-yadda.

I was pleasantly surprised. Wheares Ms Tademy might not win Nobel Prize for literature anytime soon I don't feel I have wasted my time. She doesn't over-romantacise her heroines - something hard to avoid when you write about your ancestors, so she earned one star for that alone. The remaining three stars are for an interesting story and insight into life in Deep South during the slavery and post-Civil War era. The book seems extremely well researched so I trust my vision of that time is not distorted.

I enjoyed the historical fiction aspect of this. It covers a particular time in history that I always love to get lost in.

This started out strong. The balance of both the historical and the fiction seemed to work right out of the gate. They were married well together, but as the story shifts to different generations, sometimes one or the other gets lost. It sometimes felt like an info dump, which is not a good thing. And sometimes it felt like a character parade. So somewhere after the first generation it became a little confusing. So 3 stars (I wish it could have been 4.)

Une fresque familiale émouvante et extrêmement bien écrite. 4 générations de femmes qui ont connu l'esclavage et la discrimination aux Etats unis.
Des passages très durs mais qui reflètent ce que les femmes esclaves devaient subir pour survivre.
Des personnages fascinants et uniques.
La question sur la couleur de peau est très intéressante car on peut apercevoir du racisme chez les personnes de couleurs.

Une lecture que je vous conseille pour le Black History Month mais aussi pour le reste de l'année :).