n  “I want you to show them the difference between what they think you are and what you can be.”n

n  ⇢The Plotn
So I read this book for school, and quite honestly, I would never in a million years have read this if it hadn’t been required reading, but surprisingly I enjoyed a lot about this book. Books where a main character is set up to die right from the start aren’t my thing, but I think the author did a fantastic job of showing Jefferson’s (the character who was unjustly placed on death row) journey and how it impacted his community. It also discussed racism and prejudice in such a thought-provoking way and from so many different perspectives, which I definitely think more people need to see.

Another reason I was hesitant about this one is because I try to stay away from books written by men. Too often there are unnecessary descriptions of women that rub me the wrong way, and this book did fall prey to that unfortunately, but overall I really appreciated how this book portrayed the women in the community and around Grant. Obviously, their dynamic was different than it would be today because this book discusses racism and the characters are living in a society where black people are constantly faced with it, and that was even worse for the women because of misogyny, but I really appreciated that in many ways this book demonstrated how the women like Miss Emma were the backbone of the entire movement to help Jefferson die as a man. Without them, this book could never have taken place, and the author never tried to hide that.

The other side of this is Vivian, who played into this trope I really hate, the “woman exists solely to further the man’s arc” trope. We see it all too often, and I think that I’m disappointed that it happened here because Vivian had the potential to do so much more as another educated person. However, I still liked her character and she definitely added depth to Grant’s character.

n  ⇢The Charactersn
This book had the characters set up in a way I initially thought was weird, because at a glance you’d think that the main character should be the person on death row who is the most dynamic character (look at me using terms from English class), but it’s actually Grant, who is essentially tasked with helping Jefferson die “as a man” because Grant is the most educated in the community. It took me a really long time to warm up to Grant if I’m being honest because at first, I found his negativity draining and in many instances completely unmerited, but the great part about this book is that as you get more information, you start to understand why characters are the way they are. In the book, Grant has a great scene where he explains how this difficult task makes him feel, and he struggles with going against what his education taught him time and time again, and those scenes were really the reason why my perspective of him completely changed. He definitely wasn’t a perfect person, and there are issues I had with his character that I won’t discuss because I think they’re more related to the author’s morals, but Grant was sort of caught between two worlds and it became easier to empathize with that as you keep reading.

n  “How do people come up with a date and a time to take life from another man? Who made them God?”n

Another character I want to talk about is the Reverend, Reverend Ambrose. I think he was intended to be a character that you don’t particularly like or dislike, but I have to say that I really hated him. I also understand his perspective (which is a statement that can coexist with my previous one), but overall I think his and my opinions are just too different for me to appreciate his character. This is part of the reason why I like Grant, but I value education before faith, and comfort before faith, and as much as the Reverend helped the community through prayer, he limited them in so many other ways. I know he wasn’t actively encouraging them to not become educated and whatnot, but I feel like the way he wanted the community to act wasn’t ever going to get them anywhere. I think older people might be more partial to what he was doing simply because back then you weren’t taught to question what you believe in, and they would understand that, but as someone born in the years where technology really started to shape society, I can’t help but question what I’m taught.

Finally, I want to quickly talk about Jefferson. We didn’t see as much of him as I had predicted, but what we did see was incredible. I really enjoyed seeing his journey and I was so proud of his arc. And reading chapter 29 with his notebook letter to Grant was so moving. 


n  “good by mr wigin tell them im strong tell them im a man good by mr wigin im gon ax paul if he can bring you this sincely jefferson”n

n  ⇢Overalln
There were plenty of things I enjoyed about this book and some things I didn’t, but this was a great book and I’m glad that my teacher included this book in the course!

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ❦ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

MY SPOTIFY ❦

MY LINKTREE ❦

Although it took me a while to truly empathize with the main character as he seemed obnoxious and self-absorbed in the first half, this was a great story, with a powerful message and a great sense of time and place.

Read this book years ago. Great book from the Harlem Renaissance. Also a great play! Had to read if recently a second time this summer for a course I ended up not finishing, but this is still a great book.

This is a devastatingly heart-breaking story of a young man sentenced to die for a murder he did not commit. The conviction of Jefferson, the young black man, affects his entire community. The story is set in the late 1940s in Louisiana, and Jefferson is convicted by the typical jury of that time - an all male, white jury. Jefferson's attorney tries to convince the jury to not convict the young man because he is innocent and in doing so, he insults Jefferson every way possible. He calls him a fool, unintelligent, and a cornered animal. But it is the last insult that sticks in Jefferson's mind and in the mind of the woman who raised Jefferson. Jefferson was called a hog, and this denigrating image is what sets in motion the request for the lesson in manhood to which the title refers.

I read this book as part of a personal challenge to read the best books of the 20th century. My list is of my own compilation, and this book is not on most lists you will find of the best books of the last century. It should be there. It is an astounding and moving story of a young man and his reluctant mentor exploring what it means to be a man. But not just a man, but a black man in the Jim Crow south. This story will stick with me for a long time. It is terribly sad, uplifting, and powerful at the same time.

It's almost the end of the year, and looking back at my 2018 reading list, I was trying to decide what my personal favorite book was this year. This is it. Without a doubt.

A lesson Before Dying is a very MOVING book. By reading most of the other reviews I'm sure everyone understands what this novel is about. I'm not positive if I would have appreciated this book in High School had I read it 10 years ago. I would like to thank Mr. Gaines for his lessons!! I've typed out a few powerful passages that moved me...There were more but these are just some I made sure I highlighted!

A hero is someone who something for other people. He does something that other men don't and can't do. He is different from other men. He is above other men. No matter who those other men are, the hero, no matter who he is, is above them.

"Do you know what a myth is, Jefferson?" I asked him. "A myth is an old lie that people believe in. White people believe that they're better then anyone else on earth -and that's a myth. The last thing they ever want is to see a black man stand, and think, and show that common humanity that is in us all. It would destroy their myth. They would no longer gave justification for having made us slaves and keeping us in the condition we are in. As long as none of stand, they're safe.

Please listen to me, because I would not lie to you now. I speak from my heart. You have the chance of being bigger then anyone who has ever lived on that plantation or come from this little town. You can do it if you try. You have seen how Mr. Farrell makes a slingshot handle. He starts with just a little piece of rough wood- any little piece of scrap wood- then he starts cutting. Cutting and cutting and cutting, then shaving. Shaves it down clean and smooth till it's not what it was before, but something new and pretty. You know what I'm talking about, because you have seen him do it. You had one that he made from a piece of scrap wood. Yes, yes - I saw you with it. And it came from a piece of old wood that he found in the yard somewhere. And that's all we are Jefferson, all of us on this earth, a piece of drifting wood. until we - each of us, individually- decide to become something else. I am still that piece of drifting wood, and those out there are no better. But you can be better.

Profoundly moving, and possibly the most tragic novel I have read in a long time. Jefferson’s diary was incredibly sad: this poor innocent boy facing his death. The deputy Paul’s account to teacher Wiggins of how Jefferson stood up to meet his execution brought out my tears. So many strong characters who will live in my mind for a long while. I can’t believe I haven’t read Gaines before, but I will read his others soon.

A great writer & one of his great books. I highly recommend it!!

Just finished reading this and I'm sorry to say I'm a bit underwhelmed. I think I'd seen so many positive reviews and maybe had set my expectations too high.

The book's central theme is that Jefferson is in prison and sentenced to death and Grant has been chosen, unwillingly, to ensure Jefferson dies like a man and not like a "hog".

Given this set-up for the story, I felt it had the potential for so much. Personal discovery, morals, bravery, courage.. but it had little of any of them. In fact, it's only in the last part of the book that any real dialogue occurs between Jefferson and Grant.

Whilst Jefferson's silence is completely apt given his situation and anguish, it doesn't allow the story to open up at all. What we're left with is the story of Grant's daily life and him trying to come to terms with his own destiny. This is interesting, but not so profound that I could rave about the book.

With raw, unflinching honesty and a brilliant depiction of time and place, this is the story of a young, black man sentenced to death for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A white man was shot to death, the other two perpetrators dead, someone must be held accountable.

A young school teacher, returned to the quarters to teach the black school children, and now enlisted by his aunt and the condemned man's nana to help the man go to his death as a man, not as an inhuman man, not much better than a hog, a thing, not a person. Poignant depiction of strong women, women who had to be since so many of the men had left and not returned.

In school I read this author but the book assigned was The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, which was also very good. It is difficult for the reader not to e touched by this book, this young man's plight and the sorrow of the people closest to him. The last chapter of this book is unforgettable. At least it is for me.

One of those titles I have heard of for years but never got around to reading. It is a hard, gritty picture of life in the Deep South before segregation ended. I grew up in Texas, not the Deep South, but still very much the same. I remember the “Whites only” water fountains and the back sections of busses for “colored.” I think even a person that didn’t have such experiences would still get the stifling feeling of black people that Gaines eloquently writes about. Not a pleasant book, but it is of an unpleasant time and place.

I wonder if Gaines was anyhow inspired by a Claude McKay's poem which starts:

"If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot"