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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
informative
Gives a good glimpse of a time and place in our history that we should all know
The narrator, Jane Pittman is one of the most real characters I've come across in my reading. She has a very matter-of-fact way of telling a story, which I thought was just right. She is a woman who has seen a lot in her lifetime and can roll with whatever comes her way. Sometimes she does get sassy, though, and at those times the book is surprisingly funny.
At one point she started telling the story of some minor characters in her life...the son and the schoolteacher on the plantation where she lived. She almost lost me then. I just wanted to know her story. But I kept reading and I'm glad I did, because that story ended up being the best example of the extreme intricacies of race relations in the early 20th century South.
At one point she started telling the story of some minor characters in her life...the son and the schoolteacher on the plantation where she lived. She almost lost me then. I just wanted to know her story. But I kept reading and I'm glad I did, because that story ended up being the best example of the extreme intricacies of race relations in the early 20th century South.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Story that is still relevant.
I was a child when I saw this as a movie. It stuck with me through many years. I grew up and learned the name of the actress, Cicely Tyson, and she became one of my favorite actors. It wasn’t until I was in my 30s that I finally read the book, which tells more than the story did. It’s a brilliantly written piece of fiction that makes you feel like it’s actual history. It’s told during multiple generations and tells us that even when we’ve been turned around and stopped many times, we have to get back up and keep fighting. Keep fighting for the injustice of slavery and every single injustice that has happened since. It makes me more proud of the protesters carrying on the spirit of these people. Even if this is just fiction, you feel the story is real because it reflects our past and what we still go through, sadly, so many years later. I recommend this book (and the movie, I’d you can’t find it) to anyone.
I was a child when I saw this as a movie. It stuck with me through many years. I grew up and learned the name of the actress, Cicely Tyson, and she became one of my favorite actors. It wasn’t until I was in my 30s that I finally read the book, which tells more than the story did. It’s a brilliantly written piece of fiction that makes you feel like it’s actual history. It’s told during multiple generations and tells us that even when we’ve been turned around and stopped many times, we have to get back up and keep fighting. Keep fighting for the injustice of slavery and every single injustice that has happened since. It makes me more proud of the protesters carrying on the spirit of these people. Even if this is just fiction, you feel the story is real because it reflects our past and what we still go through, sadly, so many years later. I recommend this book (and the movie, I’d you can’t find it) to anyone.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Read for Well Read Mom’s book club. This is a work of fiction - Jane Pittman is a character. I wish she was real. I really liked her spunk. Billed as covering the black American experience from slavery to civil rights, I guess technically it does, but it really covers a woman’s life from the end of the civil war (and freedom) until the start of civil rights. People like to think the slaves were freed and then all was well (except for the Klu Klux) but that’s far from reality. This book immerses you in exactly what that reality entailed and how dependent on the white man many of them were still. They needed jobs and so they worked for the very people who had enslaved them, living nearly the same lifestyle, as their pittance of a paycheck was now docked for supplies, clothing and food. There have been many books written about slavery and about civil rights but not too many novels about the period in between.
Ernest J. Gaines’s The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman spans 100 years from Miss Jane’s childhood as a slave on a Louisiana plantation to the Civil Rights era of the 1960s. Through the Civil War, reconstruction, and Jim Crow, Miss Jane survives the everyday deprivation and abuse of Black life in Louisiana. She does this with dignity and optimism. Her story ends with the murder of The One who was leading the people to a protest. The protest goes ahead: “Just a little piece of him is dead,” I said. “The rest of him is waiting for us in Bayonne.” Miss Jane is optimistic to the end, ignorant of what will happen after the 1960s, and the need for Black Lives Matter fifty years later. I found the book’s celebration of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement as a turning point sad.
For my expanded notes: https://1book42day.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-autobiography-of-miss-jane-pittman.html
“As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.”
Check out https://amzn.to/2SpaDMN to see my books.
Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.
For my expanded notes: https://1book42day.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-autobiography-of-miss-jane-pittman.html
“As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.”
Check out https://amzn.to/2SpaDMN to see my books.
Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.
It took me a little while to get into this one, but after I finally got into the storyline, I really enjoyed it. This books follows the story of Miss Jane Pittman as she starts out as a slave all the way through the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement. She tells her life story and shares her experiences and what she has learned throughout her life. She is a very strong female character who has seen her share of struggles and has made the best of her life.