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aksmalley 's review for:
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
by Ernest J. Gaines
~~~~Audiobook review ~~~~
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest Gaines a really compelling concept - a black woman, age 110, tells her life story to a local history teacher who records it for his students and also posterity. Miss Jane Pittman was born a slave and at age 10 when the Civil War is over, starts her life as a “free person”. Her story ends at the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Miss Jane is full of wisdom and her story is amazing, having experienced a century of a changing nation, although certainly not fast enough in the realm of race relations. I enjoyed this audiobook quite a bit and felt the narrator did an amazing job catching all the lyrical elements of the prose. That was one of my favorite things about the book; the way the language has a cadence to it; a rhythm.
I liked the first half of the book better than the second half. Her experience as a girl and young woman , to me, were the most compelling. Her stories as an older woman seemed to be more focused on others; the other people living in the quarters, the creole schoolteacher, etc. I just enjoyed this less.
Overall this is a wonderful book and a great listen at the hands of the fabulous narrator Tonya Jordan.
7/10
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest Gaines a really compelling concept - a black woman, age 110, tells her life story to a local history teacher who records it for his students and also posterity. Miss Jane Pittman was born a slave and at age 10 when the Civil War is over, starts her life as a “free person”. Her story ends at the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Miss Jane is full of wisdom and her story is amazing, having experienced a century of a changing nation, although certainly not fast enough in the realm of race relations. I enjoyed this audiobook quite a bit and felt the narrator did an amazing job catching all the lyrical elements of the prose. That was one of my favorite things about the book; the way the language has a cadence to it; a rhythm.
I liked the first half of the book better than the second half. Her experience as a girl and young woman , to me, were the most compelling. Her stories as an older woman seemed to be more focused on others; the other people living in the quarters, the creole schoolteacher, etc. I just enjoyed this less.
Overall this is a wonderful book and a great listen at the hands of the fabulous narrator Tonya Jordan.
7/10