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jessferg 's review for:
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
by Ernest J. Gaines
The biggest fault of this book is not in any way it's own fault - it just doesn't hold up against all of the tremendously good literature on the subjects that have come after it.
The first half of the book really kept my interest - a young girl trying to make her way out of the South just after emancipation. Unfortunately, as Jane gets older, the story gets more and more muddied. A lot of names tied to one-off events that we don't quite understand because we didn't know these people before their name shows up AND weren't given a solid enough set-up. Towards the end, it really does feel like the disconnected ramblings of an "old woman" even to the point of her repeating herself. It was as if she is unable to remember what is happening to her on a daily basis and yet things that happened 100 years ago are fresh in her mind (I don't doubt that can happen, it just doesn't work as a novel.)
The worst offense, however, is that the book ends just as it starts to get interesting again, during the American Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. It might as well stop mid-sentence. It's like Gaines ran out of ideas for what she could do next.
There is no denying Miss Jane's deserved place as a "classic," unfortunately, it's just not that great a read.
The first half of the book really kept my interest - a young girl trying to make her way out of the South just after emancipation. Unfortunately, as Jane gets older, the story gets more and more muddied. A lot of names tied to one-off events that we don't quite understand because we didn't know these people before their name shows up AND weren't given a solid enough set-up. Towards the end, it really does feel like the disconnected ramblings of an "old woman" even to the point of her repeating herself. It was as if she is unable to remember what is happening to her on a daily basis and yet things that happened 100 years ago are fresh in her mind (I don't doubt that can happen, it just doesn't work as a novel.)
The worst offense, however, is that the book ends just as it starts to get interesting again, during the American Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. It might as well stop mid-sentence. It's like Gaines ran out of ideas for what she could do next.
There is no denying Miss Jane's deserved place as a "classic," unfortunately, it's just not that great a read.