Rating: 
Summary: nothing gained
Review: A PC novel. With the exception of Jefferson, the characters are wooden. Nora Hurston and James Baldwin offer authentic and moving portrayals of African-American men and women struggling not only against a racist society, but also against their people to establish a true identity. I prefer the author's short stories.
Rating: 
Summary: Lessons for life
Review: The lessons we learn through books are truly amazing, while reading "Lesson Before Dying" By: Ernest J. Gaines is based on the story of a young man who is sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit. He was convicted by the color of his skin, and for being at the scene of the crime. While reading this capturing book I thought about the book "True North" by: Kathryn Lasky. "True North" is based on the Underground Railroad, which follows a white woman's friendship with a black woman who is an escaped slave making her way to the Canada border. Both authors show the reader how strong the characters are through thick and thin. The character in "A Lesson Before Dying"; Jefferson undergoes change through trust of another black man by the name of Grant Wiggens, and understands the real meaning of life. Jefferson's nanna persuades a young schoolteacher Grant Wiggens to visit Jefferson in his cell and help him learn his pride of being a man before his death. Grant Wiggens is quoted in the novel "do you know what his nanna wants me to do before they kill him? The public defender called him a hog and she wants me to make him a man. Within the next few weeks, maybe a month, whatever the law allows- make him a man" Before the story is over the two men forge a bond showing being a man not a hog is truly a great thing to have. The teacher lets a confused teenager understand that he is not the victim, but is for the color of his skin. The characters in "True North" undergo the change of life, understanding of two different races coming together and understand the real meaning of life. This historical fiction book lets the reader understand the meaning of life in the 19th century. Fourteen-year-old Lucy being the youngest daughter of a proper, upper-middle-class family lives in Boston. The other character Afrika, a young slave knows it is time to run for freedom to the Underground Railroad. Both of the girl's lives collide when Lucy discovers Afrika Hiding in her grandfather's house. Lucy quickly changes her thoughts on slavery, as the girls become better friends. Afrika shares her life of slavery to Lucy, while the reader can imagine the real terrors of slavery. "Afrika turned her back to Lucy and began to take off her heavy wrap, and then she unbuttoned her blouse. She removed it and the chemise so she was naked from the waist up. A blaze of cold moonlight illuminated the awful spider web that stretched across Afrika's back. Crying softly, Lucy traced the terrible embroidery of scars with her finger. It was then that the unimaginable became imaginable. That night, the two girls fell asleep in each other's arms." The author gives vivid detail and the characters perspectives on life. Both of these books go through change through each character, while they both find the real meaning to life. Gains and Lasky paint a picture for the reader about each of the characters who undergo change. Let's the readers escape and imagine what it is like for Jefferson, Wiggens, Afrika's, or even Lucy's way of life, through friendship and understanding.
Rating:
Summary: A Lesson for Everyone
Review: "A Lesson Before Dying" offers multiple lessons which anyone can be guided by. In this compelling novel, Gaines incorporates his own background and experiences in a similar setting into making the characters and events come alive. This book addresses many themes such as injustice, discrimination, and the death penalty. However, the single theme that most stood out to me was the concept of pride and dignity. Jefferson's pride has completely been torn apart by the unfair accusation for a crime he didn't commit and by being called a "hog" by his defense lawyer. Grant's mission, as he visits Jefferson in prison, is to teach him to regain a sense of pride, so that he can die with dignity and face his death courageously. He also teaches that heroism can be achieved by simply having the courage to defy and stand up to those in authority. This book really got me thinking, especially concerning the death penalty. When you think about it, it really can sound unethical for one person to be able to determine the date and time to take away life from another person, especially if they didn't even deserve to die in the first place, as in Jefferson's case. Overall, "A Lesson Before Dying" was an outstanding, realistic, and moving book with lessons that can educate any reader. I highly recommend it for anyone who would like to learn something about any aspect of the human soul.
Rating:
Summary: enlightening page turner
Review: This is an extraordinary work by a truly gifted author. I began reading this story one evening before bed, but I could not put it down. I finished it in the wee hours of the morning and felt shaken. Ernest Gaines has an incredible ability to put the reader in the experience; I felt that I was the protaganist standing at the "white" back door with righteous indignation! I felt angry and then more angry when I felt helpless! Reason, intellect, good character would not prevail in this place! If not, then what? Read this book for a deeper understanding of history and humanity.
Rating:
Summary: An Unforgettable Lesson
Review: A Lesson Before Dying is a wonderful book that touched me in so many ways. Ernest J. Gaines, himself growing up in a similar setting, makes his novel very realistic. He bases most of his novels on real life experiences from his youth. This book takes place in the late 1930's in Louisiana. A black man named Jefferson was said to be guilty for killing a white man- a crime he did not commit. Mr. Wiggins, the teacher at the colored church elementary, is asked by Jefferson's godmother to go visit him in jail. In court, Jefferson was called a "hog", and not a man. Jefferson's godmother, Miss Emma, wanted Mr. Wiggins to teach Jefferson ,before he is executed, that he is a man. The two men grow a relationship, and Jefferson is eventually able to express his feelings by writing to Mr. Wiggins in a journal. Jefferson is a very honest person, and you really feel like you know him at the end. That is the thing I liked most about the book, it is very realistic. I feel that this is one of the best books I have ever read, and reccomend it to anyone who does not mind a little sadness.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent/Moving book
Review: One reader offers a wonderful long revieew. I'll only say that this is one of the best books I have read/ listened to in a long time. I enjoyed the audio addition and Jay Long's interpretation of the characters manner and voice. I listened to the unabridged addition. These are lessons for all. Besides lessons on human rights, the death penalty and simple human dignity, the book also leads us to think what it means to know the day and the hour of our death.
Rating:
Summary: The Product of a Brilliant Mind
Review: Capital punishment, segregation, and acceptance have been a part of past and present times. Those issues along with tragedy, injustice, and accomplishment are part of the fascinating story, A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest Gaines. The setting for this novel is a small town in the south during the 1940s where the two main characters are Jeferson and Grant. Jefferson is condemned to death by electrocution for a crime he did not commit. When his godmother realizes that nothing can be done for his freedom, she asks Grant to help him die like a man. After being called a hog by his defense attorney, Jefferson looses the little dignity he had and it's up to Grant to restore it. Grant doesn't like the idea, but he's forced to comply to it by his aunt. In return, Grant learns about the soul and spirit. Gaines writes this tragic story and reveals his feelings of capital punishment, segregation, and the difficulty of acceptance in a unique way, which thus makes this novel a 1993 winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. Ernest J. Gaines was born into the world he describes in A Lesson Before Dying. "Though the places in my stories and novels are imaginary ones, they are based pretty much on the place where I grew up and the surrounding areas where I worked, went to school, and traveled as a child..."(Vintage Books) depicts Gaines. Although what he says, Gaines has a special way of letting the reader know what his opinion is on capital punishment. He describes his feelings about this form of punishment through Grant. When the date for Jefferson's death is set, Grant thinks about the way someone can plan a man's death. "How do people come up with a date and time to take a life from another man? Who made them God?" Those were the thoughts going through Grant's mind, and they showed the billiance of an author who expresses his feelings in a unique manner. Grant and Jefferson convey to the reader the true meaning of soul and spirit by teaching each other those values. Grant shows Jefferson to die with dignity. Then, conversely, he is learns a few things about the soul. The way they respond to each other is described so clearly, it's as if the reader is in that lonely and desolate cell. Gaines also wrote about the mulattos to tell the reader about the struggle with acceptance. He teaches the reader about segregation and acceptance through his other characters. Bars in the back of town for "blacks only", "blacks only" restrooms, and the school where Grant teaches for "blacks only" are only some of the examples of segregation Gaines so explicitly places in the novel. A Lesson Before Dying is a touching and powerful novel that reaches out to the reader and portrays a time of injustice, inequality, and struggle. Gaines does an exquisite job of describing thoroughly the pain of enduring those issues. That description makes the story powerful enough to change some readers' thoughts. By comprehending the struggle these main characters go through, the reader gets a broader view of society which makes him/her a better person.
Rating: 
Summary: A Lesson Before Dying
Review: This was a very long winded book. It was not a page turner at all. I found myself not wanting to finish the book for as short as it was. I thought it would get better, but it never did. At times the writer leaves you hanging as to what is happening with the prisoner and then out of no where, the writer takes you back to the prisoner. Somewhat confusing and very boring. The only excitement is when the teachers go off into a field and have sex. I do not understand why that was even brought into the book. Boring. This is the second worst book I have bought going by the Oprah Winfrey Book Club Review. Bad Taste.
Rating:
Summary: A very affective novel.
Review: A Lesson Before Dying is a strong novel that starts to control your emotiuons. This novel was written in the time of the 1940's, where Affrican Americans were still begin discriminated. The two main characters, two African American men, Grant Wiggins, an elementary school teacher, and a man named Jefferson, who was sentenced to death for convicted murder are forced to come together to change Jefferson's life. The white attorney who prosecuted Jefferson said that Jeffereson was going to die a hog, and not a man because Jefferson was illiterate and not intelligent. Jefferson's god-mother, Miss Emma raised Jefferson all his life, and was devastated to hear this statement and wanted someone to help change Jefferson to prove the white men wrong. Miss Emma then had Grant Wiggins to help change Jefferson from being a hog as stated to a person who was going to die a man. Grant and Jefferson are two every different people, with different intentions. What was the outcome at the end... you must read the novel to find out!
Rating: 
Summary: A Lesson Before Dying
Review: This is a story about a fairly uneducated man who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Thourgh out the story as Jefferson, the convicted murderer, waits for the final day to come the black teacher of the town, Grant Wiggins, is called upon by Jefferson's godmother to help him. Grant is asked to teach Jefferson that he is not less than human. The end of the story was very emotional when Jefferson was asked at his final moments if he had any last words. His response was "Tell Nanna I walked." This very simple sentence has much deeper meaning, he was basically saying that he is a man, as much of a man as any other man in that room, if not more.
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