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Title: Cane River by Lalita Tademy ISBN: 0-446-67845-7 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.53 (207 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Could have been so much better
Comment: Cane River was not the great read that I had hoped it would be. In my opinion Cane River was an average novel. There was nothing remarkable about the characters or the writing. I respectfully disagree with majority of the 5 star ratings this book has received. Ms. Tademy wanted to share her family history with us and I commend her effort if not the results. I agree with one of the reviewers when she wrote that facts and fiction didn't mesh. Even though Ms. Tademy makes it clear that this is novel and that she took creative licence with charcters. I kept questioning too many events wondering if they were fact or fiction. The second problem was Ms. Tademy's habit of skipping over large time spans without an explaination. She ends chapters abruptly and begins sometimes years later with no hint of what happpend in between. I don't expect every detail to be wrtten down but neither do I expect to feel as though I missed something.
The biggest problem with this novel was the weak character develpoment. The characters don't have their own voice. I don't feel that I know any of the charcters. I know more about what they looked like than what they felt. Describing Suzette as dark with a pretty round face doesn't tell me how she felt about having her dreams of a better life stolen or her body and soul violated by a Frenchman who just reached out and took what he wanted. Philomeme suffered so much but we never heard her speak in her own words about her pain and suffering. Ms. Tademy told us how she felt. Only near the end of the book does Philomene
show her pain and hatred of Narcisse. Emily the "fairest one of all" was more developed but again Ms. Tademy spent too much time describing her looks. How many times do we need to be reminded that Emily had long silky brown hair or a thin "French" nose or that she was lighter that her Frenchman. They had this huge family of women who survived the worst life had to offer and they never really talked to one another! The one thing that Ms. Tademy did do a wonderful job of was conveying the love that these women had for thier children. This book had so much potential and could have been a truly great novel.
Rating: 5
Summary: Wow!
Comment: I don't know if anyone could read this book and NOT feel somehow changed by it.
Although written as fiction, the documents, family histories and pictures give not-so-silent tribute to this REAL family, and their very real experiences. I found myself pouring over the pictures, flipping back frequently to put a face with a name, and thinking the whole time "It's like Lalita Tademy sat down and talked with her ancestors!"
I would love to see this book hit the "required reading" lists of high schools. It's a lesson in so many things, not the least of which is the author's tenacious search for details, documentation and something else...something hard to define...but it's almost like she slipped into a time machine and brought back the past for us. I can't wait for her next book! I feel like I've learned a more valuable lesson than any text book could have taught. I learned instead from Elisabeth, Philomene, and Emily.
Rating: 3
Summary: My opinion of Cane River
Comment: I do not know why, but I could not really get into this book. I usually enjoy narratives such as this, but I just could not enjoy it to the fullest. I think it took me almost a week to finish it (I read Alex Haley's Queen in a matter of hours!).
My recommendation is read it, and draw your own conclusions. I am not sure if this is Ms. Tademy's first book or not, but if it is, I'm sure her 2nd try will be better :-)
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Title: Stolen Lives : Twenty Years in a Desert Jail by Malika Oufkir ISBN: 0786886307 Publisher: Miramax Pub. Date: 01 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds ISBN: 0425162443 Publisher: Putnam Pub Group Pub. Date: April, 1997 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Drowning Ruth by CHRISTINA SCHWARZ ISBN: 0345439104 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 31 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Fall On Your Knees (Oprah #45) by Ann-Marie MacDonald ISBN: 0743237188 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 24 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: A Virtuous Woman by Kaye Gibbons ISBN: 0375703063 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 05 November, 1997 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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