The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest Gaines

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5.0/5.0 - Ernest Gaines captures 100 years of Black history through the voice of Miss Jane Pittman, who is born a slave but dies a free woman in the 1960s during the Civil Rights Era. As a child, at the end of the Civil War, she travels with a group heading to Ohio, where a Union soldier has assured her she will have a better life. But vigilante riders catch and kill most of her group, with the exception of her and a small boy, Ned, who manage to hide. She raises him to adulthood, only to see him be killed for teaching children to read. Throughout her life, people she loves are taken away, her husband, Joe Pittman is killed by a wild stallion, and later, Jimmy, a sharecropper's son who takes up the Civil Rights mantle is killed before he is set to speak at a march.
Gaines' characters are multidimensional, all have faults and redeeming qualities. The plot draws you in and you are soon lost in the story, as if you are living it yourself. This was my second book by Ernest J. Gaines, having first read A Lesson Before Dying last year. He is one of the authors who spoke at the Brockport Writers Forum, and whose interview I posted in our institutional repository.
I listened to the Blackstone audio book, narrated by Tonya Jordan. For the most part, it was an enjoyable experience, but every so often the volume would get unexpectedly loud, as if the reader had just picked up the story again, or turned in her chair. Still, the portrayal of Miss Jane was wonderful, and her way of repeating words for emphasis (sweet, sweet) very interesting.
Book 83 of 2021

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