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Summary: A Horrifying account of a mans struggle to stay alive
Review: Ernest Gaines is an outstanding writer.He shows his skills with the award winning book A Lesson Before Dying.He captures your heart with the sad facts of reality,but on doing so he also leaves behind a lesson.The book is profound,it captures your heart with the incredible story of a black man who's accused of killing a white man.Ernest shows the mans struggle to come to grips with who he really is, rather than who he think he is.The book leaves you in tears but also gives you hope for the future.Alexius Williams
Rating: 
Summary: just short
Review: A friend gave me a copy of this book months ago. It's been sitting on my nightstand so long because I anticipated that it would be extremely draining emotionally. Well, it was, only I don't think the intended emotion was what drained me. On one hand, I do think the novel portrayed the frustration felt by it's characters. And I think that I gained some insight into what it was like "in those days." However, I was a little confused about when and why Jefferson decided to face his death as a man, and what Grant had to do with it. Many of the reviewers view Grant as a hero. I don't see why. He could not face his own "incarceration," or even face the inevitable termination of Jefferson's. I was left with a sense of frustration. I thought that there was something missing. I can't put me finger on what that is, but I think it has to do with the fact that the lesson learned by Jefferson was not passed on to Grant.
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Summary: It made me think about heroism in today's world
Review: What I most enjoyed about this book was the indefinition level: in a large part of the story, the characters don't know exactly what they want or what their role in life is. This has pushed me into their world. I felt lost with them. I craved for a hero, which is inconsistent with my view of heroism. I disagreed with the writer, wishing he showed me this story in another way. I was not passive, so when in the end of the book I cried, it didn't feel manipulative. I'm glad I read this book.
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Summary: Great plot,great everything an omage to the american society
Review: The book lesson before dying is a great book. It really intriguied me in numerous amount of ways. This book gave an indepth look to sothern African American life. The involves a young man that is caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. And is senteced to death row for it. His Aunte wants the youg man Jefferson to become a man before dying. So Jeffersons's aunte inlist the help of a preacher of the local town, and her best friends nephew. The book has marvelous developements and it is a blast to read. 17 year old African American student Menlo-Atherton HS Stephen Carson
Rating: 
Summary: A lesson in learning
Review: I read this book in December 1997, and I am still haunted by it. Haunted because of the fact that I do not find Grant a hero. He was pushed into the situation by his aunt. I find him a forced compassionate position, but far from being a hero. He did a job that was forced, if it wasn't for the aunt he would have removed himself from the situation. I liked the author's style, I believed he lived and research this with great depth and understanding. Maybe I just didn't get the authors message, and then again maybe I did.
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Summary: GIVES YOU HOPE THAT ONE PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE...
Review: A LESSON BEFORE DYING will give you hope that one person in the world can make a positive difference in another's life. This novel is an extremely quick and easy read. The opening chapter will certainly grab your attention with the courtroom scene, but you will then be forced to hold on for the next hundred or so pages because very little happens. But have no fear, Gaines does not let you down. Well, maybe he does a little. The last chapters resurrect your interest and touch (The key word here is touch, any conclusions or lessons to be learned will have to be done on your own. But Gaines does a good job of bringing them up.) on interesting viewpoints on such issues as love, faith, and racial issues. The racial issues are probably the most well developed. Gaines not only adresses the prejudices the blacks face from outside their race but also the inter-racial troubles that they face. It talks of how the educated colored men of the south no longer will associate with the lower classes and how this is stripping down the cultures pride. Then it teaches us the most important lesson of all, that one man with love in his heart, no matter what color, can make an enormous impact on another man's life. Something that everyone should carry with them all the days of their lives.
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Summary: THIS NOVEL WAS GREAT, SHOWING BLACK MALE UNITY.
Review: THE NOVEL WAS ONE OF THE BEST I HAVE READ. GAINES SHOWING ONE BLACK MAN BEING FORCED TO CARE FOR ANOTHER BLACK MAN WAS REWARDING. THIS OPENED MY MIND LETTING ME KNOW HOW IMPORTENT IT IS FOR BLACK MALES TO UNDERSTAND AND CARE FOR ONE ANOTHER. MOST FEMALE BLACK WRITERS DO NOT HAVE HEALTHY INSIGHT WHEN IT COMES TO WRITING ABOUT AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES, THEY PERTRAY US AS BIGING RAPIST AND MURDERERS. IT'S SAD THAT OUR OWN SISTERS ARE GIVING SOCIETY A VERY NIGATVE IMAGE OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES. GAINES GIVES ARE PEOPLE THE POSATIVE INSIGHT THAT IS NEEDED FOR YOUNG AFRICAN AMERICANS TO GROW, I WISH ONE AFRICAN AMERICAN FEMALE WRITER WOULD WRITE A POSATIVE NOVEL ABOUT A BLACK MAN. LEONARD MC NEAL
301 WELLINGTON AVE
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK
14611
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Summary: LOVED IT!!!!!
Review: This book is one in a million. I would recomend this book for a person who looks for intrest in a book from the very beganing.
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Summary: Portrayal of racial issues during 1940's Louisana
Review: This book gave me a good understanding of the racial issues of the 1940's in Louisiana. The author included many faces of the issue: the blacks, the educated and the uneducated; mulattos; attitudes among blacks toward light skinned and dark skinned; the arrogant whites of that era and their wives (who played significant behind the scene roles); black family culture. It is all there and well written. I wish the author had written more about the friendship that developed between Grant and Jefferson. Otherwise, I liked the book and appreciated Gaines's portrayal of Jefferson.
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Summary: A keeper...
Review: I picked this book up at the library. I have finished it and now want to purchase it for my library.It is definitly one of my "10 best." I was/am still so moved by the book.A must read by all.Human spirit at its best. LOVED IT!!
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