Rating: 
Summary: Not for a 16 year old!
Review: "A Lesson Before Dying" Began with a fantastic foundation, a man allegedly murders three people during a robbery and is now on death row. This is the type of story any junior in high school would crave to read, including myself. Then the actual story begins and completely bores any reader my age to sleep. Grant criticizes society and dreads being treated like an inferior thus giving the novel a theme. The issue of injustice and facing responsibility is a great subject matter to base a book upon, until an adolescent must read it, which is then that the book falls out of play. This novel by Ernest J. Gaines is written with precision, consideration and righteousness and would be considered a magnificent novel by many full-fledged persons, but the second it enters the hands of a 16year old, is the second it is set down never intended to be picked up again.
Rating: 
Summary: There is always something to learn, September 3,2003
Review: The story takes place in Louisiana in the 1940's when there is segregation. A black young man named Jefferson is wrongly convicted of murdering a white store keeper. Jefferson is waiting for his date of execution. A black school teacher named Grant Wiggins, is convinced by his aunt and Jefferson's godmother to go down to the jail house to teach Jefferson how to be a man. The only reason Grant is teaching him how to be a man is because during the trial the prosecutor referred to Jefferson as a hog. From then on the book deals with all of the trials and tribulations that Grant and Jefferson have to face. They must realize that they do not know everything and that they still need to listen to others so that they can learn more.
While reading this book you begin to realize that the situations occurring actually could have happened. You will read about various situations that will make you feel the emotions that everybody is going through in the book. I could really understand what was happening and what everybody was going through because I myself am a young black man that still sees racial problems and how we as African Americans are treated differently in the year 2003. I also believe that no one in the world knows everything, and that there is always something for a person to learn before they die.
In the end Jefferson dies, but he died like a man. The journal that Jefferson wrote had many valuable lessons that he himself had finally learned from before his death. Grant reading this journal had also learned a lot from it and had learned what he wanted to do with his life.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book because it was very interesting and, at same time, helpful and educational.
Rating:
Summary: English Class Book Review
Review: The novel A Lesson Before Dying has a realistic 1940s Southern Louisiana setting and perhaps the realistic setting is due, in part, and parallel to the childhood life of the author, Ernest Gaines. That said, the book revolves around a black individual, who was convicted under an entirely white jury, the book paints a portrait as if he was innocent. He supposed murdered a white store clerk in a robbery gone bad, however that is up to the reader to decide. As he is waiting on Death Row, the local school teacher, Grant, at the request of his aunt Emma, tries to turn what Jefferson describes as a 'hog' into a man. Thus, Grant, against his own volition agrees and attempts, numerous times in vain, but in the end turns Jefferson into a man who is willing to accept his death with pride and dignity. All in all Jefferson 'showed more strength than anyone in the room.'
Rating:
Summary: A great lesson
Review: In a Cajun Community in Louisiana, a young man is about to go to jail for a crime that he did not commit. A white man had died and the blame was all on him. He now was going to go to the Electric Chair and there wasn't anything that he could do. He had lost all respect from everyone, this was Grant Wiggin's job to show all the white people that he was really a great person and was raised the right way. Grant Wiggins, the university educated, was forced to visit Jefferson by his aunt who made him go and teach him some things about life. The only problem about this was that Grant didn't even no how to handle life. Grant always grew hearing other people say that he wouldn't be anything than a black man. Grant was always encouraged by this and because of this he left the town for a few years and then came back to be a school teacher. Throughout the entire book Grant is wishing and dreaming about taking Vivian and leaving the town forever. The main point that I got out of this Book was no matter what happens, you have to stand up for you did or may not have done. I feel that A Lesson Before Dying is a great book that gives a life meaning message.
Rating:
Summary: A Long Road to a Valuable Lesson
Review: Ernest J. Gaine's, A Lesson Before Dying, was the longest 250 page book I ever have read. It's slow pace and predictable events put me right to sleep. The book takes place in the 1940's in a highly racially segregated part of a small Louisiana community. Jefferson, a young black man, is falsely accused of murder and sentenced to the electric chair. The majority of the book is the time between his accusation and his death, in which his old teacher, Grant Wiggins, tries to make a man out of him at the wishes of his godmother (Tante Lou, Jefferson's mom). Grant's goal is to make the hopeless Jefferson into a man, and destroy the white man's myth that the white race is superior. So after frequent visits from the teacher and Jefferson's family, Jefferson decides to stand as a man and die with pride to further the black populations struggle for equality. By sacrificing for this cause, Jefferson defined what it is to be a man by giving his all for others and what he believes in. Everyone in the book is so amazed and enlightened by his actions, and they learn what it means to be a man or even human for that matter (Even Grant Wiggins). It proves we all have something to learn in life, but after twenty pages I guessed the ending because I have encountered a similar theme in multiple other works. I suppose I'm a sucker for happy endings, but I wanted to know where the justice was. Jefferson was a decent human being, and yet he and his family suffered. The question that arises is; "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Well I don't like that Jefferson seemingly had an unfair turn of events, but being a man of God, I accept the idea the he will be compensated for in Heaven. No one is above death or fate, and for that reason I believe we are all equal. On a side note, the author had some excellent descriptions of the food that Tante Lou made for Jefferson, and I have to say I found myself hungry quite often. Overall I believe that the lesson in the book was a subtle yet valuable one, but it seemed to take the author forever to get there. Other then the fact that there was not much "happening" in the book, I thought I was a worthy read for someone who has a lot of time on their hands.
Rating: 
Summary: Had me until the end
Review: I thought this book was pretty good, but I didn't like the way book ended. I thought perhaps something different might happen then the usual predictable ending.
Rating: 
Summary: There is a lesson for everyone.
Review: The books starts in segregation-era, Louisiana. A young black man named Jefferson is falsely accused and convicted of murder, and he's waiting his execution date. Jefferson's mother, the godmother of Grant, asks Grant a favor. She wants Grant, who is the best educated man she knows, to make Jefferson a man before he dies. So Grant starts to go and meet him in jail. As the story goes on, Gains writes the background of Jefferson, how he grew up, how he was educated, and how other African-Americans' lives were like in the segregation-era. Everything was different between the Caucasians and the African-Americans : The quality of the education, what part of the town they live, where they hang out, and the church they go to was different. He also shows how the African-Americans had to act differently in the presence of Caucasians.
In the end, Jefferson dies, but there are so many lessons from his death. Everyone inside the book, and outside the book learns a lesson from his death, especially in his diary. Jefferson's diary show the steps of him, becoming a man. While you read this book, you will be able to experience the pains and sorrows of the African-Americans during that era, and also learn more about racism. I didn't really understand what racism was, and how serious it was because I grew up in a Asian culture.
Rating: 
Summary: Could've been written by a fifth-grader
Review: This book was painfully boring. I honestly believe a young student could have written it. The subject had potential but was squashed immediately. One of only a few boooks I wish I never read.
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Summary: A LITERARY TRIUMPH
Review: Gaines carefully analyzes and develops the problem of being a minority person in a biased society. He projects the frustrations inherent in living a life where there is no level playing field, with little chance that this will change. He does not hit you with a mallet, but grabs your heart and your mind; as you read you feel the sorrow and the rage. And for a moment, you have a dim understanding of this " us and them " quandary. I believe this to be a classic; not to be accepted lightly or forgotten easily.
Rating:
Summary: Glimpse into the Human Potential
Review: A human's life, woven from the threads colored by the decisions we make, has the potential to create works of art that impact the lives of those around us. Ernest Gaines creates such a masterpiece in his portrayal of 1940's racial struggle, in his novel, A Lesson Before Dying. This portrait of life,captured with the stinging reality of an inborn racial injustice, portrays the limitations of the social cage Americans have crafted over the years. Grant, one of the few educated black citizens in his community, is faced with the challenge of teaching a convict, already destined for execution, and devoid of hope. Driven only by his aunt, he faces Jefferson, the inmate, and the imbedded message, voiced by society, of the man's worthlessness and inequality.
Grant is slowly able to open his eyes to the potential Jefferson's education holds as a beacon of resistance to the white man's restrictive role of ignorance for the black community, begins to fill the Jefferson's void of ignorance with the knowledge of his own capability.
Gaines incorporates many of his own experience as an African American growing up I a repressive society. Such social setbacks, he says, "have spurred (him) repeatedly to look for the truths and lessons of life....in the depths and mysteries of the human heart", because, "that's where each of us discovers who we really are."
Jefferson's own heart, frozen by his own self- doubt, was warmed and made fertile for growth, aided by Grant, who arguably benefited equally from the whole experience. Although Jefferson's mortality was predetermined by suppression , his community was better able to live their lives as true people.
Aware of the fact that much of his audience will never be able to fully appreciate the horror of American racial subjugation, Gaines crafted the book in such a manner that a very thorough level of understanding can be reached. Touching upon one of his themes, Gaines utilizes the power of genuine empathy between the readers to his characters, to drive his message of awareness. As one of his final words captured in the novel, Grant says, "(you) must believe, if only to free the mind...(because) only when the mind is free has the body a chance to be free."
Though to foresee a complete freedom from such binding ideas, like racism, is irrational, a beginning to the process is needed. Gaines ignites the possibility within each of his readers and helps to create the belief in personal capability, despite the setbacks one can face. In short, Gaines eloquently bestows upon every one of his pupils an invaluable message. One that will hopefully serve to brighten the tapestry we each weave and impart to those who live in our footsteps; our own lesson before dying.
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