A Gathering of Old Men

Rating:
Summary: Slow, and Dull
Review: I loved the race relations between the cajuns, whites and blacks, but felt the speed of the book was about equal to a turtle on a hot day. If you want to read about interesting happenings in Louisiana, read it, just make sure you have A LOT of time and patience to spare.

Rating:
Summary: Ernest Gaines is a great American author!
Review: I enjoy books by this man. He could truly be one of America's greatest current authors. This story partially involves racial issues, but as I've found, Ernest Gaines stories are more stories from the heart, rather than racial incidents. In fact, in this book you would have a hard time telling whether the author is black, white, or whatever by the way the story is told. Rich in characters, some of the people here seem like people I've known, while others are people I would like to know.

Rating:
Summary: A good book, but a slow one as well
Review: This book was an excellent piece of literature. The fact is, however, 2 chapters would have sufficed. It's story is exaggerated through pages and pages ...where really the story can be told in 30 pages. However, the point is well taken. Racism and prejudice are vividly described and elaborated on to make you ask the question "why".. and "how".

Rating:
Summary: An eye-opening look into southern race relations of 1970's.
Review: Ernest Gaines, master storyteller, delivers again in this thought provoking novel. Set in 1970's Cajun country, 18 black men finally liberate themselves and discover an inner strength they never knew they had.

Rating:
Summary: Great book, the movie did not do it justice
Review: This book was a great read, so good in fact that it only took me two hours to finish the entire thing. I could not put it down. I saw the movie before I read the book and I must tell you the movie did not do the book justice. Ernest Gaines out did himself, he is one of the best writers I have ever read. He ranks up there with Ellison, Walker, and F.Scott Fitzgerald. This book was one of the most realistic views of the Southern Justice system since "To Kill a Mockingbird" like the characters in that novel, the Black folks know that someone White's word is next to God's and no amount if truth can change that. This book allows the readers to see that we as people must stand up for what we know is right and just, we must not allow people to take justice into their own hands because they feel that they can. This book like no other shows how changing times affects people's views. The plantation owner's son who comes home from college and tries to reason with his family about how to deal reasonably and effectively with the racial implications is superb. He understands that he has to play with and go to school with Blacks and that is a fact that he and his family must learn to live with and accept. Gaines has great character dialogue and great character development, and that makes this book flow like running water. It is absolutely great, it brought water to my eyes when I finished.

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT BOOK TO READ!
Review: I think is a great book and will be remember for along time to come. Because it show a real stuggles between a group would one day will it out .

Rating:
Summary: Quick, captivating read
Review: Read this book...It is wonderful...Mr. Gaines did a great job depicting a struggle for equality...Too good to really explain...Just read it!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, One of the better books in bookstores
Review: I thought this book was a very moving book. I did not like all of the racial slander, but the book told it just like it would have really happened. It was slow to develop, and the ending was less-than-desired, but Ernest J. Gaines did an excellent job on this book.

Rating:
Summary: This book contained an interesting story that was very good.
Review: I enjoyed this book until the very end. Especially the ending when Charlie became a man and took a stand against injustice. This book can relate to many individual's lives who do not stand up for what they believe is right and always take the back seat to every conflict. Also this book displayed a prime example of the debatable statement of "The true crime is pride" (Antigone). This was occurring when Candy was trying to start a revolution by gathering 19 old men and have them claiming that they were the ones that killed the Beau Boutan. I feel that everyone should read this book if they are in high school and are about to take a journey into college.

Rating:
Summary: A novel for those looking to be touched and moved.
Review: I found this novel to be intriguing in the beginning as well as at the end. The middle, I thought was a little slow and needed a little "spice". I believe that this novel shows the true relationships and feelings that people of all races encounter. There are those people in life that feel strongly for others of another race and there are also people who do not want anything to do with anyone who is different from themself. Be it by their choice of dress or color of their skin. In the novel A Gathering of Old Men, Ernest Gaines wrote a spectacular piece that shows the different aspects that people have on each other. He showed how blacks and whites dislike each other and then how they are able to get along and survive. He showed the hatred in the novel when all of the men grouped together and stood up for what the believed in. He then showed that men can get along when the white plantation owner didn't tell his men to cause trouble after is son was murdered. Ernest Gaines showed that everyone is different and that they can love and respect each other even though no one is the same. I recommend this novel to those who want to be touched and moved. It is a novel that you will remember forever.