Rating: 
Summary: A DEEPLY MOVING, SENSITIVE STORY
Review: I will be the first to admit I know nothing of what it is like to be of African heritage or to grow up in America, since I fall into neither catagory. It was my quest to learn more of other people's cultures and traditions that prompted me to read this book and I was not disappointed. If each of us is to live in peace and harmony it is important to understand, first of all, where we came from in order to have a clearly set plan as to where we are going. The trials and tribulations set out in "Cane River" are enough to make one forever thankful they were born in the current generation and not in an earlier one. Freedom is by far the greatest human right we have. To be born into slavery with the humiliation, degradation, poverty and dehumanizing conditions that went with it are almost unthinkable in today's society, although it still exists to a certain degree (legal or illegal) in parts of the world today. "Cane River" spans four generations and through the eyes of Lalita Tademy, we are able to trace the stories of four women and witness how their lives are interwoven. We read with anticipation how Elisabeth, Suzette,Philomeme and Emily build their lives in a time few people who live today can truly understand. Lalita Tademy has written an extremely emotional and poignant saga of an era they is portrayed today through books and film. As a person who is "white", though not American, it absolutely appals me that my "white ancestors," regardless of what country they came from, could treat any human being as a slave and force them to live a life as portrayed in this book. However, the Holocaust, is also equally as horrendous and beyond comprehension, too - but it happened! Our history and our heritage are very important. Hopefully, we will learn from the past and the sacrifices our ancestors made so that the attrocities of the past will never again happen. The greatest affirmation I gained from this book was the fact we all have our challenges and obstacles to bear, but we are, also, all children of the universe to be loved and respected. This is definitely a well-written, emotionally charged book and highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Cane River
Review: I loved Cane River! I was intrigued, horrified and touched. I laughed and cried along with the memorable characters in this first novel by Lalita Tademy. A powerful look into the lives of four strong women challenged by their lives as slaves, mothers, daughters and women. I will long remember their struggles and triumphs, their losses and their unwavering hope for the future. I especially enjoyed the pictures and family tree's which helped put a face to these women and made them much more than just characters in a novel.
Rating:
Summary: This is her first book????
Review: I couldn't believe this was Lalita's first book as it is very well done and a wonderful story. I am not African-American but enjoy reading stories of how they had to struggle and go through their lives. I didn't want the book to end and wanted to know what ended up happening to all of the rest of the characters. You will truly enjoy this book as I have. Oprah picked another winner!!!!!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Author Makes It Real
Review: It's like being part of it, a member of the family and no matter where you come from you can feel what they are experiencing. I enjoyed the book for it's ability to lead me through the lives of people I otherwise wouldn't get a chance to know. The strong female lead makes it more realistic to me. I also enjoyed Evolution by Jennifer MacDonald(I got it through AMazon as well). She has an interesting female lead, different kind of story but good nonetheless.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing story
Review: What makes this book riveting is its basis in fact. Most people are now aware in a general sense of the personal tragedies that were created by slavery and its legacy, but this story makes it specific and personal. It also provides a good picture of rural Louisiana farming and its dependence upon slaves. The documents and photographs make the book particularly interesting. Tademy is to be congratulated for bringing her family history and a neglected subject to light. However, the writing itself was not compelling. I kept thinking what an amazing book it would have become in the hands of, say, Alice Walker or Maya Angelou. Without the underlying fact, this book would fall flat as literature.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful story of the lives generations of women
Review: I recently picked up two books that were recommended in our newspaper as the summer's best reads for women-- Cane River by Lalita Tademy, and Tending Roses, by Lisa Wingate. I am happy to say that these were two of the best books I have ever read! I have never laughed and cried so much on a vacation in my life. Both featured strong Grandmothers, and generations of women learning valuable lessons from one another. I was fascinated by Elizabeth and her descendents in Cane River. The writing was beautiful, and the story truly emotional. If you have not read it, you are in for a treat. Get a copy of Tending Roses, too. You will love that one, also.
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Summary: HERSTORY ILLUMINATES HISTORY
Review: Here's why first-time novelist Lalita Tademy's CANE RIVER is such a worthwhile book... We have a problem with the very idea of history - keeping track of people and events gone by. Remembering facts, that's all the story of history is to many of us, remembering facts, never mind the issue of truth. "Seeing is believing," the old saying goes, "but touching is God's own truth." CANE RIVER is a historical fiction, a fact-based novel spanning the lives of five generations of Ms. Tademy's ancestors, black and white, in central Louisiana - and it touched me. Not so long ago I read a historical fiction by novelist Robert Nye where he makes a sharp distinction between "town" history (dry, cynical, exact), ruled by the head, and "country" history (fanciful, mystical, open-ended), ruled by the heart. Town history is recorded in the police blotter, the legal brief, the daily news, a classroom textbook. Country history is campfire tales, nursery rhymes, local gossip, family legends. CANE RIVER is an artful, skillful blend of town and country history. The book results from Ms. Tademy's years of research, poring through "mounds of documents and family history," interviewing relatives and helpers, coming to her own stereotype-challenging discoveries about race, class, caste and slavery in Louisiana. The text is sprinkled and counterpointed with copies of actual documents, portraits, family photos. That makes these "characters" - whose names we see in such mundane items as bills of sale, receipts, suicide notes; whose eyes betray life within the stiffly-posed pictures - all the more real people to us. Ms. Tademy animates the lives and times, from pre-Civil War servitude to hard-won, precarious post-World War I independence, of her direct forebears, particularly the "flesh-and-blood women who made hard choices, even in oppression." She's a great storyteller, plain spoken and imaginative, articulating details of scene and personality that engage our interest, perchance even our empathy. Her great accomplishment is to re-create these "characters" - "her people," in the sense that Toni Morrison conveys in SONG OF SOLOMON: her "links" - with such believability, such utter human frailty and dignity, removing them from judgement. She illumines their inner world, their motivations, in such an even-handed, understated way that you find yourself compelled, when confronted by this one's actions (or inactions), or that one's attitude, to admit, "I don't necessarily condone it - but I can understand it." For it is understanding, not necessarily sympathy, that is the goal of this book, of the effort behind it. We're shown here people, actual people who were much like any of us, caught in the confrontation between the man-made (laws, mores) and the God-given (one's very being; to an extent, one's connection to kin and community), and how they coped. As Malcolm X pointed out, this is the lesson we take from history; being human, we're all in the same boat. What will we learn from others who share the human condition?
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely fabulous
Review: This may be my favorite book this year! I didn't want it to end. It is well written and extremely moving. This is one of those books that I know in 10 years I will still have in the recesses of my mind. Accolades to Lalita Tademy.
Rating:
Summary: Cane River
Review: This is one of the best books I have read in several years. I have vacationed in the area the book takes place and it was totally accurate as a background. The strength of the women of color and the dedication to their families was wonderful to read. This was not an UNCLE TOM'S CABIN Book. More like a family of Steel Magnolia's. I hope this author continues to write historical novels. She is gifted.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, a Meaningful Celebration of Heritage
Review: My mom, an addicted genealogy researcher, called me about this book the minute it was on the shelves. She demanded that I grab a copy as soon as possible and share it with her. Being a dutiful daughter, I followed her strict instructions, on the double! In *Cane River*, Lalita Tademy has developed a triumphant collaboration of her maternal family's history. Having left a comfortable executive career in the information technology field, Tademy began a journey back to the 1800s, to her family's beginnings, and the creation of this wonderful novel. After working for years putting the pieces together of her ancestors, Tademy compiled this information and put it in a fictional format, going past birthdates, census information and other dusty records. *Cane River* brings to life the women and men that gave Tademy her culture and her existence. I can't recommend this novel enough. It's a celebration of life and our country's heritage. And it's a great read!
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