Rating: 
Summary: Incredible Read!
Review: This is one of those books that stick with you. After you're finished reading it you can't stop thinking about it. It was an incredible read. I want to be invited to Sunday dinner!
Rating:
Summary: Heartbreaking Reality
Review: I read this book a while back so I don't remember all the characters, however, the effect the book had on me will not so easily be forgotten. As an African-American I "felt" this book. I felt the pain and suffering of the family from slavery to freedom, and the pain of separation from other African-Americans based on the degree of blackness. It was a tough read and I really took my time to digest it. I would strongly recommend it to anyone and everyone who wishes to have a sense of what it REALLY was like to live in America during this period. And to better understand, maybe, the mentality of those who believed -- and still believe and practice -- this horrible system of measuring people and determining their worth by the degree of color. It's wonderful that the book held something of a happy ending but that happiness came with a price -- a heavy price. An excellent book! A must read. Great for book club groups. Bravo, Ms. Tademy.
Rating: 
Summary: I Struggled With This One.
Review: For some reason I just couldn't get caught up in this story. There was something unreal about it and I couldn't "buy" all of the things that were happening. From the very beginning of the book the main character seems not to have an understanding of the difference between herself, a slave, and her mistress. Granted, she was 10, but it seems to me that by that age her parents would have tried to clue her in to the realities of life so that she would be able to handle and survive. Instead they just seemed to let her act and believe that she was different and it was hard and painful when she had to come to terms wiht life as it was. As a "family history" kind of book this book seemed to be infused with too much fantasy about how life was and it was still unbelievable as a novel.
Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent Read
Review: In Cane River, Lalita Tademy has used documented family history to spin a believable story of her ancestors, their feelings and their lives.Set in Louisiana before, during and after the Civil War, Cane River documents the triumphs and tragedies of a family of black women. Using documents discovered during family history research as the foundation of her story, Tademy endows her characters with believable feelings and motives for their actions. As slaves and barred from the usual means of improving the lives of their children, these women use the only means they have - their bodies - to secure land and a better life for their families. Using the history of the time as a backdrop, Tademy has created a vital, absorbing story that draws the reader into a world that no longer exists.
Rating:
Summary: Cane River Flows On
Review: "CANE RIVER is the setting for the life and death of Elizabeth, who begot Suzette, who begot Philomene, who begot, Emily. Four women that lived during different times, but had to fight and endure in the same struggle-----the struggle to live without the freedom to do so freely, the struggle of being owned by other human beings. Elizabeth prepared a foundation for a standard of living that was molded and built upon by her daughter Suzette, harnessed and secured by her granddaughter Philomene, so that her great-granddaughter Emily could stand taller than those before her could ever dream. The journey from Elizabeth to Emily is one that leaves the reader with an appreciation for humanity like never before. Their daily struggles will enlighten you, the many injustices visited upon them by white people will anger you, and their perseverence will inspire you. This journey along CANE RIVER is arguably one of the best reads of the 20th century!
Rating:
Summary: Our 6th Reading Selection
Review: Cane River was Hooked on Book's reading selection for the month of September, 2002. We all found this a very enjoyable novel. The characteristic that stuck out the most in the book was the strength of the four main characters; Elizabeth, Suzette, Philomene and Emily. These women were born into slavery but their strength held them together and bettered the life of each of their offspring. We all thought the book was also a real eye-opener to slavery and the hardships the slaves faced such as the auctions where they were separated from their closest family and scattered throughout different plantations. We all thought the book was very well researched and loved how the author included photographs and memorabilia from her family's history to bring the story more to life.
Rating:
Summary: Poignant, realistic and well researched
Review: Cane River tells us the story of four generations of women who were born into slavery along the Cane River of Louisiana. We follow the lives of Elisabeth, Suzette, Philomene and Emily (who is the Great Grandmother of the author) all of these women were very strong which enabled them to make a living for themselves throughout many troubled times they faced in their lives. Slavery is always a subject that can shock you everytime your exposed to it and this book gives an accurate account of it. We learn about the lives of these women as slaves and how they didn't even have the basic right to refuse sexual advances of their masters. Another thing that always affects me about slavery is how they could break up families by selling them, I ached for Palmire when her children were sold. And one of the most beautifully written scenes in this book was when Elisabeth and her husband Gerasime were lying in bed talking about their lives together the night before a slave auction, they both knew that they would be sold to different owners and this would be their last night together. Lalita Tademy really did her homework with this book and she included many photos, letter and even bill of sales from slave auctions. The story is well written, poignant and realistic and I do recommend reading it
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Wonderful
Review: This book is a tribute to the strength of women of African descent. It demonstrates how this family was able to triumph in the midst of horrible circumstances.
Rating: 
Summary: (3.5) A small matriarchy
Review: Out of the most heinous situations the strongest human character will survive and adapt. For one Cane River family, from slavery and beyond, the women find the strength to continue their bloodline, as the men are sold to distant places and the white man helps himself to the spoils. No woman of color is safe once a free man has set his gaze upon her. But the children she bears will never be legitimate, because, pre- and post-abolition, a white man cannot legally marry a woman of color, although he may live with her at the expense of enjoying the respect of white society. And he can expect his family to be terrorized and his house to be burnt by ignorant purist zealots. The women gather their children about them, generation after generation, firm in their commitment to a future without fear and loss. The popularity of this novel lies in the successful struggle for survival that is so familiar to Black families that have begun in slavery. Since the women are chattels of their powerful white owners and freemen, the once strong color of their line is diluted into many equally beautiful shades. It is left up to these women to maintain the strength and integrity of their family line. In this effort, they are all successful, from Elizabeth to Suzette to Philomene, and finally, to Emily. This is a story of hope in the face of heartbreaking loss, the courage to continue for the sake of family members yet to come.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful
Review: So much emotion; so much history. This is a very powerful story. A page turner indeed. I really enjoyed reading this book.
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