Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating topic delivered in a flat way
Review: I was drawn to this book to learn about slavery in a different setting--Louisiana. However, the characters were very flat, the writing bland, and the descriptions of setting non-existent. I was hoping for something a little more deep. The stories of the women keep your interest, but the book could have been so much more. As another reviewer mentioned, this is no Roots.
Rating: 
Summary: GREAT READING
Review: This book was sent for me by my sister who lives in the US as a christmas present. It was a great read, I counld't put it down. I simply wanted to see what was going to happen next in the lives of those wonderfully strong women. Lalita Tademy did a great job in writing this book.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: What an enjoyable read! Tademy really gets the reader to care about the lives of the women portrayed in this novel. I felt emotionally involved throughout the tales of each generation. Also, the photos, newspaper clippings and even excerpts from Cousin Gurtie's own written history really add to the story telling. I'm very glad I picked up this book.
Rating: 
Summary: History Comes to Life
Review: Lalita Tademy enchants her audience with her fascinating glimpse into her family past. Based on a type-written account of a long oral history, written by a relative in the mid-70's, and augmented with her exhaustive research and rich imagination, she has created a novel of the south from a perspective rarely presented; the woman of color around the turn of the century. Within the characters of this book (who are also the women of her family going back generations), she captures a range of emotions, hopes, prejudices, that sometimes appear to be at odds to each other, but nonetheless are not so extraordinary. She deals with the topic of racism in a very straight forward way. The characters are not necessarily forgiving, but neither are they outraged. The focus is on making tomorrow better for the family, not to change the world. Because of this, her telling of this story struck a chord in me, and I couldn't easily put the book down. I especially liked the pictures, and wished that there had been more. It was kind of neat, as you read about these people and got to know their characters, to flip to a picture of them and just examine it for a few minutes.
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Summary: No boring parts.
Review: The book was intresting from begining to end. I loved it so much and i am now reading it for the second time.it's like a soap opera, my favorite person was palmire i don't know why, i hated the fact that she died and never saw her children. i think the book should be a movie, although whenever they turn books into movies it does not feel the same if you have read the book, since the movie cannot have every detail as the book.i hope that Ms.Tademy write's another book,i really loved this one and it being about a real life family made it more unbelieveable.
Rating:
Summary: What a wonderful Tribute to her family
Review: Cane River is a journey through one women's "fictional factual" history. Although the statement before may seem to be a contradiction, it is true. Lalita Tademy takes a mismatch, incomplete, and sometimes contradictory research of her family history and fills in the cracks beautifully and believably making it difficult to tell what is was fact and what was literary license. This story walks through several generations of women from slavery to freedom yet highlights three women who act as catalyst. Through them is where the change manifested in this family is made evident. Suzette, Philomene, and Emily set the course of this family history extending from 1825 all the way until 1936. All three of these women experience life-changing situations. Some by their own creations and some created by fate; and made choices, suffering the consequences good or bad. As a result of those choices these women found themselves in an unbroken sequence " . . . from coffee, to cocoa, to cream, to milk, to lily, in a conscious and not-so-conscious, bleaching of the line." They bore children for white men in a time when slaves bore children for their masters as well as when Blacks were free but miscegenation laws were in place. Although the books are broken down into three sections named after the women afore mentioned, this story begins with Elizabeth. She was a slave sold from a Virginia slave owner to one in Louisiana and eventually bore a daughter Suzette. Suzette, a house slave, was given privileges, like no other slave, until a fateful night when she was reminded exactly who she was in the sign of the times. Suzette bore Philomene who came into this world as a result of a "no-love" union and with the gift of sight. Being the only one that would truly marry for love, she suffered greater consequences than one should ever face that left her without words for a period of time. (Reminiscent of Maya Angelou I know why the Caged Bird Sings). But when she regained her voice she became determined to be more than she ever would be (or could be) by manipulating a white man, of whom she bore eight children for, who wanted her yet feared her. Philomene bore Emily, a young girl who was the apple of her father's eye and wanted for naught. She fell in love with a Frenchman who in turn loved her back but eventually would be unable to withstand the societal pressures to stay in their relationship. I believe Elizabeth describes these women best in a moment of reflection: "Where would any of them be without Philomene's determined and clever ways, her clarity, her austerity, her singular focus? Where would Philomene be if not for Suzette's way of bending in a storm, her ability to pull into herself that brought her safely to the dawning of another day to begin again?" and then she questions if Emily would be the joyous one? That reflection alone makes this book worth the read. So many people, places, and so much history makes up this novel that I could not begin to comment on it all but I can say it is well worth the read. There was so much power in the struggles and so much victory in the triumphs. I saw the joy, the pain, the anger, and the need in the people of this book. I dare not call them characters because they lived. They are not figments of someone's imagination, they were here breathing the same air that we do, and Ms. Tademy reminded us of that. This book was awesome! Lalita Tademy writes such vivid descriptions that it played like a movie in my head. I do encourage the readers to read the authors note. Though it is not necessary to enjoy the book it helps put things in perspective. Cane River is a "painstaking historical reconstruction with unforgettable storytelling." What a wonderful tribute to her family.
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Summary: Great Read!
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this work from beginning to end. A must read!
Rating:
Summary: So Much More Than a Wonderful Book
Review: Cane River is absolutely wonderful. Not only is it beautifully written and interesting, it is a true history lesson that is rarely revealed. Cane River gave me such insight into the intricately woven lives of the people of Cane River: the whites, the Creols, the free people of color, and the slaves. I am from North Louisiana and thought I had a better than average understanding of the history and people of Louisiana. I have been to the Cane River area many times and have toured all of the plantations. But until I read Cane River, I didn't have a clear understanding of the many unique types of people and how the different races and class levels ruled outwardly and inwardly that affected every facet of life along Cane River before and after the Civil War. Most books do not stay on my mind for more than a few days but Cane River hasn't left my thoughts for more than a few hours since I finished reading it a few weeks ago. Lalita Tademy has inspired me to trace my ancestory. I am lily white but my grandmother was born in Beinville Parish (part of Cane River) and we know nothing about her father. Therefore, I might have the honor of being related to this outstanding author and the remarkable women who came before her!
Rating:
Summary: Great book!
Review: This really was a great book. It was so interesting, it kept your attention the whole time, and it was a long book. I enjoyed learning about what the south was like in the 1800's & 1900's. I also enjoyed learning what it felt like to be a slave or black person of that time. I felt she kept the book very "real". It is so amazing that the book is based on true events too!...
Rating: 
Summary: BORING!!!
Review: I've read many slave narratives written by real slaves, and Cane River left out a lot of slave things such as singing, praying, joking with their family, playing tricks on the old folks, etc. etc. etc. Cane River had people talking like white folks, and hardly ever getting angry, or hooting and hollering during celbrations. Even though I know this lady was black, she didn't write like it. I don't know what the big deal was. Read narratives like UP FROM SLAVERY or I WAS BORN A SLAVE or BULLWHIP DAYS. Or read good kids' books like THE DIARY OF A SLAVE GIRL, RUBY JO and THE JOURNAL OF LEROY JEREMIAH JONES!!!
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