Catherine Carmier [Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Ernest J. Gaines (Author), D. M. Green (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1997

By the author of A Lesson Before Dying and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Catherine Carmier is a compelling love story set in a deceptively bucolic Louisiana countryside, where blacks, Cajuns, and whites maintain an uneasy coexistence.

After living in San Francisco for ten years, Jackson returns home to his benefactor, Aunt Charlotte. Surrounded by family and old friends, he discovers that his bonds to them have been irreparably rent by his absence. In the midst of his alienation from those around him, he falls in love with Catherine Carmier, setting the stage for conflicts and confrontations which are complex, tortuous, and universal in their implications.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[Gaines's] best writing is marked by what Ralph Ellison, describing the blues, called near-tragic, near-comic lyricism." -- Newsweek --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

By the author of A Lesson Before Dying and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Catherine Carmier is a compelling love story set in a deceptively bucolic Louisiana countryside, where blacks, Cajuns, and whites maintain an uneasy coexistence.

After living in San Francisco for ten years, Jackson returns home to his benefactor, Aunt Charlotte. Surrounded by family and old friends, he discovers that his bonds to them have been irreparably rent by his absence. In the midst of his alienation from those around him, he falls in love with Catherine Carmier, setting the stage for conflicts and confrontations which are complex, tortuous, and universal in their implications. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks; Unabridged edition (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786111275
• ISBN-13: 978-0786111275
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,257,179 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A moving book on race relations with people of color., May 13, 1999

By 

Dera R Williams (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Catherine Carmier (Paperback)

The reviews thus far tell little of what this story is about. Although I read it several years ago, as I remember this book, or at least a part of it, centered on the intra-racial divide between those of African descent. The Creoles of color, particularly in the region of the book, have long maintained a somewhat separate status from blacks based on a caste system determined by mixed blood and lineage. The "forgotten people" have maintained they have black blood, but emphasize their heritage also include French, Spanish, and most times Native American blood. Although a great many Creoles eventually assimilated into the black community, during the time of this story, (the 60s, I think) most of them kept a separate status from blacks, thought they were subject to the most part to the same Jim Crow laws and racism as blacks (unless of course, they chose to pass for white- a whole other subject). When Jackson encounters Catherine, they act upon an attraction they had from their school-age days. The unwillingness of both families to accept is at the heart of the story. That a group of people by virtual of the fact they have mixed blood (for that matter, how many blacks are not mixed- whole other book)descended from French planters deem themselves better or superior to others of more distinct African blood and all the ignorance that prevails because of this belief is what this is all about. The reviews talk about Cajuns and indeed this is Cajun country and the different cultures interact, but it is the Creoles of Color that this book is about. Mr. Gaines handles this with his first-hand knowledge of growing up in Louisiana and all of its idiosyncracies regarding race and class. Though the book left me saddened, I enjoyed the subject matter.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A simple painted story with much depth!, October 5, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Columbia, South Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Catherine Carmier (Paperback)

Catherine Carmier is on the surface a story about a young man that returns, after a ten year hiatus and recieving an education, to his boyhood home in the rual parts of Louisiana and falls in love with a local girl. This love sets the tense and uneasy tone throughout which Earnest J. Gaines craftfully reveals much deeper issues; issues of race, distance, family loyalty and shame, and the consquences of forbidden love. Gaines also shows that every part of society has its own set code of honor and unwritten and unspoken ediquette. These are revealed through the furtive glances and actions of the characters as well as dialog, which carry subtle meanings and implications. These are like tyring to disguise the meaning of a telephone conversation when someone else walks into the room, and the person who has walked in is trying to figure-out what is being implied. Gaines has talent for pianting ordinary life with such color that at times the reader feels smoothered by the feelings and characters flowing from the pages, thus it is impossibles not to be drawn into the story. He brings the ordinary person closer to this part of our history and culture.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, October 15, 2000

By 

Dream in Color (Van Nuys, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Catherine Carmier (Paperback)

Gaines captures Louisiana culture to a 'T'. As someone who spends a lot of time there, the Carmiers, Jackson, Charlotte and Mary Louise ring true. HIs descriptions and elegant choice of words are just plain gorgeous. Wonderful classic.