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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Oprah Book Club® Selection, September 1997: In a small Cajun community in 1940s Louisiana, a young black man is about to go to the electric chair for murder. A white shopkeeper had died during a robbery gone bad; though the young man on trial had not been armed and had not pulled the trigger, in that time and place, there could be no doubt of the verdict or the penalty.

"I was not there, yet I was there. No, I did not go to the trial, I did not hear the verdict, because I knew all the time what it would be..." So begins Grant Wiggins, the narrator of Ernest J. Gaines's powerful exploration of race, injustice, and resistance, A Lesson Before Dying. If young Jefferson, the accused, is confined by the law to an iron-barred cell, Grant Wiggins is no less a prisoner of social convention. University educated, Grant has returned to the tiny plantation town of his youth, where the only job available to him is teaching in the small plantation church school. More than 75 years after the close of the Civil War, antebellum attitudes still prevail: African Americans go to the kitchen door when visiting whites and the two races are rigidly separated by custom and by law. Grant, trapped in a career he doesn't enjoy, eaten up by resentment at his station in life, and angered by the injustice he sees all around him, dreams of taking his girlfriend Vivian and leaving Louisiana forever. But when Jefferson is convicted and sentenced to die, his grandmother, Miss Emma, begs Grant for one last favor: to teach her grandson to die like a man.

As Grant struggles to impart a sense of pride to Jefferson before he must face his death, he learns an important lesson as well: heroism is not always expressed through action--sometimes the simple act of resisting the inevitable is enough. Populated by strong, unforgettable characters, Ernest J. Gaines's A Lesson Before Dying offers a lesson for a lifetime.



From Publishers Weekly

Gaines's first novel in a decade may be his crowning achievement. In this restrained but eloquent narrative, the author of The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman again addresses some of the major issues of race and identity in our time. The story of two African American men struggling to attain manhood in a prejudiced society, the tale is set in Bayonne, La. (the fictional community Gaines has used previously) in the late 1940s. It concerns Jefferson, a mentally slow, barely literate young man, who, though an innocent bystander to a shootout between a white store owner and two black robbers, is convicted of murder, and the sophisticated, educated man who comes to his aid. When Jefferson's own attorney claims that executing him would be tantamount to killing a hog, his incensed godmother, Miss Emma, turns to teacher Grant Wiggins, pleading with him to gain access to the jailed youth and help him to face his death by electrocution with dignity. As complex a character as Faulkner's Quentin Compson, Grant feels mingled love, loyalty and hatred for the poor plantation community where he was born and raised. He longs to leave the South and is reluctant to assume the level of leadership and involvement that helping Jefferson would require. Eventually, however, the two men, vastly different in potential yet equally degraded by racism, achieve a relationship that transforms them both. Suspense rises as it becomes clear that the integrity of the entire local black community depends on Jefferson's courage. Though the conclusion is inevitable, Gaines invests the story with emotional power and universal resonance. BOMC and QPB alternates.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage; 1 edition (September 28, 1997)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0375702709
  • ISBN-13: 978-0375702709
  • Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (508 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,154 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Ernest J. Gaines
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Front Cover | First Pages | Surprise Me!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
I WAS NOT THERE, yet I was there. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
reven ambros, dont kno, little pine tree, old hog
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Miss Emma, Reverend Ambrose, Henri Pichot, Tante Lou, Miss Eloise, Louis Rougon, Baton Rouge, Irene Cole, Farrell Jarreau, Miss Rita, Rainbow Club, Sam Guidry, Grant Wiggins, Shepherd One, Shepherd Two, Wise Man One, Harry Williams, Joe Louis, Sheriff Guidry, Sister Emma, Louis Washington, Miss Edna, New Orleans, Professor Wiggins, Wise Man Two
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56 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Lesson For Us All, November 4, 2001
By James E. Carroll (Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I have several opinions about this book, and the first is that it should be placed on the mandatory reading list of every high school student in the USA; it is destined to become a literary classic in the same vein as Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. The themes introduced throughout this book are designed to elicit discussion and shatter stereotypes. The transformation of the book's main character, Jefferson- a poor, uneducated, young, black man who has been convicted of a murder he didn't commit and whose life is compared to that of a hog by his own defense attorney in the worst closing argument to a jury ever atempted, is remarkable to watch unfold. Jefferson is reborn on death row with the help of his teacher, Grant Wiggins, the university educated, local black school teacher who reluctantly agrees to visit Jefferson in his cell at the request of Jefferson's aunt, Miss Emma, who wants Wiggins to make Jefferson know he "ain't no hog." This book will evoke emotions in most of us; you will feel yourself react as you read. It is so very well written. Of course, the question remains is whether the book's themes will make a difference to its readers. Ernest J. Gaines, the author, must think that they will; I think that the book could have been titled, a lesson for us all.
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47 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars perfect for the modern classroom, October 29, 2000
I'm glad to hear many of the students who reviewed this book say that they found it more piercing than some of the "older" novels they read in class. Although as a teacher I wouldn't throw aside Hawthorne for Gaines, I think this book is a terrific addition to the American classics read in middle and high school. It makes a good pairing with To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee's classic (and still as moving as ever) focuses on the trial of a black man, unfairly convicted, whereas Lesson accepts the inevitable death sentence and explores the journey towards salvation. Our narrator is the only "educated" person in the novel, but for all his education, he has no soul and no religious faith. After being asked to meet with Jefferson, the condemned man, to convince him that he is in fact a man, not a hog, the narrator discovers as much about himself as the prisoner. The minor cast of characters are well drawn -- the pain evident in their lives is present on ever page. We witness the indignities they suffer in the hands of the white justice system, including being forced to wait hours just to speak to the sheriff. I'm glad Gaines includes one "good" white man (Paul) as a gesture of good will that there are always smaller heroes among villains. The friendship between the narrator and Paul makes for an inspiring finale.

This book is very moving and well-written. Highly recommended.

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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Product of a Brilliant Mind, January 11, 2000
By A Customer
Capital punishment, segregation, and acceptance have been a part of past and present times. Those issues along with tragedy, injustice, and accomplishment are part of the fascinating story, A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest Gaines. The setting for this novel is a small town in the south during the 1940s where the two main characters are Jeferson and Grant. Jefferson is condemned to death by electrocution for a crime he did not commit. When his godmother realizes that nothing can be done for his freedom, she asks Grant to help him die like a man. After being called a hog by his defense attorney, Jefferson looses the little dignity he had and it's up to Grant to restore it. Grant doesn't like the idea, but he's forced to comply to it by his aunt. In return, Grant learns about the soul and spirit. Gaines writes this tragic story and reveals his feelings of capital punishment, segregation, and the difficulty of acceptance in a unique way, which thus makes this novel a 1993 winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. Ernest J. Gaines was born into the world he describes in A Lesson Before Dying. "Though the places in my stories and novels are imaginary ones, they are based pretty much on the place where I grew up and the surrounding areas where I worked, went to school, and traveled as a child..."(Vintage Books) depicts Gaines. Although what he says, Gaines has a special way of letting the reader know what his opinion is on capital punishment. He describes his feelings about this form of punishment through Grant. When the date for Jefferson's death is set, Grant thinks about the way someone can plan a man's death. "How do people come up with a date and time to take a life from another man? Who made them God?" Those were the thoughts going through Grant's mind, and they showed the billiance of an author who expresses his feelings in a unique manner. Grant and Jefferson convey to the reader the true meaning of soul and spirit by teaching each other those values. Grant shows Jefferson to die with dignity. Then, conversely, he is learns a few things about the soul. The way they respond to each other is described so clearly, it's as if the reader is in that lonely and desolate cell. Gaines also wrote about the mulattos to tell the reader about the struggle with acceptance. He teaches the reader about segregation and acceptance through his other characters. Bars in the back of town for "blacks only", "blacks only" restrooms, and the school where Grant teaches for "blacks only" are only some of the examples of segregation Gaines so explicitly places in the novel. A Lesson Before Dying is a touching and powerful novel that reaches out to the reader and portrays a time of injustice, inequality, and struggle. Gaines does an exquisite job of describing thoroughly the pain of enduring those issues. That description makes the story powerful enough to change some readers' thoughts. By comprehending the struggle these main characters go through, the reader gets a broader view of society which makes him/her a better person.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A Small Gem of a Novel
I recently read A LESSON BEFORE DYING as part of the National Endowment of the Arts "Big Read" program, which is designed to revitalize the role of literature in the United... Read more
Published 19 days ago by Thriller Lover

5.0 out of 5 stars After effects of prison
One of the reasons I love using this book in the classroom is because so many have been affected by relatives in prison. Read more
Published 1 month ago by L. Kritchman

5.0 out of 5 stars STILL a lesson today!
I bought this book for school and I'm glad I did. It was a good read~~I don't know how I missed it. Good condition as promised.
Published 2 months ago by C. E. Gutierrez

5.0 out of 5 stars A LESSON BEFORE DYING will remind you of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.
Heard A LESSON BEFORE DYING by Ernest J. Gaines, a
poignant novel about life in a small Cajun community in the late 1940s
that got me thinking about how tough things... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Blaine Greenfield

3.0 out of 5 stars Terrible Lesson, Excellent Book
This book gives keen, painful insight on the realities faced by African-Americans of the southern United States in the recent past. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Adam Gonnerman

5.0 out of 5 stars A Lesson Before Dying
This is one of the best books I've ever read. It unfolds slowly, just like life does. You're shocked by the degrading conditions blacks lived with in the south in the 40's, even... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Barbara MacLean

4.0 out of 5 stars Modern American Classic?
I really enjoyed this book and I was pleasantly surprised that I did so. I bought it on a whim after reading the back cover copy, but then started thinking I'd made a mistake... Read more
Published 7 months ago by J.L. Cocca

3.0 out of 5 stars Individual rights vs the community
I'm not sure what to say about this book. Overtly it's about a young black man
in 1940's Louisiana who happens to be the only one still alive when two friends
try to... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Cynthia

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply a great book
This book was a great read and is just simply a good book. Even though they were certain Jefferson didn't kill Mr. Grope he was still convicted. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Caleb Wachsmuth

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting but worth every shudder...
I read this book a number of years ago and still remember the finest of details. As a former literacy educator for "hard-to-serve" adults, this book still haunts me with its vivid... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Gem

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