Cane River in Our Shared Shelf

May 29, 2007 Jessica Haider rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, life-during-wartime

Wow, I never knew that I read so many Oprah books. I certainly never went out of my way to read them.

Cane River is an engrossing family saga that takes place in Louisiana and spans 4 generations. It is loosely based on the author's own family. The story explores the cruelty of slavery, racial boundaries, love and family dynamics. ...more

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Sep 23, 2007 Heather rated it liked it

Shelves: adult

Borrowed from my mom b/c she and Kristen loved it. It was a solid "like." I'm not surprised that this was the author's first novel after quitting the business world, but it was solidly good and interesting. Once again, I've discovered that I don't really love epics because there never seems to be story arc - just descriptions of people and their lives. This book had enough meat to keep it pretty interesting most of the time. Sometimes random parts of the book sounded like a very-end-of-a-book to Borrowed from my mom b/c she and Kristen loved it. It was a solid "like." I'm not surprised that this was the author's first novel after quitting the business world, but it was solidly good and interesting. Once again, I've discovered that I don't really love epics because there never seems to be story arc - just descriptions of people and their lives. This book had enough meat to keep it pretty interesting most of the time. Sometimes random parts of the book sounded like a very-end-of-a-book to me (i.e., too "conclusion-y") but that is probably an artifact of her being a new author and also of her essentially telling the story of her own family, even though she billed it as a novel b/c she embellished with dialogue, etc. One of the only things that really bothered, me, actually, was not knowing exactly how much she had found out for real, and how much she embellished. I wish she had described that further at the end or something.

What fascinated me was thinking about the lives of these black people, especially the transition from slavery to freedom (I think most of us have thought about what it might be like to live in each time frame, but not necessarily the transition from one to the other), and especially how I could see the seeds of African Americans' current struggles - the formation of a culture that essentially forced women to take control and support each other because no men were around - not because African-American men were problematic in any way, but because often their relationships (or rapes) were with/by white men who did not or could not be with them. Also the systematic formation of economic limitations, and of anger at the disempowerment. I find it almost impossible to understand how someone could be aware of what life was like for this population and not see how current racism and social class subjugation still clearly relates back.

Definitely worth reading, even though the writing wasn't the best ever - I'm on to her next and only other novel now! ...more

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Sep 30, 2007 Katherine rated it really liked it

Shelves: wow-book-club-reads

This book was awesome! I loved following these four generations of women and learn about African-American history at the same time. Don't be daunted by its thickness! It is an easy read and very worth your while. I'm happy San Francisco is promoting this book as its citywide book club choice for 2007. ...more

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