A Lesson Before Dying in Around the World in 80 Books

Jan 10, 2011 Telly rated it really liked it

When I first started reading this book, I could not put it down. This was despite the disdain that I had for the characters, almost all of the them. All of the white characters, except one, are completely deplorable. The black characters do not fare much better, in my opinion. The main character's aunt is especially annoying. She is domineering and pouty. The other old lady is aggravatingly weak, although that is arguably too strong of a word for her since the entire plot the story is built upon When I first started reading this book, I could not put it down. This was despite the disdain that I had for the characters, almost all of the them. All of the white characters, except one, are completely deplorable. The black characters do not fare much better, in my opinion. The main character's aunt is especially annoying. She is domineering and pouty. The other old lady is aggravatingly weak, although that is arguably too strong of a word for her since the entire plot the story is built upon revolves around the scheme she and the aunt concoct.

The characters that are not unsettling include the children, which pass through the story as nothing more than "extras," and Grant, the main character/narrator, and his girlfriend. It is the revolution that occurs within Grant that really makes the story worthwhile, as well as what occurs within Jefferson, the individual on death row with whom Grant interacts.

What I really enjoyed about this book are the themes that occur within it. This is why I could not put it down. On the surface, it is, perhaps, a book about racism and being held down. Ultimately, though, the book reveals that we are the ones holding ourselves down, regardless of race. In that way, it transcends race.

Important questions and choices we make about running away/abandoning our homelands because they represent something we do not like or persevering our locale to try and make a difference, to try and help others, is a theme upon which the book turns, particularly given the setting: An operating plantation in the 1950s. A theme that closely relates to this is the one of trading places; there are many occasions throughout the book where certain characters "trade places" with others, metaphorically speaking, from the "roles" they play within their daily lives to how they interact with one another in their small, confined world.

This is a book that I can see making its way into America's literary canon. "A Lesson Before Dying," as the author says about one of James Joyce's short stories, Ivy Day in the Meeting Room, is, "regardless of race, regardless of class, [a] universal [story]." It is all about race yet transcends the topic in a way few writers have been able to do. ...more

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Mar 13, 2020 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was amazing

Shelves: era-mid-20th-c, social-issues-social-sciences, historical-fiction, fiction, classic

I think this might be the most powerful book I’ve ever read.

The characters in this book are angry, and I was angry reading this. I found myself feeling angry even hours after I’d set it down for the day, and I had to stop and think to figure out why.

Do I know what a man is? Do I know how a man is supposed to die? I’m still trying to find out how a man should live. Am I supposed to tell someone how to die who has never lived?”

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Jul 14, 2018 Andy Plonka rated it it was amazing

Sometimes the short books have the biggest impact, especially in what at first glace seems simple prose. There is much to be learned about people from the exchange of two men, one of whom is on death row and scheduled to die soon.

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Feb 21, 2008 Jayme Pendergraft rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2008

I don't often cry when reading books, but found myself tearing up in a couple of places. I had been wanting to read this book for years but put it off because I thought the premise of two guys talking in a prison cell was boring--this book was so much more. It was a really fast read that packed a powerful message. The character development was amazing, although I did never grow to like Grant. I wish I had liked him more in the end of the book as I think was part of the point. This was an amazing ...more

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Feb 22, 2008 Becca rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics, black-history-and-lit

This is a moving story of two men's struggle to live and die with dignity. I have to say that until the third to last chapter - Jefferson's Diary - I would only have given this three stars, but Jefferson's account of his own story put this over the top for me. In the end, his words give him the dignity and humanity that allow him to die as a man. ...more

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