I found this book to be a good read with character depth, 05 Mar 2002
In this book Gaines explores many issues by exploring the thoughts and changes in one uneducated, inmoral black man by the name of Jefferson. Jefferson is punished with the death penalty for a crime he didn't even commit. The court not only convicts him but he is also called a "hog". This stirs up his Nanna who gets the local schoolteacher to educate him so that he may walk, not crawl, to the white man in the end. Through this Jefferson's changes not only effect him, but also the community.
Although terrible to think that this man's death is necessary for a change to occur throughout the community, it isn't until then that there is self-discovery, pride, and the breaking of a vicous cycle in the black community.

I found this book to be a good read with character depth, 05 Mar 2002
In this book Gaines explores many issues by exploring the thoughts and changes in one uneducated, inmoral black man by the name of Jefferson. Jefferson is punished with the death penalty for a crime he didn't even commit. The court not only convicts him but he is also called a "hog". This stirs up his Nanna who gets the local schoolteacher to educate him so that he may walk, not crawl, to the white man in the end. Through this Jefferson's changes not only effect him, but also the community.
Although terrible to think that this man's death is necessary for a change to occur throughout the community, it isn't until then that there is self-discovery, pride, and the breaking of a vicous cycle in the black community.

One of the best books I've ever read, 18 Dec 1997
After reading A Gathering of Old Men I put Ernest Gaines on my authors to read list. Now after reading In my Father's House I put Ernest Gaines on a list of important writers of the century. Ernest Gaines tells the story of Reverend Philip Martin a civil rights leader who found salvation after a tremendous past. Now he's a respected leader in his community and lives a peaceful life, when he comes face to face with a mysterous stranger who holds the key to his past. Now Rev Martin goes back to where it all began and discovers what happens when you try to hide from the past and what happens when it comes back to haunt you. I loved this book. Ernest Gaines writes story is honest, compelling, and unforgetable. I was mesmorized by Gaines style. He lets the reader in on the complexities and feelings of these characters. After I finished this book it went on my top 20 books of all time. This is a book that should be read by everyone. Another classic by Ernest Gaines.

I found this book to be a good read with character depth, 05 Mar 2002
In this book Gaines explores many issues by exploring the thoughts and changes in one uneducated, inmoral black man by the name of Jefferson. Jefferson is punished with the death penalty for a crime he didn't even commit. The court not only convicts him but he is also called a "hog". This stirs up his Nanna who gets the local schoolteacher to educate him so that he may walk, not crawl, to the white man in the end. Through this Jefferson's changes not only effect him, but also the community.
Although terrible to think that this man's death is necessary for a change to occur throughout the community, it isn't until then that there is self-discovery, pride, and the breaking of a vicous cycle in the black community.

One of the best books I've ever read, 18 Dec 1997
After reading A Gathering of Old Men I put Ernest Gaines on my authors to read list. Now after reading In my Father's House I put Ernest Gaines on a list of important writers of the century. Ernest Gaines tells the story of Reverend Philip Martin a civil rights leader who found salvation after a tremendous past. Now he's a respected leader in his community and lives a peaceful life, when he comes face to face with a mysterous stranger who holds the key to his past. Now Rev Martin goes back to where it all began and discovers what happens when you try to hide from the past and what happens when it comes back to haunt you. I loved this book. Ernest Gaines writes story is honest, compelling, and unforgetable. I was mesmorized by Gaines style. He lets the reader in on the complexities and feelings of these characters. After I finished this book it went on my top 20 books of all time. This is a book that should be read by everyone. Another classic by Ernest Gaines.

A simple painted story with much depth!, 06 Oct 1997
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.

I found this book to be a good read with character depth, 05 Mar 2002
In this book Gaines explores many issues by exploring the thoughts and changes in one uneducated, inmoral black man by the name of Jefferson. Jefferson is punished with the death penalty for a crime he didn't even commit. The court not only convicts him but he is also called a "hog". This stirs up his Nanna who gets the local schoolteacher to educate him so that he may walk, not crawl, to the white man in the end. Through this Jefferson's changes not only effect him, but also the community.
Although terrible to think that this man's death is necessary for a change to occur throughout the community, it isn't until then that there is self-discovery, pride, and the breaking of a vicous cycle in the black community.

One of the best books I've ever read, 18 Dec 1997
After reading A Gathering of Old Men I put Ernest Gaines on my authors to read list. Now after reading In my Father's House I put Ernest Gaines on a list of important writers of the century. Ernest Gaines tells the story of Reverend Philip Martin a civil rights leader who found salvation after a tremendous past. Now he's a respected leader in his community and lives a peaceful life, when he comes face to face with a mysterous stranger who holds the key to his past. Now Rev Martin goes back to where it all began and discovers what happens when you try to hide from the past and what happens when it comes back to haunt you. I loved this book. Ernest Gaines writes story is honest, compelling, and unforgetable. I was mesmorized by Gaines style. He lets the reader in on the complexities and feelings of these characters. After I finished this book it went on my top 20 books of all time. This is a book that should be read by everyone. Another classic by Ernest Gaines.

A simple painted story with much depth!, 06 Oct 1997
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.

A brilliant, moving story of race relations and humanity, 28 Mar 2003
A Gathering of Old Men, set in 1970s Louisiana, is one of the richest and most powerful novels about race relations written in the last few decades. It’s really a simple story that could be told fairly quickly, but the event upon which the novel is based is in some ways peripheral to the story. The whole point of the novel is to pry deeply into the hearts and minds of men, both black and white, reveal the pains and struggles that each of them has either dealt out or dealt with, and to reveal the poignant humanity in a group of brave old men who have essentially counted for nothing in their own minds and are determined to take advantage of one last opportunity to stand up for themselves, their friends and families, and their ancestors.

Beau Boutan is dead, lying out in the weeds beside his shotgun, and everyone knows who killed him. He was shot in Mathu’s yard, and Mathu is the only black man on the place that has ever stood up for himself against the Boutans. By the time Sheriff Mapes arrives on the scene, the situation is far from simple, though. Eighteen old black men are assembled in the yard, each with a shotgun and an empty shell of the type that cut Beau down, and each one of them says he killed Beau. Candy is there, the white lady half-raised by old Mathu after her parents were killed, and she is determined to defend Mathu and all of the blacks on her land the way her parents and grandparents defended them in the past. She says she killed Beau and will confess the crime in court. Mapes has a problem on his hands. Fix Boutan, the dead man’s father, is sure to come down to the quarters seeking revenge, and there is bound to be a lynching if Mapes can’t get everything straightened out before Fix has time to get there. All the old black men gathered in the yard are there because of Fix. Each one of them has lived a long time without ever really standing up for himself; they’ve all taken abuse quietly, and they have seen their women and children abused right in front of their eyes for what seems like forever. Now, they see they have a last chance to stand up for themselves against Fix and his cruel gang. They have come for a fight, and no one is going to talk them out of it.

Gaines gives us multiple points of view in this novel. Each chapter is related in first person by one of the characters, and the results are incredibly revealing. We learn a great deal about these men, the lives they have led, and their own feelings about those lives. It’s really quite intense and revealing. This is not a story of racial hatred, however, despite the fact that a number of white characters have led hateful lives. Twenty years earlier, Fix Boutan would have been revenged his boy’s murder without even thinking about it, and this is the Fix Boutan the old black men expect and indeed hope to take their stand against. Times are changing, though, and the younger generation, men such as Beau’s brother Gil, don’t think the same way that the older generations do. Thus, there is as much hope as anguish in this novel. To some degree, not a lot happens in terms of action over the course of the story, so some may find the reading a little long and boring, but even those who don’t fully appreciate the human dimensions of the story will be rewarded by the path the final chapters take and the action that does take place toward the end. I have to say that Ernest J. Gaines proves himself to be an incredible writer, able to communicate thoughts, feelings, and history itself in a manner most writers can never hope to match. A Gathering of Old Men isn’t overly complex or lengthy, so there is no reason why anyone should deny himself or herself the pleasure of enjoying and learning from this true landmark of a novel.

terrific, 06 Apr 2002
this story is fantastic. it uses well change in narrators- which allows readers to see every point of view possible. the book also has a good sense of regionalism and local colour, much about this area of louisiana was learned by reading the book. Each voice is eloquent, stands out beautifully and has a great sense of aging and character.

Excellent, One of the better books in bookstores, 12 Jul 1999
I thought this book was a very moving book. I did not like all of the racial slander, but the book told it just like it would have really happened. It was slow to develop, and the ending was less-than-desired, but Ernest J. Gaines did an excellent job on this book.

Good exposition, poor ending, 17 May 1999
I believe that this book was well written. I enjoyed the book until the end of the book when the shootout begins. I think that Mr.. Gaines rushed too many events into the short ending. This book is by a far a great one, but I believe more time could have been spent on the ending.

I found this book to be a good read with character depth, 05 Mar 2002
In this book Gaines explores many issues by exploring the thoughts and changes in one uneducated, inmoral black man by the name of Jefferson. Jefferson is punished with the death penalty for a crime he didn't even commit. The court not only convicts him but he is also called a "hog". This stirs up his Nanna who gets the local schoolteacher to educate him so that he may walk, not crawl, to the white man in the end. Through this Jefferson's changes not only effect him, but also the community.
Although terrible to think that this man's death is necessary for a change to occur throughout the community, it isn't until then that there is self-discovery, pride, and the breaking of a vicous cycle in the black community.

One of the best books I've ever read, 18 Dec 1997
After reading A Gathering of Old Men I put Ernest Gaines on my authors to read list. Now after reading In my Father's House I put Ernest Gaines on a list of important writers of the century. Ernest Gaines tells the story of Reverend Philip Martin a civil rights leader who found salvation after a tremendous past. Now he's a respected leader in his community and lives a peaceful life, when he comes face to face with a mysterous stranger who holds the key to his past. Now Rev Martin goes back to where it all began and discovers what happens when you try to hide from the past and what happens when it comes back to haunt you. I loved this book. Ernest Gaines writes story is honest, compelling, and unforgetable. I was mesmorized by Gaines style. He lets the reader in on the complexities and feelings of these characters. After I finished this book it went on my top 20 books of all time. This is a book that should be read by everyone. Another classic by Ernest Gaines.

A simple painted story with much depth!, 06 Oct 1997
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.

A brilliant, moving story of race relations and humanity, 28 Mar 2003
A Gathering of Old Men, set in 1970s Louisiana, is one of the richest and most powerful novels about race relations written in the last few decades. It’s really a simple story that could be told fairly quickly, but the event upon which the novel is based is in some ways peripheral to the story. The whole point of the novel is to pry deeply into the hearts and minds of men, both black and white, reveal the pains and struggles that each of them has either dealt out or dealt with, and to reveal the poignant humanity in a group of brave old men who have essentially counted for nothing in their own minds and are determined to take advantage of one last opportunity to stand up for themselves, their friends and families, and their ancestors.

Beau Boutan is dead, lying out in the weeds beside his shotgun, and everyone knows who killed him. He was shot in Mathu’s yard, and Mathu is the only black man on the place that has ever stood up for himself against the Boutans. By the time Sheriff Mapes arrives on the scene, the situation is far from simple, though. Eighteen old black men are assembled in the yard, each with a shotgun and an empty shell of the type that cut Beau down, and each one of them says he killed Beau. Candy is there, the white lady half-raised by old Mathu after her parents were killed, and she is determined to defend Mathu and all of the blacks on her land the way her parents and grandparents defended them in the past. She says she killed Beau and will confess the crime in court. Mapes has a problem on his hands. Fix Boutan, the dead man’s father, is sure to come down to the quarters seeking revenge, and there is bound to be a lynching if Mapes can’t get everything straightened out before Fix has time to get there. All the old black men gathered in the yard are there because of Fix. Each one of them has lived a long time without ever really standing up for himself; they’ve all taken abuse quietly, and they have seen their women and children abused right in front of their eyes for what seems like forever. Now, they see they have a last chance to stand up for themselves against Fix and his cruel gang. They have come for a fight, and no one is going to talk them out of it.

Gaines gives us multiple points of view in this novel. Each chapter is related in first person by one of the characters, and the results are incredibly revealing. We learn a great deal about these men, the lives they have led, and their own feelings about those lives. It’s really quite intense and revealing. This is not a story of racial hatred, however, despite the fact that a number of white characters have led hateful lives. Twenty years earlier, Fix Boutan would have been revenged his boy’s murder without even thinking about it, and this is the Fix Boutan the old black men expect and indeed hope to take their stand against. Times are changing, though, and the younger generation, men such as Beau’s brother Gil, don’t think the same way that the older generations do. Thus, there is as much hope as anguish in this novel. To some degree, not a lot happens in terms of action over the course of the story, so some may find the reading a little long and boring, but even those who don’t fully appreciate the human dimensions of the story will be rewarded by the path the final chapters take and the action that does take place toward the end. I have to say that Ernest J. Gaines proves himself to be an incredible writer, able to communicate thoughts, feelings, and history itself in a manner most writers can never hope to match. A Gathering of Old Men isn’t overly complex or lengthy, so there is no reason why anyone should deny himself or herself the pleasure of enjoying and learning from this true landmark of a novel.

terrific, 06 Apr 2002
this story is fantastic. it uses well change in narrators- which allows readers to see every point of view possible. the book also has a good sense of regionalism and local colour, much about this area of louisiana was learned by reading the book. Each voice is eloquent, stands out beautifully and has a great sense of aging and character.

Excellent, One of the better books in bookstores, 12 Jul 1999
I thought this book was a very moving book. I did not like all of the racial slander, but the book told it just like it would have really happened. It was slow to develop, and the ending was less-than-desired, but Ernest J. Gaines did an excellent job on this book.

Good exposition, poor ending, 17 May 1999
I believe that this book was well written. I enjoyed the book until the end of the book when the shootout begins. I think that Mr.. Gaines rushed too many events into the short ending. This book is by a far a great one, but I believe more time could have been spent on the ending.

Civil war to civil rights, 24 Dec 2005
It surprises me how many people think that The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is an actual biographical/autobiographical work. It is not -- it is fiction. It is a brilliantly crafted work interweaving historical references and recollections into an overall framework of the life of a woman born into slavery who survived to the point of the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.

The style of the book is one of oral history. The editor interviewed and transcribed Miss Jane's stories beginning in 1962 and going on for nearly a year. The editor also talked to other people, particularly when Miss Jane would fall silent or forget things (he couldn't tell if she was doing this deliberately or not), and also talked to people after Miss Jane's funeral.

In a small space, the author (who is to be distinguished from the editor, a character in the novel) shows his intention -- this is to be an overarching story of black experience from the Civil War to Civil Rights, seen primarily through the experience of one woman, but incorporating and representing the experiences of all others.

The telling of the tale begins in the Civil War, where Miss Jane is child (she can't actually remember when she was born). Her name at that point was Ticey. Her first story deals with negotiating the delicate balance between fleeing Confederate soldiers, arriving Union soldiers, and the dominant presence of the mistress of the plantation. It was a Union soldier who suggested the name of Jane to Ticey ('Ticey is a slave name' the corporal said). Thus she became Jane. Jane Brown, adopting the last name of the corporal.

Unfortunately for Jane, the mistress didn't like this, and tried to beat the name out of her. Jane refused to recant the name, and got put out in the field for her 'sass'. A year later, when the war ended, she set out for Ohio, the state where the corporal who named her had lived. The decision was a tough one -- the older folk didn't want to risk the journey, perhaps a case of better the devil you know. The young folks, however, were having none of the continuing presence of a master and mistress. They set out right away. Jane bid farewell to her Uncle Isom and set out with a group of people, some misfits, some smart.

Soon they had their first run-in with the forerunners of the Klan. From her hiding place, Jane watched the 'patrollers' kill Big Laura, the mother-figure of the group, and all of the rest of the travellers. Suddenly she was alone save for Ned, Big Laura's little boy. She was a mother figure right away. Being resourceful and pragmatic as a slave is forced to learn to be from earliest days, she grabbed the supplies and left with Ned, still hoping to travel to Ohio.

However, fortune and lack of proper directions led Jane and Ned into many encounters through the south, and when finding someone who has a map, they also come to the realisation that there might be difficulty in finding soldier Brown in Ohio. Which part of Ohio is he in?

Jane and Ned end up on a plantation, doing work like they had done before. Jane remained behind to experience ongoing strife and trouble, encountering carpetbagger politicians, business dealings, and abandonment. The plantation was purchased by an old Confederate office, Colonel Dye, and the people supporting the blacks all left.

Ned left for the North, having changed his last name to Douglass, after Frederick Douglass. His life was in danger, so he had to go. After Ned left, Jane began her relationship with Joe Pittman; living together outside of marriage at first, which Jane justified in a way by explaining that black folk didn't have church marriages in slavery times, and they just weren't sure what to do now.

Joe and Jane left for east Texas for their own land after a time, after having an altercation with Colonel Dye over $150, plus surprise interest. Joe worked at breaking horses, becoming 'chief' Pittman, something of which both Joe and Jane were proud. Jane worked in a house as a servant. They did this for about ten years. Joe was killed by a horse no one could break, including Joe -- Jane had premonitions of the death, but Joe had to go 'a man's way'.

The story of Miss Jane continues apace through experience on another plantation and finally ending up in the Quarters. This is where she helped give birth to and raise Jimmy.

Anytime a child is born, the old people look in his face and ask him if he's the One. No, they don't say it out loud like I'm saying it to you now. Maybe they don't say it at all; maybe they just feel it -- but feel it they do. "You the One?" I'm sure Lena asked Jimmy that when she first held him in her arms. "You the One, Jimmy? You the One?"

Jimmy was the one who would get Miss Jane involved in the Civil Rights struggle, a struggle which she had in fact been participating in all her life. Jimmy, like so many in Miss Jane's life, like so many in black experience, would end up being killed over protests for drinking fountains and bathroom privileges. But as Miss Jane said, just part of him was dead.

The greater part of Jimmy was still alive, and with the courage and example of Miss Jane, they went to Bayonne to stand up for their rights. Miss Jane was affected by many events; Miss Jane finally stopped reacting and acted up.

The author, Ernest Gaines, was born on a Louisiana plantation. His descriptions and situations are authentic and mesmerising. He left Louisiana and was educated at San Francisco State and Stanford. He has other novels and collections of short stories, but The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman published in 1971 is undoubtedly the work for which he will be remembered. Cicely Tyson's portrayal of Miss Jane in the film of the same name is an endearing performance, but one misses much if one relies solely on the film (plus some of the details are changed, sometimes inexplicably). One thing I would recommend is watching the film and reading the book as companions to each other -- some of the dialogue in the film supplements the book (like Miss Jane's final speech to the reporter), and the book fills in (as all books do) many of the details glossed over in the film.

How Relating To Someone Changes Your Views On Life, 16 Nov 2004
I would like to let you know that this was a excellent book. I loved how Miss Jane Pittman was a woman of motivation, and kept on and on. I use the word motivation talking about this character a lot because she had lots of it. Also, persevnce would be another word to use for her she kept going on and on til she did what it took to get herself where she needed to be. She may have not got to Ohio but she did have a great life with the riches and love of her heart. A working woman she was. She lived a long life and made it through. I love to here stories of this. Even though this was fiction, I related to it a lot. IO would read and recommend someone to read it again.

Aims to shatter convention, but fails to even crack it., 09 Jun 1999
Gaines has written a book that starts out promising but ends up being about as deep as Jane's slave name, "Ticey." He does nothing to transcend the hackneyed images of former slaves. It's almost as if, for all his groundbreaking intentions, he's afraid to change public perception too much. He seems to feel that, if he challenges common doctrine to the point where people will have to reconsider their convictions, then he will be overstepping his bounds. But isn't that the point of nonconformist novels such as The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman? To contest that which is accepted, no matter the cost or means of getting there? Instead Gaines pretends to be an iconoclast with this novel, and, in doing so, leaves his characters as mere caricatures, their motives and accomplishments just meaningless accessories to their sketchiness.

An excellent account of a woman's struggle in life., 22 May 1999
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman truly demonstrated the customs and culture that existed during and after slavery. Miss Jane Pittman tells the story from her point of view from post civil war to the civil rights movement. As a ninth grade student, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman interested and exposed me to the times of trial that slaves and free African Americans had to go through at this time period.

Read this book!, 29 Apr 1999
The book is exceptional! I give the book three stars because there's too much killing in the book. Which is cool, but the young ones will read all that happens.I know that back in the 1800's the owners of the slaves would do tribal things to them.