A Gathering of Old Men by Ernest J. Gaines
Paperback: 213 pages
Publisher: Vintage Books USA (1992)
ISBN: 0-679-73890-8
Genre: Historical Fiction
The voices of the slaves are whispering in the wind. We hear them on a sugarcane plantation in Louisiana in the 1970s but it could easily be a plantation anywhere in the South pre Civil War. Like Nat Turner who led a slave revolt in Virginia in 1831 and those who sought freedom on the Underground Railroad to flee slavery there is a “day of reckoning.” In A Gathering of Old Men, Ernest Gaines presents a story of black versus white; past versus present; fight or flight. This is a dark story of murder on the plantation and the fear of the repercussions of a black man killing a landowner. It is a beautiful story of men coming together to STAND! The old black men stand together and all claim that they are guilty of the slaying. They are standing for freedom, standing against all the shame and sorrow of the past, and leaving an example of strength. A change has come! Powerful and exhilarating, this book can make you angry, make you cry and cause you to laugh. Brilliant!
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I see a job at Kirkus in your future with that review as your calling card.
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