Jane Pittman is 110 years old. Born a slave in Louisiana, she has experienced slavery, war, reconstruction, war, depression, war, and, finally, the burgeoning civil rights movement. The undercurrents of her experiences are, of course, deep poverty and deeper racism, often accompanied by violence.
Ernest J. Gaines has written this novel as though it were a transcription of Jane's tape-recorded reminisces. The language and tone are pitch-perfect; the voice is consistent and it's easy for the reader to imagine that they're simply listening to a supercentenarian recounting a lifetime of memories, sometimes with laughter in her voice and sometime with bitterness.
In addition to capturing his protagonist's voice so well, Gaines has also effectively written a history of the post-Civil War south, particularly as seen from the black perspective. Plantation life is well and truly alive in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, even if the masters are not so wealthy as their forebears and their workers are technically free. (And Gaines would know - the author's note at the end of the book states that he was born - in 1933 - on a Louisiana plantation where he and his family lived in the old slave quarters.)
This is a quick and spirited read, and one I would especially recommend for anyone interested in a different perspective on U.S. history.
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