Review: Cane River

Cane River by Lalita Tademy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My father had me read this book when I was in high school to stir me away from dating white boys. But I loved it! It's stuck with me over the years as an enduring classic of Mother/Daughter relationships, and the resourceful nature of my ancestors.
It tells the story of three generation of women, mothers to daughters, and how they all three lived very very different lives and separate struggles according to their areas of history: Luzette - who through no fault of her own became estranged from her friends and family when she involuntarily became a house slave; Philomene - my favorite because she was clever and had powers beyond everyone around her and Emily - who with her rebellious spirit could have easily straddle the line of two different life styles but chose to stay in the one she identified with best.
The book is just barely fictional. The author Lalita Tademy did a lot of research into her own family history to find the characters and stories there in, but used some creative writing to fill in the blanks.
It's a great book and I recommend it to anyone who believes that the house slaves lived easier lives than those in the field, or to anyone interested in this part of history. It's also a very empowering book for mature girls and women of any race.


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