Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Lalita Tademy's riveting family
saga chronicles four generations of women born into slavery along the Cane
River in Louisiana. It is also a tale about the blurring of racial
boundaries: great-grandmother Elisabeth notices an unmistakable "bleaching
of the line" as first her daughter Suzette, then her granddaughter Philomene,
and finally her great-granddaughter Emily choose (or are forcibly persuaded)
to bear the illegitimate offspring of the area's white French planters. In
many cases these children are loved by their fathers, and their paternity is
widely acknowledged. However, neither state law nor local custom allows them
to inherit wealth or property, a fact that gives Cane River much of
its narrative drive.
The author makes it clear exactly where these
prohibitions came from. Plantation society was rigidly hierarchical, after
all, particularly on the heels of the Civil War and the economic hardships
that came with Reconstruction. The only permissible path upward for
hard-working, ambitious African Americans was indirect. A meteoric rise, or
too obvious an appearance of prosperity, would be swiftly punished. To
enable the slow but steady advance of their clan, the black women of Cane
River plot, plead, deceive, and manipulate their way through history,
extracting crucial gifts of money and property along the way. In the wake of
a visit from the 1880 census taker, the aged Elisabeth reflects on how far
they had come.
When the census taker looked at them, he saw colored first, asking
questions like single or married, trying to introduce shame where there
was none. He took what he saw and foolishly put those things down on a
list for others to study. Could he even understand the pride in being able
to say that Emily could read and write? They could ask whatever they
wanted, but what he should have been marking in the book was family, and
landholder, and educated, each generation gathering momentum, adding
something special to the brew.
I n her introduction, Tademy explains that as a
young woman, she failed to appreciate the love and reverence with which her
mother and her four uncles spoke of their lively Grandma 'Tite (short for
"Mademoiselle Petite"). She resented her great-grandmother's skin-color
biases, which were as much a part of Tademy's memory as were her
great-grandmother's trademark dance moves. But the old stories haunted the
author, and armed with a couple of pages of history compiled by a distant
Louisiana cousin, she began to piece together a genealogy. The result?
Tademy eventually left her position as vice president of a Fortune 500
company and set to work on Cane River, in which she has deftly and
movingly reconstructed the world of her ancestors. --Regina Marler
From Publishers Weekly
Five generations and a hundred
years in the life of a matriarchal black Louisiana family are encapsulated
in this ambitious debut novel that is based in part upon the lives, as
preserved in both historical record and oral tradition, of the author's
ancestors. In 1834, nine-year-old Suzette, the "cocoa-colored" house servant
of a Creole planter family, has aspirations to read, to live always in a
"big house" and maybe even to marry into the relatively privileged world of
the gens de couleur libre. Her plans are dashed, however, when at age 13 a
French émigré takes her as his mistress. Her "high yellow" daughter
Philomene, in turn, is maneuvered into becoming the mother of Creole planter
Narcisse Fredieu's "side family." After the Civil War, Philomene pins her
hopes for a better future on her light-skinned daughter, Emily Fredieu, who
is given a year of convent schooling in New Orleans. But Emily must struggle
constantly to protect her children by her father's French cousin from
terrorist "Night Riders" and racist laws. Tademy is candid about her
ancestors' temptations to "pass," as their complexions lighten from the
color of "coffee, to cocoa, to cream, to milk, to lily." While she fully
imagines their lives, she doesn't pander to the reader by introducing
melodrama or sex. Her frank observations about black racism add depth to the
tale, and she demonstrates that although the practice of slavery fell most
harshly upon blacks, and especially women, it also constricted the lives and
choices of white men. Photos of and documents relating to Tademy's ancestors
add authenticity to a fascinating story. (Apr.)Forecasts: The success in
recent years of similarly conceived nonfiction, like Edward Ball's Slaves in
the Family, proves readers can't get enough of racially themed family
history. Tademy, who left a high-level corporate job to research her
family's story, should draw larger-than-average audiences for readings in 11
cities. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From AudioFile
Melodic voices and elegant
description of four generations of African-American women lull you into the
past and bring you into the rich, textured lives of the Derbanne family. All
three narrators are perfect for their respective roles. Each has an
intelligent voice that captures the entire essence of the character
portrayed. The musical interludes of violins, harmonicas, and mandolins add
to the experience. This is an audio book that makes you sad when it ends.
This abridgment has an abrupt end and does not do justice to the rest of the
book. You know that there's too much left out, and it leaves you wanting to
know the rest. D.L.M. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright ©
AudioFile, Portland, Maine
From Booklist
Tademy halted a career as a
high-powered technology executive to research her family's history. Her
findings--four generations of strong-willed black women who survived slavery
and racial injustices, maintained strong family ties, and left a legacy of
faith and accomplishment--are transformed here into a powerful historical
novel. The tale is told from the perspectives of Suzette, Philomene, and
Emily, all born and raised in a small farming community in Louisiana.
Suzette was raped by one of her master's relatives, and this set a pattern
of race-mixing for her descendants. Philomene, Suzette's daughter, is
desired by a powerful white man, Narcisse, and, after her slave husband is
sold away and she loses her children, succumbs to his attentions. But she
uses her sexual allure and a gift for premonition to secure protection and,
after slavery ends, land and education for her family. Philomene's fierce
determination reconstitutes the family on land she has secured from Narcisse.
She is also determined that her daughter, Emily, will have every possible
advantage, including, eventually, a wealthy white protector. Throughout
three generations, however, none of the women escapes the social conventions
forbidding interracial marriages; each is abandoned or driven away when her
white protector wants to produce legal progeny. The incidental, progressive
whitening of the family ends when Emily's son, T. O., marries a dark-skinned
woman and reclaims his racial identity, inaugurating the line from which
Tademy comes. Including old photographs and documents verifying the reality
that underlies it, this fascinating account of American slavery and
race-mixing should enthrall readers who love historical fiction. Vanessa
Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
San Jose Mercury News,
4/15/01
"...will haunt you...rich with
fascinating detail...powerful in its story-telling...a journey well worth
taking..."
San Francisco Chronicle,
4/22/01
"...a long-overdue response to
Alex Haley's Roots... it is about...the quiet unmapped stories that
make up history..."
Edward Ball
"I admire what Lalita Tademy
has done, writing fiction from fact to rbing to life what would otherwise be
lost..."
Billie Letts
"A compelling story! A powerful
book!"
Book Description
Lalita Tademy was a corporate
vice president at a Fortune 500 company when she decided to give notice
and embark upon an odyssey to uncover her family's past. Through her
exhaustive research, she would find herself transported back to the early
1800s, to an isolated, close-knit rural community on Louisiana's Cane River.
Here, Tademy takes historical fact and mingles it with fiction to weave a
vivid account of what life was like for the four remarkable women who came
before her. The result is a family saga that sweeps from the early days of
slavery into a pre-Civil Rights South-a unique and moving slice of America's
past that will resonate with readers for generations to come.
Download Description
Lalita Tademy was a successful
vice president at Sun Microsystems when she began what became an obsessive
two-year search to uncover the story of her family's roots. It was a
personal odyssey that took her back to the early l800s and a small rural
community on Louisiana's Cane River. There, digging through official
records, conducting interviews, and relying on the expertise of professional
genealogists, Tademy was able to bring to vivid life four remarkable
women--her great, great, great, great grandmother Elisabeth; her great,
great, great grandmother Suzette; her great, great grandmother Philomene;
and her great-grandmother Emily. Beginning in slavery, sweeping through the
Civil War, and bringing us into the pre-Civil Rights South, we follow the
struggles of these four women through extraordinary hardships as they learn
to empower themselves and, despite overwhelming pressures, get their due and
preserve their heritage. Meticulously researched and beautifully written,
this woman's Roots presents a slice of American history never before seen in
such piercing and personal detail.
About the Author
Lalita Tademy lives in Menlo
Park, California.
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