Cane River is a familial saga that tells the story of the author’s ancestors. The story begins in 1834 with story of Suzette, the author’s great-great grandmother. She is a slave living in the Cane River area of Louisiana. Tademy tells Suzette’s story for about twenty years, including her trials and tribulations of being a house slave on a medium-size Creole plantation. Suzette is raped by Eugene Durant, a Frenchman who is related to her owner. She eventually has two children by this man, one of whom is a daughter named Philomene. After Philomene becomes a teenager, the story shifts to tell her story. Narcisse Fredieu, another relative of Philomene’s owner, becomes smitten with her, and even though he is quite older than she, wealthy, and a white man, they eventually have eight children together. The oldest of the eight children is Emily. Emily is born in 1861, right before the emancipation of the slaves. She is the first daughter in this line of females that will never know what it is like to be someone else’s property. She is sent to New Orleans to boarding school to learn to read and write, things her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother

never knew how to do. She falls in love with Joseph Billes, one of her father’s friends, and he returns her affections deeply. They eventually move in together despite the misgivings of her family. Mixing of the races was not tolerated at all during the reconstruction period. After having five children and living together for twenty years, Emily was forced to move out and into another home because of the escalating threats to her family’s life. Joseph never quit loving his children though, and came by to see them whenever he could until his death several years later.

The author’s writing style is very clear and understandable. She is able to tell the story of three women in a way that the reader can easily follow. She introduces the book through a prologue in which she tells how she came to write this book.

I first read Cane River two years ago after my mother recommended it. I was engrossed in the story of the women on the first reading. I did not think that I would be as interested in reading the book for a second time, but I was wrong. Reading it for the second time allowed me to focus in and remember events that I knew would have importance later in the story. I had the same feeling of not wanting to put it down again even on my second reading. I have always enjoyed reading stories that shift midway to tell the story of another person because it is interesting to hear stories from a different perspective. I recommend this book to anyone who likes historical sagas. I have given this book to others who also loved it as much as me. After finishing the book, I am sad that my glimpse into the lives of these women is over. So thus the only improvement that I would make to this book would be to make it longer.

Lalita Tademy grew up surrounded by many family members in California. As a child, she took many family vacations to Louisiana to visit her f

Some topics in this essay:
Joseph Billes, Cane River, Suzette Philomene’s, Angelite Emily’s, Sun Microsystems, Emily Emily, Lalita Tademy, Louisiana Tademy, Elizabeth Suzette’s, Tademy Emily, cane river, tell story, family history, story women, not-so-conscious bleaching, write book, eight children, family strength, philomene’s mother,