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This is a commonly Stocked Item
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| A Lesson Before Dying |
| Author(s): Gaines, Ernest J. |
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| List Price: $28.95 |
| Format: Hardback |
| Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |
| Imprint: Knopf |
| ISBN: 0679455612 or 9780679455615 |
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Descriptions and Reviews
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| US>hr<"This majestic, moving novel is an instant c ... |
 | US>hr<"This majestic, moving novel is an instant classic, a book that will be read, discussed and taught beyond the rest of our lives." —Chicago Tribune
"A Lesson Before Dying reconfirms Ernest J. Gaines's position as an important American writer." — Boston Globe
"Enormously moving. . . . Gaines unerringly evokes the place and time about which he writes." —Los Angeles Times
“A quietly moving novel [that] takes us back to a place we've been before to impart a lesson for living.” —San Francisco Chronicle
>hr<Ernest Gaines was born on a plantation in Pointe Coupée Parish near New Roads, Louisiana, which is the Bayonne of all his fictional works. He is writer-in-residence emeritus at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. In 1993 Gaines received the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship for his lifetime achievements. In 1996 he was named a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, one of France’s highest decorations. He and his wife, Dianne, live in Oscar, Louisiana. >hr
The store was empty, except for the old storekeeper, Alcee Gropé, who sat on a stool behind the counter. He spoke first. He asked Jefferson about his godmother. Jefferson told him his nannan was all right. Old Gropé nodded his head. "You tell her for me I say hello," he told Jefferson. He looked at Brother and Bear. But he didn't like them. He didn't trust them. Jefferson could see that in his face. "Do for you boys?" he asked. "A bottle of that Apple White, there, Mr. Gropé" Bear said. Old Gropé got the bottle off the shelf, but he did not set it on the counter. He could see that the boys had already been drinking, and he became suspicious. "You boys got money?" he asked. Brother and Bear spread out all the money they had in their pockets on top of the counter. Old Gropé counted it with his eyes. "That's not enough," he said. "Come on, now, Mr. Gropé," they pleaded with him. "You know you go'n get your money soon as grinding start." "No," he said. "Money is slack everywhere. You bring the money, you get your wine." He turned to put the bottle back on the shelf. One of the boys, the one called Bear, started around the counter."You, stop there," Gropé told him. "Go back." Bear had been drinking, and his eyes were glossy, he walked unsteadily, grinning all the time as he continued around the counter. "Go back," Gropé told him. "I mean, the last time now--go back." Bear continued. Gropé moved quickly toward the cash register, where he withdrew a revolver and started shooting. Soon there was shooting from another direction. When it was quiet again, Bear, Gropé, and Brother were all down on the floor, and only Jefferson was standing.
He wanted to run, but he couldn't run. He couldn't even think. He didn't know where he was. He didn't know how he had gotten there. He couldn't remember ever getting into the car. He couldn't remember a thing he had done all day.
He heard a voice calling. He thought the voice was coming from the liquor shelves. Then he realized that old Gropé was not dead, and that it was he who was calling. He made himself go to the end of the counter. He had to look across Bear to see the storekeeper. Both lay between the counter and the shelves of alcohol. Several bottles had broken, and alcohol and blood covered their bodies as well as the floor. He stood there gaping at the old man slumped against the bottom shelf of gallons and half gallons of wine. He didn't know whether he should go to him or whether he should run out of there. The old man continued to call: "Boy? Boy? Boy?" Jefferson became frightened. The old man was still alive. He had seen him. He would tell on him. Now he started babbling. "It wasn't me. It wasn't me, Mr. Gropé. It was Brother and Bear. Brother shot you. It wasn't me. They made me come with them. You got to tell the law that, Mr. Gropé. You hear me Mr. Gropé?"
But he was talking to a dead man.
Still he did not run. He didn't know what to do. He didn't believe that this had happened. Again he couldn't remember how he had gotten there. He didn't know whether he had come there with Brother and Bear, or whether he had walked in and seen all this after it happened.
He looked from one dead body to the other. He didn't know whether he should call someone on the telephone or run. He had never dialed a telephone in his life, but he had seen other people use them. He didn't |
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More Descriptions and Reviews...
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Other Books by this Author
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| The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman; by Gaines, Ernest J.; Random House Publishing Group, Bantam |
| The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman; by Gaines, Ernest J.; Random House Publishing Group, Dial Press Trade Paperback |
| The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman; by Gaines, Ernest J.; Random House Publishing Group, Bantam |
| Bloodline; by Gaines, Ernest J.; Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vintage |
| Bloodline; by Gaines, Ernest J.; Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vintage |
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More Books by this Author...
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| Catherine Carmier; by Gaines, Ernest J.; Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vintage |
| Catherine Carmier; by Gaines, Ernest J.; Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vintage |
| A Gathering of Old Men; by Gaines, Ernest J.; Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vintage |
| A Gathering of Old Men; by Gaines, Ernest J.; Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vintage |
| In My Father's House; by Gaines, Ernest J.; Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vintage |
| In My Father's House; by Gaines, Ernest J.; Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vintage |
| A Long Day in November; by Gaines, Ernest J.; Ig Publishing, Lizzie Skurnick Books |
| Mozart and Leadbelly; by Ernest J. Gaines; knopf doubleday publishing group, Knopf |
| Mozart and Leadbelly; by Gaines, Ernest J.; Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vintage |
| Mozart and Leadbelly; by Gaines, Ernest J.; Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vintage |
| My Grandpa and the Haint; by Gaines, Ernest J.; Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vintage |
| Of Love and Dust; by Gaines, Ernest J.; Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vintage |
| Of Love and Dust; by Gaines, Ernest J.; Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vintage |
| The Tragedy of Brady Sims; by Gaines, Ernest J.; Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vintage |
| The Tragedy of Brady Sims; by Gaines, Ernest J.; Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vintage |
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