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A Lesson Before Dying
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A Lesson Before Dying
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A Lesson Before Dying
Audiobook (abridged)1 hour

A Lesson Before Dying

Written by Romulus Linney

Narrated by Keith Glover and Full Cast

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

Based on Ernest J. Gaines’ National Book Critics Circle Award-winning novel, A Lesson Before Dying is set in a small Louisiana Cajun community in the late 1940’s. Jefferson, a young illiterate black man, is falsely convicted of murder and is sentenced to death. Grant Wiggins, the plantation schoolteacher, agrees to talk with the condemned man. The disheartened Wiggins had once harbored dreams of escaping from his impoverished youth, yet he returned to his home town after university, to teach children whose lives seemed as unpromising as Jefferson’s. The two men forge a bond as they come to understand what it means to resist and defy one’s own fate.

An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring:
Rick Foucheux as Paul Bonin
Keith Glover as Grant Wiggins
Jamahl Marsh as Jefferson
Linda Powell as Vivian Baptiste
Jefferson A. Russell as Reverend Moses Ambrose
Jerry Whiddon as Sam Guidry
Beatrice Winde as Emma Glenn

Directed by Nick Olcott. Recorded at Voice of America in Washington DC.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 10, 2002
ISBN9781580814706
Unavailable
A Lesson Before Dying

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Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    very sad story, but that’s how Black peoples are treated.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    It only has 5 chapters but I need all of them.....
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Set in Southern America in the 1940’s. Jefferson, an innocent young black man, is wrongly accused of a crime and sentenced to death by the electric chair. In his trial, he is described as a ‘hog’. Jefferson’s mother asks the local school teacher, Grant Wiggins, to visit Jefferson while he is in jail to ‘make him a man’ so that he will walk with pride to his death. The two men form a bond. Jefferson walks to the chair a hero.A very simple story line, but very moving, especially at the end when Jefferson is executed. We can a real sense of the hard life for black Americans at this time.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    An extremely slooow but ok read. For some reason I had a hard time getting into the book and I definitely didn't feel anything for the characters.I take that back, I did feel some annoyance towards Mr. Wiggins. Yet I kept continuing on because despite all that was wrong I needed to know what happened. Not disappointed that I read the book but not a 5 star "must read" either.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Beautifully written. Great character development, absolutely great writing.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Ernest Gaines wonderful novel still moves me every time I read it. Moving and very powerful.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I had a difficult time reading this book, not because of the writing, or the voice, or the characters. All those worked, and worked very well, and that is in part why I won't focus on them this time. What made it difficult is the story itself. At first glance there was nothing I could relate to: a male protagonist coaching a death row inmate, Louisiana plantation in 1940s, persistent, and sometimes surprising, racial divides, poverty, level of education so low you could determine it from speech alone. All this was so far from whe world where I grew up in Eastern Europe and so far from my life now that at times it was challenging to stay conected to the story. Then I would read about Grant's aunt cooking for everybody and loving it when her family and friends enjoyed her food, or about adults making sacrifices to improve their children's lives and give them the opportunity of something better, and I would remember my grandmother and my parents, and that the nature of humanity is the same regardless of time, place, skin color or education, and with this understanding I would be able to regain my grasp on what was happening and keep going.Another complicating factor was that the main emotions running through the book are anger, bitterness and general dissatisfaction. Grant is unhappy with working as a plantation teacher and being forced into coaching Jefferson. His aunt is unhappy that he doesn't see the bigger picture and even when he does become invested in helping Jefferson he does it in a way with which she disagrees. Vivian, the woman Grant is in love with, is unhappy to not be able to get a divorce from her absentee husband and not have to hide her relationship with Grant. The reverend is upset that he isn't able to get through to Jefferson while a man so much younger, who he belives is a sinner and for all his education still doesn't really understand life, eventually does what he couldn't. And Jefferson himself is bitter and angry about the unfair verdict and the demeaning defense strategy of his attorney, as well as the fact that his young life was going to be cut shortonly because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time and didn't have the werewithal to run. Keeping up with all this negativity was a bit trying for me at times. We never learn how old Jefferson was, or any of the other characters for that matter, or whether he had a mental handicap, so a lot of his actions and reactions were puzzling to me. I never understood why it took a stranger to make him stop taking out his anger on his godmother, who couldn't be responsible for his predicament by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, there were a few things I didn't understand, such as why Grant essentially punished his students for him being dissatisfied with his life, shortchanging them in the process, or why he professed his love for Vivian and yet asserted himself at her expense, or why Grant's aunt's preferred method of communication was to glare and give silent treatments instead of explaining what her nephew clearly didn't grasp. It may take me a while to understand these thing, maybe I'm simply too young and haven't seen enough of life just yet to do so right now. This book may have been difficult and not at all uplifting, but it did not leave me indifferent, and it made me think about issues that have never particularly affected me. It made me look at the world around me from a different perspective. It made me wonder about the things the grandparents of people I see around me haven't told them about the past. I may not be able to fully appreciate this novel now, but it certainly has altered the way I look at the world around me and that alone makes it worth reading.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Set in 1940s Louisiana, a young black man, Jefferson, is wrongly convicted of committing a robbery and murder and is sentenced to death. Jefferson’s godmother convinces a local teacher, Grant Wiggins, to visit Jefferson before he is executed to help teach him to value himself. I just couldn’t get into this one. None of the characters are likeable, especially Grant. He seemed so bitter and angry and had no desire to help anyone around him. I wanted to know what Jefferson was going through and what he thought about the whole situation, but we don’t get a glimpse into his mind until the book is almost over. It felt like Tuesdays with Morrie with racism on death row.I never felt like we were given an empathetic character to connect with. I found some of the minor characters, like Jefferson’s godmother and the prison guard, etc. more interesting that the main players. I would have liked to know what they were thinking. The book gives readers an important look at how flawed the justice system was in the 1940s. It can’t possibly be considered a jury of one’s peers when your own race is nowhere to be seen in the group. But the story lacked heart and because of that I don’t think it will have a lasting impact.  
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Beautifully brutal, brutally beautiful. I read this novel for a TIOLI challenge; it's from the syllabus of a "Multicultural American Lit" class being taught at Eastern Illinois University this semester. Jefferson, a Black man who is in the wrong place at the wrong time, ends up sentenced to death in Jim Crow (1948) Louisiana. Grant Wiggins is sent by his aunt and Jefferson's godmother to try to help Jefferson become a man before he dies (as well as possibly save his soul). Grant's love for his aunt and his respect for Miss Emma (Jefferson's godmother) lead him to visit Jefferson in jail and try to help him gain some dignity. The novel is really about Grant's own anguished exploration of what it means to be a Black man in a time and place where the behavioral expectations are completely focused on erasing any shred of self-determination and dignity he might otherwise have, as much as it's about Jefferson's transformation from a silent, self-loathing, self-pitying man to one with self-respect and a paradoxical sense of hope even as he faces his own death. The novel packs an emotional punch and I couldn't put it down. It's worth reading more than once.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    An intensely vivid view of 1940's Southern racial injustice in a small Louisiana town. Grant Wiggins endeavors to impart his greatest lesson and gift to Jefferson in his struggle to face a death penalty he neither deserves nor is willing to accept, dignity and personal redemption.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A young black man, Jefferson, is with two other men who commit a robbery and people are killed and Jefferson is tried and sentenced to be executed. Sad, straightforward plot.Because I don't like to know too much about a story before I read it for myself, I didn't know that the setting was 1940s Louisiana, so was appalled in the first few pages that Jefferson had such an unfair trial where even his defending counsel was racist. But...1940s Louisiana...no, this is not an unrealistic situation, it was all too common.Grant Wiggins, the local teacher who is telling the story, is not very likeable, mostly because he doesn't like himself. He is educated, he is sometimes brutal to his students, and he has let life be sucked out of him, he is trapped. And he is a most unlikely person to be given the task of helping Jefferson learn to be a man before he is executed.Some of the dialogue is written in huge paragraphs, the speakers bouncing back and forth multiple times in the same paragraph, and it was hard to understand. I don't know why it was written that way when most of the dialogue is written traditionally. There were several pages written as a minimally educated person would write, and those took some time to understand, enough interpretation that it took away from what the person was truly saying.I wanted to know more about Jefferson earlier in the book, but he was revealed slowly, as Grant learned more about him, and more about himself. For the most part, I liked the characterization but a couple of people felt too much like stereotypes to me. The story was touching and sad and, as fiction, all too real.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a very inspirational book. I recently saw a reading of a stage adaptation and it did not lose its emotional power. A young man who returns to 1940s Cajun country to teach visits a black youth on death row for a crime he didn't commit. Together they come to understand the heroism of resisting. Each must learn a lot about himself. The teacher, Grant Wiggins, believes that he must get away from that town, that country, as soon as possible. "I was not there, yet I was there. No, I did not go to the trial, I did not hear the verdict, because I knew all the time what it would be..." But he is coerced into visiting the young prisoner, Jefferson, who is confined by the law to an iron-barred cell. Jefferson's grandmother, Miss Emma, begs Grant for one last favor: to teach her grandson to die like a man. As Grant and Jefferson meet and talk they begin to realize the nature of the bonds that hold them and how, perhaps they can both learn about themselves. This is a book of inspiration for those who read and believe in the power of words. But it is also a testament to the belief that you can choose to cause your own change.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This book didnt catch my interest really. It was about a African American man who struggles with feeling the racism from other people.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Although it's well written and a relatively easy read, it leaves a little to be desired when it comes to character development. Although the characters do mature as the story goes on, they weren't likable to begin with and they're not any more likable at the end. Since I was not connected with the characters I found I didn't really care about the plot.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is my favorite kind of book: one that asks lots of questions and gives no easy answers. Set in the South in the 1950s, it tells the story of Jefferson, a black man convicted of killing a white bartender and sentenced to die. Determined to see her boy die with dignity, Jefferson's godmother calls in Grant, the local school teacher, to "make him a man." But Grant has his own problems. As an educated African American man, he has few opportunities in this isolated part of the Southern United States. He longs to make a life for himself somewhere else but feels trapped in his hometown. Reluctantly, he accepts the mission of visiting Jefferson in prison before the execution. As the narrative unfolds, we begin to realize that becoming a "man" isn't necessarily the same thing as becoming educated, and that Grant needs saving just as much as Jefferson.Initially, I found the story a bit slow moving. The endless debates about whether Grant would visit Jefferson wore on me, and I was confused by the dense web of familial relations in the book's small town setting. Yet, even in these slow, early parts of the novel, the book's nuanced portrait of racism kept me reading. Stories about racism are wide-spread in our society, but this one portrayed the day-to-day experience of oppression in a more detailed and resonant way than I had previously encountered. The book also offers intriguing insight into how African-American culture imbibed some of whites' racist ideals, such as when a light-skinned African-American school teacher is shunned by her family for marrying a darker skinned man. Although the book's climatic scene feels a little contrived, the slow resolution afterward more than makes up for it. The ending is pretty open, but I liked that - it gave me lots of room to think.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Grant Wiggins was living in a place he didn’t want to be and using his college education for what? On weekends and evenings, he listened to the predictability of church services that took the place of his predictable students by day in the same building. Grant felt the pressure of silent guilt trips and verbal pleas by his Tante Lou and Miss Emma. These formidable elderly women insisted that Grant visit Miss Emma’s godson, Jefferson, in jail while Jefferson awaited death by electrocution. Emma’s plea was that Jefferson not go like a hog to his death, but walk like a man, with self-respect. She believed that Grant could imbue him with that self-respect.While his aunt might hold stock in Grant’s being a teacher, he summed up his 1940s plantation existence with, “Yes, I’m the teacher….And I teach what the white folks around here tell me to teach – reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic. They never told me how to keep a black boy out of a liquor store.” So suffocated by the sanctions set by the ‘white folks’, Reverend Ambrose, and the imposed moral codes by which his aunt expected him to abide, Grant often escaped to the nearby Bayonne and his love, Vivian…so he ‘could breathe’.Grant concedes to visit Jefferson in jail. He appears to feel most strongly about not wanting to be there. It seems that its his logic rather than any empathy or feeling is the only connection that Grant can create. Underlying in this story, I felt that Grant was more emotionally dead than Jefferson. Both men seemed resigned to their fates. Through the radio and the act of giving the radio; through the expectations of Jefferson having something to write in the journal; and through the expectations Jefferson and Grant disclosed of each other, both men seemed to reach toward each other and learn about themselves as well as what it means to be human.Ernest Gaines, in this award winning novel (National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, 1993), introduces a meld of characters and builds on their relationships as well as individual personalities. Nor does he free the reader from reflection on socially conscious decisions. Grant experiences internal conflicts, verbal sparring with Tante Lou and Reverend Ambrose, and more subtle posing with Vivian, his escape and salvation.Reverend Ambrose and Grant, at times, appear to be in competition – whose methods will win? What’s the prize? Is it peace of mind for Jefferson or his godmother, Miss Emma? Is it Jefferson’s personal faith salvation? Is it, for either Ambrose or Grant, feeding an ego in being able to claim glory in giving direction to Jefferson in how best to walk to his death? There are so many questions and conflicts in the relationships in this rural area of segregation and white power. Deputy Bonin, who reaches out to Jefferson and Grant, but still has to be careful of lines drawn. The prisoners and their perceptions of Grant as he visits with Jefferson and delivers comfort food, a notebook and a radio. Ambrose and Grant face off several times. “Kneel while standing” presents a heavy philosophical and race question for both men. Two constant themes are Grant’s beliefs, and what part in his life religion plays or doesn’t play. Ambrose and Grant hold their own judgments of each other. At times they become verbal adversaries:Ambrose: “You hear me talking. But are you listening? You know nothing…not even yourself.” Ambrose insists that he is the one (not Grant) who is truly educated – in the ways of people. He shuns Grants classroom methods. He rails at Grant. The two men face each other, adversarial and defending their differences in meanings of words – what it means to be a man, to be educated, to be ‘lost’, the purpose of ‘righteous’ lying.Everyone is in pain, everyone is hurting, sometimes more conscious than at other times; more concerned with one’s own temporary pain than another’s death. This book confronts the reader, not with the morality of the death penalty, but how one dies and how one lives. And yes, there is a black and white way of seeing it. The book offers challenges to thinking of the civil rights movement, in what part of society was it anchored; how do any of us best serve others? How do we best use our social system and its institutions?I’m not going into all the relationships in the story, nor in depth with the psychology of the story. I understand from other sources that Gaines used the plantation, school house, and environment that he personally knew. Gaines learned about the functions and malfunctions of the type of electric chair he placed in the story, learned the effects of the chair’s mere presence in town…and the after effects of those who witnessed death by electrocution. “A Lesson Before Dying” is a novel with lessons for all us; perhaps “A Lesson for Living”?sh 6/2010
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    An okay book, but I personally didn't think it was all that great.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I was decidedly 'meh' about this book. I think it addresses several important issues — the plight of young black men in the early 40s, the state of the justice system at the time, the usefulness of religion — but I think those issues could have been addressed in a better way. The main character, Grant, is not particularly likable. He’s bitter, unmotivated, and at times, just plain mean. In fact, most of the characters in the book are not particularly likable. Most of them appear to be downright miserable. A sign of the times? I don’t know, but you’d think *someone* in the novel would be a joyful person. Jefferson, the imprisoned man, is an interesting character, but even his turn-around is a little anti-climatic. With the build-up of the novel and the title and the praise and all, I expected much more of an epiphany at the end. For me, the pay-off just wasn’t there. If I hadn’t been reading this for my book club, I wouldn’t have finished it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is one of those books that you keep thinking about long after you finish it. Most people have a strong opinion as to whether or not they approve of the death penalty, but this really puts a face on it. Its no longer a question of abstractly saying that someone who murders someone else should be put to death. This makes it human and makes you think about what it really means to sentence someone to death. It must have been torture for Jefferson to be sitting in cell, first not knowing how much time he had left and then to know the exact date and time his life was going to end. People aren't supposed to know when they are going to die. And on top of all that, to sentence a man who was innocent. I also thought the description of the racial tensions and disparities in the south during this time period were very though-provoking. Grant was a good strong character who was divided by what he wanted to be and what he had to be. Good story all around.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Excellent and very unsettling, I was reluctant to read this at first. (Read it for a personal book club)I am glad I read this, and *really* wish I had been able to make it to the discussion! really makes one question faith, what it means to be "human," racism, freedom, and our nation's ugly history of slavery and inequality.Highly recommended!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Set in the fictional town of Bayonne, Louisiana in the late 1940s. Two African American men, proundly different, are both struggling to be men in a racist society. Uneducated Jefferson witnesses the murder of a white storekeeper during a robbery. The perpetrators are also killed, and Jefferson is put on trial for murder. In Jefferson's defense, his lawyer says not that Jefferson is innocent, but that killing him would be like slaughtering a hog. The all white jury is not swayed by this argument and sentences him to death in the electric chair. Jefferson's godmother, who raised him, asks a black school teacher, Grant Wiggins, to visit Jefferson in jail and help him to face his death with dignity.Grant longs to leave the South and is unwilling to take his task seriously. He really doesn't believe it will make a difference. After all, though he is well-educated, he still feels bound and limited by the same racist attitudes that resulted in Jefferson's conviction and death sentence. Eventually, however, the two men form a bond that transforms them both.Heart-wrenching and thought-provoking. A MUST READ.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In a small town in Louisiana during the 1940s, a young black man is convicted for the murder of a white shopkeeper. Although he was present at the robbery, he was not the one who pulled the trigger. Nevertheless he was give the death penalty. Grant Wiggins, the town's black schoolmaster, is asked to visit with Jefferson in jail, to help him prepare for the inevitable, and be ready to die with dignity. Although Grant resents being asked, he does visit with Jefferson, and in the end, both learn from each other some important life lessons. Gaines' novel is a powerful indictment against the racial injustice of the 40s, and which still lingers today. The book has some strong, unforgettable characters, and the story is compelling, although uncomfortable. It really made me rethink my ideas about the death penalty. It's not a book I would have ordinarily have picked up - I read it for a discussion group - but I'm so glad I read it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Another book that moved me. Even in adversity the human spirit and friendship is still powerful.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A very powerful, incredibly moving story; full of dignity and compassion, and with a wonderful sense of place.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Ernest J. Gaines's A Lesson Before Dying (1993) poses one of the most universal questions literature can ask: Knowing we're going to die, how should we live? It's the story of an uneducated young black man named Jefferson, accused of the murder of a white storekeeper, and Grant Wiggins, a college-educated native son of Louisiana, who teaches at a plantation school. In a little more than 250 pages, these two men named for presidents discover a friendship that transforms at least two lives.In the first chapter, the court-appointed lawyer's idea of a legal strategy for Jefferson is to argue, "Why, I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this." This dehumanizing and unsurprisingly doomed defense rankles the condemned man's grief-stricken godmother, Miss Emma, and Grant's aunt, Tante Lou. They convince an unwilling Grant to spend time with Jefferson in his prison cell, so that he might confront death with his head held high.Most of the novel's violence happens offstage in the first and last chapters. Vital secondary characters punctuate the narrative, including Vivian, Grant's assertive yet patient Creole girlfriend; Reverend Ambrose, a minister whom the disbelieving Grant ultimately comes to respect; and Paul, a white deputy who stands with Jefferson when Grant cannot.White, black, mulatto, Cajun, or Creole; rich, poor, or hanging on; young, old, or running out of time-around all these people, Gaines crafts a story of intimacy and depth. He re-creates the smells of Miss Emma's fried chicken, the sounds of the blues from Jefferson's radio, the taste of the sugarcane from the plantation. The school, the parish church, the town bar, and the jailhouse all come alive with indelible vividness.In the tradition of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (1961) and Truman Capote's In Cold Blood (1966), Gaines uses a capital case to explore the nobility and the barbarism of which human beings are equally capable. The story builds inexorably to Jefferson's ultimate bid for dignity, both in his prison diary and at the hour of his execution. That Ernest J. Gaines wrings a hopeful ending out of such grim material only testifies to his prodigious gifts as a storyteller.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Beautifully written and insightful- many sides of rural Southern life and race relations I hadn't thought of before. On the other hand, I was a little disappointed. I thought the protagonist was a terrible teacher- quite cruel and unhelpful to the children in his class- and I was hoping we would see that he came to his senses about that- but it wasn't clear. It was also a little hard to believe that Jefferson so easily managed to unburden himself by writing down his thoughts- sounds more like a writer's fantasy rather than a realistic possibility.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A great Louisiana, American, African-American author... This book will touch you. Set in the segregated south, it is awesome in displaying humanity in all of its forms...
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    The story of a black man condemned to death for a murder he didn't commit and the teacher who brings him the gift of self-respect. It's certainly quite an 'important' book, but setting aside the political implications, it wasn't written in a way that gripped me as much as I would have expected.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book touched me deeply and actually moved me to tears. I listened to the audio version, and was impressed by the readers ability to effectively imitate that old southern drawl; altered ever so subtlety depending on the character. It really heightened my ability to visualize the characters, place and time. The story itself, touched on so many aspects of the human condition for that time period, yet many of the concepts remain relevant today. Teacher Wiggins, flawed as he was imparted a lesson to Jefferson about being a man, having empathy, and putting others first--all traits he himself desperately wanted to build upon in himself. It tells of his internal struggle, and the intense reciprocity of he and Jefferson's relationship. Short as this story was, I find it did not need to be much longer. It did not belabor the issue or become overly philosophical. It cut straight to the chase, moved quickly and offered an in-depth snapshot of the behaviors, beliefs, and customs of that particular point in time. Excellent book on a number of levels.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    easy to read book about a boy who is charged for murder and is called a hog. The boy’s Godmother asks a man named Grant, the town’s teacher, to make him a man before he dies. This is a wonderful story about the importance of dignity and self esteem as well as pride.