A Lesson Before Dying

By: Ernest J. Gaines

Narrated by: Lionel Mark Smith, Roger Guenveur Smith

Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Jefferson is an innocent and unwitting party to a deadly liquor store shoot-out in the 1940s. As the only survivor, he is tried and convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Grant Wiggins, a university-trained teacher at the plantation school, is persuaded to visit Jefferson in his cell. Wiggins is torn between staying in his native Cajun community or moving on. The 2 men gradually form a bond as they jointly discover the simple heroism of resisting - and denying - the expected.

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©1995 Ernest J. Gaines, All Rights Reserved, Abridgment Approved by the Author (P)16 9; 1995 Time Warner AudioBooks and Juneteenth Audio Books, Time Warner AudioBooks Is a Joint Venture of The Atlantic Group and Time Warner Trade Publishing

Critic reviews

• An Oprah Book Club selection.

Moving. Haunting.

This book takes you back to a time when life wasn't fair and people were not allowed to live as they should. I read this for a book club and it's definitely not something I would pick on my own. But I learned how knowledge can get in the way of experience and fear can be mistaken for weakness.

The past brought forward

If you could sum up A Lesson Before Dying in three words, what would they be?

Hope from hopelessness

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Lesson Before Dying?

The prisoner, described by the prosecution as a hog instead of a man, demonstrates his self image by eating food from the filthy floor of the jail.

Any additional comments?

A Lesson Before Dying brings us back to the days when the American South still flew the confederate flag. And perhaps reminds us that in jails across the country those days may still prevail.

It is not the entire book

This book is absolutely amazing I have nothing at all against it. I downloaded this to help me with reading while I was driving, but I noticed in class discussions that I missed huge parts of the book; that's when I noticed it skips around and deletes chapters from the story. That along with the way Jefferson was voiced makes me not a huge fan of the narration. Sad and amazing book though.

Missing Chapters

Would you consider the audio edition of A Lesson Before Dying to be better than the print version?

No. The print version includes the whole story, while the audio elimates whole portions. It's worse then the Crucible audio!

What do you think your next listen will be?

Hopefully The Jungle by Upton Sinclair.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Narrator was fine.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Yes, but that chapter was eliminated from the audio.

Any additional comments?

You should have the whole book on audio. Lots of educators use this site for our students that like to listen and follow along. When whole chapters are elimated it is frustrating.

Nobel worthy

If any American writer deserves to win the Nobel for Literature, it's Ernest Gaines for this book. The writing and the story stand up against the best works of Hemingway, Faulkner, and Fitzgerald.

The Next Mockingbird

My hope is that some day, the sooner the better, this book is on every school curriculum.

Narrator

I don't about the overall story, I couldn't finish because the narrator made it seem incredibly boring. His voice was just bleh, I have no other words for it.

Diffrent

It skipped a chapter and many paragraphs throughout the book. Could have just been my copy tho

Wonderful narration!

The narrator(s) brought the characters emotionally alive and unambiguous. The story is wonderfully written -- tightly woven but the author takes his time so you can get to know the characters. I look for more from this team.

Just like the old Sears radio hour

This is too good to be true. I remember long ago listening to the old Sears radio hour and listening to the show while imagining what was happening. This book is very well done.