In My Father's House - Hardcover

It is the force of Mr. Gaines's character and intelligence, operating through [his] deceptively quiet style, that makes his fictioni compelling. . . . The dialogue is spare, but unerring, and humor will keep slipping in subtly despite the tragedies behind these lives. Larry McMurty, The New York Times Book Review

He write's eloquently of the frustrated love between fathers and sons. . . . His best writing is marked by what Ralph Ellison, describing the blues, call near-tragic, near-comic lyricism. Margo Jefferson, Newsweek

The dialogue is mesmerizing. . . . The characterizations come right off the page. . . . No one writes about mainstream, ordinary black life as well as he does. Ishmael Reed
It would make a gripping play with its tight plot and strong scenes of confrontation, its Ibsenite central character. The Washington Post
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"It is the force of Mr. Gaines's character and intelligence, operating through [his] deceptively quiet style, that makes his fictioni compelling. . . . The dialogue is spare, but unerring, and humor will keep slipping in subtly despite the tragedies behind these lives." --Larry McMurty, The New York Times Book Review

"He write's eloquently of the frustrated love between fathers and sons. . . . His best writing is marked by what Ralph Ellison, describing the blues, call 'near-tragic, near-comic lyricism.'" --Margo Jefferson, Newsweek

"The dialogue is mesmerizing. . . . The characterizations come right off the page. . . . No one writes about mainstream, ordinary black life as well as he does." --Ishmael Reed

"It would make a gripping play with its tight plot and strong scenes of confrontation, its Ibsenite central character." --The Washington Post

Ernest Gaines was born on a plantation in Pointe Coupee 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.