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| In My Father's House |  | Author: Ernest J. Gaines
Publisher: Books on Tape
Category: Book
Buy New: $48.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 7286861
Media: Audio Cassette
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 7 x 1.3
ISBN: 5553676843
EAN: 9785553676841
ASIN: 5553676843
Publication Date: January 1920
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
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Product Description
A story of a man brought to reckon with his buried past. Reverend Martin comes face to face with the sins of his youth in the person of Robert X, a young, unkempt stranger who arrives in town for a mysterious "meeting" with the Reverend.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Divided Loyalties July 21, 2008
In My Father's House / 0-679-72791-4
In My Father's House details the pain of divided loyalties and the guilt of unfulfilled promises.
When a local leader for black rights is confronted by the arrival of the son he has never known, he must choose whether to stand by the community he knows and loves or the son that he abandoned. The young man is locked up by the police and the civil rights leader is told, in no uncertain terms, that the only way to save his son is to cancel the upcoming civil rights demonstration. A choice that initially seems easy (he loves his community, but his son is a stranger to him) delves into more complex themes of guilt and resentment (his son is his blood and needs him now more than ever, whereas his community is not kin and can take care of itself). The fact that neither son nor community appreciates the difficulty of this choice (the son is cold to his father, the community unflinchingly demands his loyalty) only serves to heighten his pain and sense of being trapped. The final decision - fight for the community, capitulate for the son, or flee the entire messy situation - weighs heavily on his heart. There are never any easy answers provided to the question: To whom do you owe the most loyalty?
Family or Cause? November 13, 2007
In this beautiful story, Gaines poignantly explores the nature of loyalty to one's race and to one's kin. Which comes first: your cause or your family? When forced to chose, do you sell out your brothers or your son? When faced with a child that you abandoned years ago, and all the guilt and pain accompanying that choice, do you make it up to the young man by giving up everything you've worked for to redeem yourself in his eyes, or do you hold fast to the needs of your community and stand by your long-time supporters? Gaines answers this unanswerable question in a way that no one can be happy with - but in a way that everyone will understand.
 Good Start, Terrible Ending: July 20, 2006
I wrote a review on this book before, but because I spoiled the ending by telling you how bad it is my review did not get published, so now I have to write one again. Which sucks!!!!!
A mysterious black man by the name of Robert X. comes to a small southern town to find his father, the respected Revernend Phillip Martin. Who, despite his charasmatic appearence, is a prig who preaches sermons superficially, he is actually a pretty negative character with a sinful past. Martin borne illegitamite children(many) like Robert X. He did not treat his lover and the boy well. The only thing he did was to give him and his mom $3 to make a living, making them suffer ever since. Now the Reverend is face to face with the product of the sins of his past. Now the boy faces him, bent on revenge.
Now the first 150 pages of this book is pretty good. The dialogues are very good, but at this point it took a sudden turn and the ending is simply terrible. It is melodramatic and confusing and leaves you the feeling that this book is like a house built, yet the house is not furnished and one cannot live in it. In a way, it feels as if reading the ending of this book is like going in circles and cannot pin-point your destination and is extremely frustrating. The ending ruined this book. Gaines wrote the ending as if he was drunk from drinking cheap wine or something. No wonder this book isn't the big hit like "A Lesson Before Dying" or "A Gathering of Old Men". Even though most of his endings in his other books give you a feeling of something that's missing. None are as terrible as this one. And if it isn't for the ending I would have given it a four stars, but for the ending, I give it a 2. However, the first 150 pages are still worth reading. It gives one a feel of what it is like to be poor and desperate, with nobody to depend on and your true love thousands of miles away enjoying his life while you wither with old age.
 Good Read July 17, 2004
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I thought this book was written in typical Ernest Gaines style. His stories never end with everything tied up in a nice little package. Like in the other books, the main character leaves us with lots of questions that we get to think about and ponder. It is not preachy but shows us the complexity of having your sins to follow and haunt you. I loved it.
 Inadequate and Inexplicable Characters May 30, 2003
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is a bad book. The plot is melodramatic and implausible. The characters are one-dimensional and implausible -- in fact, down right unbelievable. The dialogue is stiff, moralistic, hyperbolic and implausible. It reminds me of the picaresque novels of Spain -- without the humor . The main character rushes from conversation to conversation -- many without forwarding the story one whit. There is no reason for the conversations except to fill paper. To be honest, I cannot think of one redeeming feature of this book.
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