A Long Day in November

by Ernest J. Gaines

One morning, six-year old Sonny is awoken by his crying mother, who tells him that, come tomorrow morning, they are leaving to go to "Gran'mom's" house—without Sonny's father, Eddie. Later that morning, Sonny witnesses a fight between his parents, which revolves around his father having stayed out late the night before because his car had broken down. Eddie has apparently been neglecting his wife and son, devoting his free time instead to repairing his old car. In order to win back his wife, Eddie—with Sonny in tow—pays a visit to Madame Toussaint, an old lady knowledgeable in the ways of voodoo, who tells Eddie that the only way to save his marriage is by burning his car to the ground. This unforgettable story leads the reader through an eventful day on a Southern sugarcane plantation, and shows, through the eyes of a child, what life was like in the rural South of the 1940s. This new edition of A Long Day in November features Ernest J. Gaines's original introduction, as well as the black-and-white illustrations that accompanied the first edition of the book. Ernest J. Gaines 's 1993 novel A Lesson Before Dying won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and was an Oprah Book Club pick. Gaines has been a MacArthur Foundation fellow, awarded the National Humanities Medal, nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, and inducted into the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) as a Chevalier. He lives in Oscar, Louisiana.

Genres: African American, Historical Fiction, Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Ernest James Gaines was an American author whose works have been taught in college classrooms and translated into many languages, including French, Spanish, German, Russian and Chinese. Four of his works were made into television movies.
His 1993 novel, A Lesson Before Dying, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. Gaines was a MacArthur Foundation fellow, was awarded the National Humanities Medal, and was inducted into the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) as a Chevalier.

Reviews

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just love the voice of little six yr old, Sonny and his observations of the relationships of adults, in this case his own parents. A long day for the little boy, a day in which nothing much is working out, from school to home and to the local voodoo woman. Quite touching and endearing.

[Elizabeth Lind · Rating 5 out of 5]

What makes this novel beautiful? Voice, sense if place, compression of time, resolution. A universe in a day.

[♥ Sandi ❣ · Rating 4 out of 5]

One confusing day in the life of Sonny Howard. Sonny, a first grader, narrates the story as he sees it. One day in the life of his family, struggling in the 1940's, and struggling further among themselves. How people take each other for granted, how true feelings come to the surface and what people will do for love. One day. Multiple changes. How what we do affects everyone around us. Quick, but meaningful read.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really great short story!

[Jada]

When I saw the boy’s face on the cover and that it was a quick read (127 pages with illustrations!), I put at this at the top of my reading pile. But the sweet face on the cover belies the tough November day that Sonny Howard has.

Gaines does a good job of depicting the thought patterns a six-year-old would have as he watches family strife–there is a bit of poetry and stream-of -consciousness to it. Sonny Howard’s mother, Amy, is prepared to leave his father, Eddie, even if it means she has to go back to cutting sugarcane. She and Sonny move up the road to her mother’s house. The issues at home affect Sonny at school: since she’s unhappy, his mother didn’t go over his lesson with him and he pees on himself because he is upset and Lucy won’t be his girlfriend anymore. (The teacher sends a note home saying she wants to see at least one of Sonny’s parents. [As an aside, can I say that it is interesting that in 1940s Louisiana despite meager circumstances and backbreaking work, there was an expectation that parents would be involved in their children’s education?) Early on Sonny tells his father he loves his mother more but when his father shows up to try to get his mother back, Sonny feels torn but decides to go with his father.

Read the rest and see what songs this story brought to mind on my booksploitation blog

[Marsella Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Gaines captures a culture and it's syntax wonderfully in this short story. Rich characters, and I can so relate to the little boy being cozy under the covers and not wanting the outside world to intrude. Little eyes observing the scariness of the big adult world, while being protected, and exposed, at the same time. This is an American folk art gem.

[Kenneth]

A wonderful short story. Although listed as a children's story, it is really and adult tale

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did not realize Gaines had written a children's book. First published in 1964. Not sure of appeal today.

[Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not sure what to make of this. The narrator is a young boy, and the story is one day in his life. He overhears a fight between his parents, (temporarily) moves in with his grandmother, gets reprimanded in school, wets himself at school and is dumped by his "girlfriend," and watches his father try to woo his mother. But there is no way this would have been written for kids, despite the illustrations. The choices Gaines makes are just really interesting.

Also intriguing is his author's note at the end, which describes how happy he is that people are leaving the land and moving to urban areas, because schools are better and kids have more opportunities. He, like the book's protagonist, were sharecropper's sons and speaks from experience.

[Rose Dempster · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed that this was written from the perspective of a child.

Eddie had to do what needed to be done to get his wife to come home and not move on with the man that her mother wanted her to be with.

We wake up after 2am with little Sonny, experience a long adult foolishness day and then finally fall asleep all nice and warm under the blanket.

What a day for a six year old.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book years ago as a child, and decided to pick it up and read it again. It’s told from a six year old’s point of view, but the subject matter is better suited to a teen or older. I probably won’t pick it up again, but it was worth a reread as an adult.

[Whit]

An interesting book. I have enjoyed all of the Ernest J. Gaines books that I have read,,,

[RacReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid!

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review also appears on my blog, Read-at-Home Mom.

On a November day in the 1940s rural South, six-year-old Sonny wakes up to find his parents' marriage in turmoil. His mother, convinced that Sonny's father Eddie loves his car more than his family, decides to move to her mother's house down the street, dragging Sonny along with her. Desperate not to lose his family, Eddie spends all day seeking advice from friends and a local woman who practices voodoo, before ultimately sacrificing his car for the love of his wife.

This slice of life story is fabulously well written. By telling the story through the innocent eyes of young Sonny, Gaines is able to provide an unbiased account of both parents' actions, leaving room for the reader - ideally a middle school student - to draw his or her own conclusions. What is for Sonny just a really long day is for the more sophisticated reader an opportunity to understand what it was like to live on a sugarcane plantation during this time period, and a study on human relationships and what drives people to behave as they do.

Though the novel itself is short, there is much to discuss and dissect that can easily encourage multiple re-readings. Kids in grades 6 to 9, especially, will have much to say about the decisions made by each character, and will delight in the final scenes where Eddie makes his choice and follows through. Historical fiction can be a hard sell, but once kids find out that this is essentially a book about breaking up and making up, they will be all over it.

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Part of a series of reissued young adult novels, this really read more as a lower school novel. Even then it's just missing something.

[Judy Spare · Rating 1 out of 5]

waste of time.