Gaines's strength lies in his quietly compassionate depiction of plantation Blacks in his native Louisiana….

"A Long Day in November," the best piece in Bloodlines (all five are good), is a masterly novella of a young boy, his father and mother, and their world on a Louisiana plantation. There are no technical pyrotechnics here, no violence, but in their place a steadily seen and beautifully rendered picture of family life, alive with the minutiae of day-to-day existence…. The novella is climaxed by two powerful scenes that in less skilled hands would become either ludicrous or melodramatic…. Gaines's fine sense of control, his effective use of dialogue, and the quiet resonance of his scene-building [are evident]…. (p. 238)

Different as the fictional worlds of Alice Walker and Ernest J. Gaines are, they share one thing in common: they are the work of mature writers who in one manner or other (and quite apart from their concern for their race) have moved from the platform of sociology to the realm of art. "What moves a writer to eloquence is less meaningful than what he makes of it," Ralph Ellison has said. In their best stories, Miss Walker and Mr. Gaines have made that implied transition. And that makes all the difference. (p. 239)