Pre-thoughts to "A Lesson Before Dying"

This summer I will be reading Ernest Gaines most recent book, A Lesson Before Dying. Ernest Gaines has published eight fictional books, and A Lesson Before Dying won the 1993 National Book Critics Circle Award. I chose this book because the title stuck out as I looked over the possibilities, and the review from LibraryThing.com just made me even more interested. The book is a 227 page novel written in 1993. I am very excited to begin reading. I hope it is an interesting book that draws the reader in and brings the story to life instead of one of many books that just seem to drone on with no point or little excitement. Most of all, I hope A Lesson Before Dying will be a book that I can learn from or a book that will jump-start my interest in a new genre.