Jonah's Gourd Vine [Paperback]

Zora Neale Hurston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 22, 1990

The first novel by the noted black novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist. Originally published in 1934, it was praised by Carl Sandburg as "a bold and beautiful book, many a page priceless and unforgettable."

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

In her award-winning autobiography, Dust Trackson a Road (1942), Zora Neale Hurston claimed to have been born inEatonville, Florida, in 1901. She was, in fact, born in Notasulga, Alabama, onJanuary 7, 1891, the fifth child of John Hurston (farmer, carpenter, and Baptistpreacher) and Lucy Ann Potts (school teacher). The author of numerous books,including Their Eyes Were Watching God, Jonah's Gourd Vine, Mulesand Men, and Moses, Man of the Mountain, Hurston had achieved fameand sparked controversy as a novelist, anthropologist, outspoken essayist,lecturer, and theatrical producer during her sixty-nine years. Hurston's finestwork of fiction appeared at a time when artistic and politicalstatements--whether single sentences or book-length fictions--were peculiarlyconflated. Many works of fiction were informed by purely political motives;political pronouncements frequently appeared in polished literary prose. AndHurston's own political statements, relating to racial issues or addressingnational politics, did not ingratiate her with her black male contemporaries.The end result was that Their Eyes Were Watching God went out of printnot long after its first appearance and remained out of print for nearly thirtyyears. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., has been one among many to ask: "How couldthe recipient of two Guggenheims and the author of four novels, a dozen shortstories, two musicals, two books on black mythology, dozens of essays, and aprizewinning autobiography virtually 'disappear' from her readership for threefull decades?"

That question remains unanswered. The fact remains thatevery one of Hurston's books went quickly out of print; and it was only throughthe determined efforts, in the 1970s, of Alice Walker, Robert Hemenway (Hurston'sbiographer), Toni Cade Bambara, and other writers and scholars that all of herbooks are now back in print and that she has taken her rightful place in thepantheon of American authors.

In 1973, Walker, distressed that Hurston's writings hadbeen all but forgotten, found Hurston's grave in the Garden of Heavenly Rest andinstalled a gravemarker. "After loving and teaching her work for a numberof years," Walker later reported, "I could not bear that she did nothave a known grave." The gravemarker now bears the words that Walker hadinscribed there:

ZORA NEALE HURSTON
GENIUS OF THE SOUTH
NOVELIST FOLKLORIST ANTHROPOLOGIST
(1891-1960)

In Brief
Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) was a novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist whose fictional and factual accounts of black heritage are unparalleled. She Is the author of many books, including Their Eyes Were Watching God, Dust Tracks on a Road, Tell My Horse, and Mules and Men.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (January 22, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060916516
• ISBN-13: 978-0060916510
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #871,554 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loving and unsparing fictional portrait of Hurston's parents, September 15, 2002

By 

D. Cloyce Smith (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jonah's Gourd Vine (Paperback)

Every bit as enjoyable as "Their Eyes Were Watching God," Hurston's first novel recounts the rise-and-fall trajectory of John "Buddy" Pearson from a backwoods adolescent to pillar of an all-black community to a philandering preacher. What gives her debut special resonance is that it is a wholly undisguised portrait of her family--not even the names of her siblings have been changed--and she incorporates much of the black folklore, Caribbean mysticism, and African spirituality she encountered in her scholarly research.

Hurston enviably manages to present her father and her long-suffering mother with all their strengths and weaknesses; her account is unsparingly brutal, yearningly affectionate, and remarkably nonjudgmental. (Her portrayal of her wicked, hoodoo-leaning stepmother is less even-handed; here Hurston takes the opportunity for revenge.) A sign of her achievement is that it is hard to tell where fact ends and fiction begins (for example, Hurston's father died in 1917, but John Pearson's story continues through the 1920s).

Even though the story never lags, I found the representation of black Southern dialect hard-going for the first few chapters. After a while, though, you get used to the cadences and colloquialisms, and the reader's diligence is repaid tenfold. "Jonah's Gourd Vine" is one of those surprising discoveries you wished more people had read.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shaded by the vine, January 21, 2003

By 

The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers (RAWSISTAZ.com and BlackBookReviews.net) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jonah's Gourd Vine (Paperback)

John Buddy Pearson's life got off to a rocky start. His stepfather resented him for his light skin and the fact that another man's blood ran through his veins, and often picked fights with him. John worked hard in the cotton fields on their sharecropping tract, but little could be done to please his stepfather.

John always longed to see what life was like "on the other side of the tracks", so after a particularly serious brawl with his stepfather, he decided to go for it. He moved across the bridge, where children went to school in their free time, and his real father, Alf Pearson, resided on his large plantation. Alf encouraged John to attend the local colored school in his spare moments, and it was here that John first lay eyes on the smart and beautiful, albeit young, Lucy Potts. John, with his high yellow skin and godlike stature, was a favorite among the ladies on the Pearson estate. However, he cast their advances aside as he pined for Lucy.

John and Lucy eventually married and moved to Eatonville, Florida, a "whole town uh nothing but colored folks", where John was called to preach the gospel, honing his already strong speaking skills. John was still a favorite with the ladies, and in a position to do so, he strayed from the mores he was supposed to uphold and engaged in illicit affairs. Thus begun the descension of our character, as his deviant ways became exposed and no longer shrouded in his notoriety.

Zora Neale Hurston's first novel, Jonah's Gourd Vine marks the beginning of a dazzling writer's craft. Peppered with the southern dialect that Hurston is so well-known for, it was, at times, a bit unclear as to what the characters were saying. I found myself saying sentences, and even paragraphs, aloud to discern their meaning. Lucy's character is particularly strong throughout the story. John's character, to me, represents both the "good guy" and later "the bad guy," as I was taken through his struggles, comeupances, and downfalls. I believe everyone should read Hurston, if only for her superb use of language and, in this case, biblical themes. Jonah's Gourd Vine is a great place to start.

Reviewed by CandaceK
The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I have ever read, January 24, 2005

By 

Kharabella "Kharabella" (Somewhere in the midwest . . .) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jonah's Gourd Vine (Paperback)

I always thought of Toni Morrison as the leader, the queen, and the matriarch of black women's fiction, but the more I read of Zora Neale Hurston, the more I feel that everyone else must have taken their cues from her!

Her writing is enchanting and thought provoking, her use of "black" language is absolutely delightful. The story and the characters are interesting in and of themselves. What makes this work really shine is the language, and the heritage and history that it preserves. She takes care to write the way that people speak, resulting a unorthodox spelling and usage that at first I had to say out loud in order to properly understand. (My grandmother didn't have to do that, though, and for that reason alone, she loved Zora Hurston.) Ms. Hurston also uses words, idioms and phrases that are unique to black america, and that my generation would likely have lost -- the news of the "Black Dispatch," "Old Hannah" rising, "hittin' a straight lick with a crooked stick." Some of the sayings I remember my Grandmother using, and some I remember using as a child. I found all of them interesting and beautiful, and I am grateful to Ms. Hurston for finding them valuable enough to put down.