Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An American Masterpiece, well worth reading, October 17, 2007
"Their Eyes were Watching God" has been variously described as feminist literature (though written in 1930), African-American literature (though the story is about people, first and foremost, and race is secondary to the novel) and as a lost masterpiece. It's a lost masterpiece. Thanks to Alice Walker and Oprah Winfrey, the book was brought back to the public's attention.
One of the issues with reading Hurston's novel is that it's written in dialect--in Hurston's rendition of how Southern Florida black dialect could be spelled out to her. So reading the book is a bit slow; you have to sound out the words in your mind. If this is a problem, then I'd suggest you listen to the book on tape (ably performed by Ruby Dee) and then read the book afterwards.
The story has barely a plot; Janey is a young woman who's grandmother was born in slavery. Her aspirations are no further than the front porch; to live in comfort means being simply able to sit, to sit on the porch and not be in constant motion, working every hour of every day for bare subsistence. She finds an older, established husband for Janey and insists she marry. Janey, then, has a life where, with reasonable work, she can fill her belly and sleep in shelter. Her life is not much better than that of a well-cared-for mule.
One day, Janey runs off with Jody Starks, a man of means who charms her with his worldy ways. This is a man going places. And they do go places; to Eatonville, a town that was chartered as an African-American community. Starks sees opportunity in every corner of dusty Eatonville, buys land, builds a store and a house and installs the beautiful Janey as a symbol of his mastery.
As Mayor, Starks has appearances to keep up. He has Janey stay in the house or work in the store, and when in the store, she is to keep her head covered. Janey has a wealth of long abundant hair, which Hurston uses as a symbol of life. Janey's hair is flowing and startling; men covet it. As the hair is covered, so is every enjoyment and thought Janey has. She chafes for 20 years under Stark's restrictive rules.
The scene where the "town mule"--a mule freed by Starks from an abusive owner and that became a sort of mascot, dies and is buried in the swamp is exceptional writing, worthy of Mark Twain. The mule is eulogized (by Stark, standing at one point on the mule as podium) and then abandoned to the waiting buzzards. The following scene where the buzzards arrive to do their undertaking is a flight of fancy that is hardly equalled in American literature. All along the book, Hurston takes smaller flights of language; her descriptions sometimes soar, or are humorous or completely imaginative.
Janey runs off after Stark's death with "Tea Cake"--a younger man. While her first two marriages were for the sustenance of the body (food, shelter, comfort, a home) this marriage is for the sustenance of the soul. Tea Cake plays guitar, plays games, dances, gambles, sings and flirts. Hurston is too clever to make him perfect; he hurts Janey, as only someone who loves another person can hurt them, and he is a bit of a cad, yet he brings out something in Janey that no life of pure material wealth could do--freedom and sensuality and joy. The culmination of the story is rather contrived, but still, the completion of the three marriages tells almost a fable-like story of a quest for personal growth. Janey comes home to Eatonville, and tells her story to Phoeby, her friend. The rest of the tale is up to us to fill in.
Sometimes the writing reminds me of Virginia Woolf--the interior dialog and mood of the character is the action as much or more than the action happening on the story's stage. Sometimes Hurston reminds me of Twain in her delving into the linguistic richness and uniqueness of Floridian life. Her education as a folklorist sharpened her ear, but her deep honesty into the interior life of women is what makes this story so great. It's definitely one of the top American novels and deserves to be read.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great book for our times, August 19, 2006
Out of curiosity I picked up "Their Eyes Were Watching God" at a yard sell and discovered a gem.
Though the book was written over 60 years ago, if feels modern. As I am from the Deep South, I found Zora Hurston's use of the Black dialogue refreshing, feeling similar to what I hear everyday in the classes that I teach.
The protagonist in the book, Janie, spends much of her life living as others want her to live. Her second husband, who literally owns half the town, places her on a high pedestal which no one but him is allowed to touch. Janie inherited light skin and long hair from her white grandfather. Joe Starks wants others to see that he married a beauty, but he keeps mentally putting her down, saying "someone has to think for the women, children, chickens, and cows."
Janie must struggle with finding real love and discovering who she really is.
At one point in the story, it feels as if Zora Hurston pulled from today's headlines. While in the midst of a raging hurricane, Janie must flee the rising waters of a busted levee.
This is a book I recommend to more mature readers. The dialogue will turn some people off, but I found the language a strong lure which pulled me into the story, making the characters feel real.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a must read!, May 3, 2007
Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891-January 28, 1960) was one of the most important, insightful and forgotten authors who was especially prolific during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s through the 1940s. This was a very important period of time in the United States, because these decades truly were an especially prolific time for great African-American artists, writers, dancers, musicians, photographers and others to truly express their gifts to the world. Hurston was no exception. Born in Notasulga, Alabama, and eventually relocated to Eatonville, Florida, Hurston based much of her novels on the experiences of those around her, in the predominantly African-American Southern town. With a degree in Anthropology, she found the opportunity to do ethnographic research on those close to her, and truly wove some fascinating and unflinchingly realistic looks at the Southern Black experience.
THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD (written in 1937) follows the story of the main character Janey, and her experiences with three very different sorts of men, told in flashback style to her best friend, Phoebe. Janey's idealistic image of the relationships between men and women is not realized in reality. In fact, the common theme of woman "as mule," or beast of burden, for men, keeps resurfacing. This novel has been criticized by scholars and intellectuals alike, for what is described as a racist depiction of Southern Black life, during the early part of the 20th century. For me, this was not the case. I really believe that Zora Neale Hurston was channeling the experiences of many Black women she interviewed, over time, and wanted to present a realistic picture of the hardships they endured and [sometimes] overcame. Beautiful........Though, Zora died many years ago and wasn't well-recognized by a more mainstream audience, until Alice Walker brought her to the attention of many in the 1970s, I believe that her writing is alive and powerful today as the day she wrote it.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
by James Weldon Johnson
by Jean Toomer
by Megan E. Ash
by Ralph Ellison
by Zora Hurston
