Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
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Book Reviews of Their Eyes Were Watching God
Book Review: Among the Most Influential African-American Novels of the 20th Century
Summary: 5 Stars
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, middle-aged narrator Janie Crawford tells the story of her life to date. Janie was raised by her former-slave grandmother, who pushed Janie into a life of quiet conventionality as a farmer's wife. Unsatisfied, however, when a man with big dreams comes along, Janie flees. Despite the promises she was given, Janie is again pushed into a life of quiet, albeit more comfortable, conventionality as the wife of a small town shopowner and mayor. When her second husband dies, Janie is left self-sufficient and free to choose the direction of her life. She decides to marry a drifter named Tea Cake for love. With Tea Cake she leaves the town that made her wealthy and heads to Florida. Here she lives a happy and almost pastoral life as a field worker until fate deals her a devastating blow.
Their Eyes Were Watching God is among the most influential African American novels of the 20th century. Though not uncontroversial, the novel deserves its plaudits. Zora Neale Hurston powerfully examines the self-realization of an increasingly free black woman, and the societal, both black and white, reaction to her and her choices. Both profoundly tragic and encouraging, the novel announces African-American literature's independence and a new black vigor to 1930's America - a time and literature whose importance to the civil rights movement has often been underrated. Some readers may find Hurston's use of dialect off-putting or confusing.
Book Review: A great book for our times
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Book Review: Love Story
Summary: 5 Stars
Janie Crawford's grandmother, born in times of slavery, wants only for the grandchild she rose to have the things she did not in life. After much pressuring, Janie marries steady provider Logan Killicks. Realizing that she wants more out of life than mere security, Janie leaves one day with the ambitious, enterprising Joe Starks to help him build a town owned and run by African Americans. But, this, too, has its disappointments for Janie. Eventually, life takes another turn and she begins to find herself, and, as Hurston writes, "... her soul (crawls) out from its hiding place."
Although only 227 pages, Hurston's novel reads like an epic of a much greater length; many regard "Their Eyes Were Watching God" as a literary masterpiece. The life of the story's heroine, Janie, is chronicled from ages 17 through her early 40's with its many phases differing, ultimately giving the reader a lavish portrait of a person and a life. Hurston's prose, both illuminating as well as limpid, and her rare talent for character dialogue are equal to that of Jane Austen. Additionally, her folk tale-like insertions into the narrative add poetry and mysticism to the work. The novel's title comes in the form of a sentence toward its end, playing a part in the remarkable journey of its characters.
Book Review: Zora's Masterpiece!
Summary: 5 Stars
Zora Neale Hurston will probably be remembered best as the author of this novel. She writes in dialogue or dialect in the South especially to help establish the realism and relationships between the characters. This book is about Janie Crawford, the granddaughter of Nanny Crawford (who was a former slave who had a child with her white master known as Leafy). Nanny wisely leaves the plantation with her baby. She raises Leafy who gets raped by her teacher and gives birth to Janie. Leafy abandons her baby daughter in the care of her grandmother who raised her with other children. It wasn't until 6 that Janie realized that she was different from the children that her grandmother cared for. Janie realized that she was black or African American. Until then, she was just one of the kids. As an adult, she yearns for love from a man. She is married off to an old farmer, Logan Killicks. She leaves him for Joe Stark and finally there was Teacake Magee, the love of her life. This book is a classic. In order to teach it, I would recommend the movie with Halle Berry and the audio version with Ruby Dee who also played Nanny in the television film version. The audio helps bring alive the rich dialect that Zora recreated to help establish the realism of life in the South during the 1930s and Great Depression.Book Review: One for the Ages
Summary: 5 Stars
Zora Neale Hurston's novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" has been analyzed, criticized, and lionized over the brief span of its existence. Lately, praise has predominated though with continued carping on issues which she made clear she considered secondary to her purpose.
Hurston's mastery of language places this work in the top tier of Anglophone literature, and the broadness of her comprehension defies spatial, temporal, social, or political confines. Her novel is powerful because it is humane and universal in scope. The story enchants because the voice relating it is unfailingly compassionate.
This lyrical voice was owned by no one but Hurston herself. Throughout her professional life, she remained true to her vision regardless of praise or criticism.
Ultimately, Hurston's literary worth, and that of her detractors, critics, and rivals, will be judged by generations to come. I'm confident that her stature will endure and her insistence on self-definition will be vindicated.