Amazon.com Review: At the height of the Harlem Renaissance during the 1930s, Zora Neale Hurston was the preeminent black woman writer in the United States. She was a sometime-collaborator with Langston Hughes and a fierce rival of Richard Wright. Her stories appeared in major magazines, she consulted on Hollywood screenplays, and she penned four novels, an autobiography, countless essays, and two books on black mythology. Yet by the late 1950s, Hurston was living in obscurity, working as a maid in a Florida hotel. She died in 1960 in a Welfare home, was buried in an unmarked grave, and quickly faded from literary consciousness until 1975 when Alice Walker almost single-handedly revived interest in her work.
Of Hurston's fiction, Their Eyes Were Watching God is arguably the best-known and perhaps the most controversial. The novel follows the fortunes of Janie Crawford, a woman living in the black town of Eaton, Florida. Hurston sets up her characters and her locale in the first chapter, which, along with the last, acts as a framing device for the story of Janie's life. Unlike Wright and Ralph Ellison, Hurston does not write explicitly about black people in the context of a white world--a fact that earned her scathing criticism from the social realists--but she doesn't ignore the impact of black-white relations either:
It was the time for sitting on porches beside the road. It was the time to hear things and talk. These sitters had been tongueless, earless, eyeless conveniences all day long. Mules and other brutes had occupied their skins. But now, the sun and the bossman were gone, so the skins felt powerful and human. They became lords of sounds and lesser things. They passed nations through their mouths. They sat in judgment.
One person the citizens of Eaton are inclined to judge is Janie Crawford, who has married three men and been tried for the murder of one of them. Janie feels no compulsion to justify herself to the town, but she does explain herself to her friend, Phoeby, with the implicit understanding that Phoeby can "tell 'em what Ah say if you wants to. Dat's just de same as me 'cause mah tongue is in mah friend's mouf."
Hurston's use of dialect enraged other African American writers such as Wright, who accused her of pandering to white readers by giving them the black stereotypes they expected. Decades later, however, outrage has been replaced by admiration for her depictions of black life, and especially the lives of black women. In Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston breathes humanity into both her men and women, and allows them to speak in their own voices. --Alix Wilber
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Lyrical, Beautiful Book of One Woman's Journey to Self-Fulfillment ^ I had a hard time at first with the Southern African American dialect of the characters, but once I got used to it, it was easier to read the novel. I love how this novel is an important African American novel, but also an important feminist novel. I love Janie's journey to find herself and her happiness. She finally found her "voice" with Tea Cake. Overall, this book was a beautifully written, compelling, and original work
Book in excellent cond. ^ Arrived in excellent condition. Took 4 days from order placed to being shipped out (which I thought was a bit slow even though web site said quick shippping).
Great shape...except for... ^ Book was in great shape for the most part, however it looks like a little kid got ahold of it with a florescent pink marker or highlighter. The overall shape of the book is great, but I find the marks distracting when trying to read.
Good Review ^ Book arrived first out of all the other purchases made on the same day, it is in good condtition, and is exactly what i needed for my English class
Teen's Review ^ A few months ago we were given Their Eyes Were Watching God in English class to read, and though I love reading and writing both I'm usually hesitant about the literature we analyze in class - I find it dry and dull most of the time. But then I picked up the book, and began to read the first few lines: "Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board..."
From that point on I was completely sucked in. Everything about it: the unforgettable, lyrical, poetical prose; the way Hurston delves into another side of life that you would never expect the "negroes" of the era to have; and the character of Janie herself - made me fall head-over-heels with the story.
This is a book for people who hate classics. It's not too long, and Hurston's beautiful writing style has a soothing rhythm that will pull you right into the prose. Coming from a sixteen-year-old, I'm saying this has become my new favorite book.
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