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For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf

Ntozake Shange

Start date: March 1, 2023

Finish date: March 31, 2023

Discussion: Monthly Bonus Reads

Why we're reading this: For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf
World Poetry Day
[close] For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf
World Poetry Day

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What Members Thought

Nov 21, 2010 Meg - A Bookish Affair rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, chick-lit, fiction, poetry

I picked this book up from the library on a whim after hearing good things about the movie. I ate it up. As a woman, it really resonated with me. I was surprised to read that the book actually came out in 1975 as the issues that all of the women deal with still seem so relevant to today (abortion, rape, simply enjoying being a woman). This book is for women of all ethnicities and is good for any woman.

This book includes stage directions for putting on the play, which really made me interested i ...more

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Apr 02, 2016 Maya B rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1st-time-reading-this-author, classic, poetry

interesting read. I will admit I did not understand what the author was trying to say at first but it all comes together after a while.

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 15, 2010 Nascha rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: on-the-bookshelf, african-american-black-literature, drama-poetry

From my blog: http://najblazingstar.wordpress.com/2...

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange is one of her most famous works and has been on the lips of most women of color since its inception in the 1970s.

I had never gotten the chance to read this book so I was ecstatic when I found a copy of the play at a local library sale and added it to my collection. I had heard about this play since I was a young girl. It seemed that all of the women aroun From my blog: http://najblazingstar.wordpress.com/2...

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange is one of her most famous works and has been on the lips of most women of color since its inception in the 1970s.

I had never gotten the chance to read this book so I was ecstatic when I found a copy of the play at a local library sale and added it to my collection. I had heard about this play since I was a young girl. It seemed that all of the women around me, my family, at school, in church, and even on my block could relate to the play and said that it made an impact on their lives. Much in the same way that Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, is regarded as the quintessential book on the black woman’s experience, For Colored Girls runs a close second.

I have a habit of putting off reading books that I am excited about, looking for the right time when I can sit and absorb it all. When I discovered that Tyler Perry had adapted For Colored Girls for the big screen, I was not only thrilled but I also realized that I could no longer put off reading it if I was going to finish the book before the film’s opening.

The book version opens with Ntozake Shange discussing the history of the play and how it came to be. It was fascinating to read about how she performed her play in little bars in San Francisco with the support of other artists and feminists before moving East to New York City where she toiled on the Lower East Side before getting enough support to move to the Public Theater and eventually to Broadway. As a writer, her vision and story was so very inspiring. It made me want to read the play even more and my anticipation for the movie version also grew.

The play is a combination of dance, poetry and drama that details the struggles of several women who represent major cities across America. Their stories were so intense, their words so breathtakingly beautiful and so real that I did not want to stop reading. I literally stopped breathing for a bit when I reached the climax. Incredible!

While I have not seen the play performed live, I am hoping that with the release of the film, that the film will be placed in production again. I am so looking forward to the movie production. Tyler Perry definitely has his work cut out for him, but I do believe that he is more than capable of fulfilling that challenge. I will be front and center on opening weekend and will of course post my thoughts.

Until then.

Naj ...more

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Jun 24, 2011 Cassandra Hawkins rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I checked this audiobook from my local public library. I have been procrastinating on reading it because of the scene with the children being dangled out of the window. I watched the movie first, and that image still resonates with me.

However, since I have a two-hour commute one way, I felt that now would be a good time to be entranced by Shange, and I must say that I was. I cannot believe how talented she is. She entraps you inside almost every emotion and feeling that women encountered, as th ...more

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Dec 14, 2010 Marilyn Diamond rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Went to see the movie and had to read the words...Awesome...

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Jun 28, 2020 Lindsay rated it did not like it · review of another edition

DNF. I think I've realized that reading written plays are not for me. I love the visual arts, but the written form is just too difficult for me to understand. ...more

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