Their Eyes Were Watching God in Never too Late to Read Classics

Nov 10, 2016 Sara rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: abandoned, borrowed-from-library, try-again

Sorry, but the dialect is hard to concentrate on for me and I am 1/3 of the way through without caring a whit for any of the characters, including Janie. This might be one of those rare books that would work better as an audio book.

My life is too short and my reading time too limited to continue to read on this one...so, I am DNFing. I seldom DNF and this is the second one in a week that I have given up on. I do hope I make a better choice in my next read.

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Sep 13, 2020 Carey rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

I have many conflicted feelings about this book. On the one hand, Zora Neale Hurston is truly an amazing writer; her words had such a prose to them and when I switched to the audiobook I appreciated even more how her writing flowed. I also read this in quick succession to another novel where the characters southern accents were expressed through the writing and I won't lie it can be difficult to read at times, however, I found that switching the audiobook can help understand why the style was ch I have many conflicted feelings about this book. On the one hand, Zora Neale Hurston is truly an amazing writer; her words had such a prose to them and when I switched to the audiobook I appreciated even more how her writing flowed. I also read this in quick succession to another novel where the characters southern accents were expressed through the writing and I won't lie it can be difficult to read at times, however, I found that switching the audiobook can help understand why the style was chosen. The point of this was not trying to make the people sound black, - as some rather ignorant reviews have said - but rather it is to help the reader imagine a reality with these characters including how many people from the American South naturally speak. The thing I most enjoyed was how well-rounded the characters felt, even side characters felt interesting, important and needed. Furthermore, the creation of these fictional communities and the way the author interwove commentary on race and socio-economic circumstances was phenomenally done. Having said all of that, there were still some major issues with the story and characters. This was almost entirely a character driven novel, yet the main characters were not likable - I could not stand Tea Cake and Janie had shockingly little character development. The one real plot point of the novel is in the last 30-40 pages and it all just felt so rushed, especially when there had been 150+ pages where some sections were annoyingly anti-climatic. I was also a little dumbstruck by the ending in a - why did this need to happen way? It was an attempt at a plot twist and then another predictable plot twist happened as well, but overall it was an odd way to conclude this novel. I was expecting the build up of the novel to be leading to a change in Janie; perhaps her finally understanding her own worth or strength or literally any character change from the first few chapters. Instead, there was no resolution for Janie and I found myself pitying her life and wondering why she was made to seem so insecure and fragile when she didn't need to be. I just don't feel like I understood the why of this novel and choices that Janie made or rather never even considered making. This was quite a big disappointment. ...more

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