Their Eyes Were Watching God in Crazy Challenge Connection

Nov 03, 2008 Book Concierge rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classic, favorite, book-club, concierge, strong-women, women-writers, library, own, literature, southern-lit

5***** and a ❤

One woman's struggle for independence.

Zora Neale Hurston was part of the Harlem Renaissance of writers. This work takes place from about 1899-1930 in the deep south. It tells the story of Janie who is first married to Logan Kennick, an older "safe" farmer, and then to Joe Starks, a smooth-talking "respectable" man, but finally finds love with TeaCake, a gambler and migrant worker. She slowly comes to realize her own desires and to stand up for herself.

An extraordinary work, altho ...more

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Feb 02, 2021 Tien rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literature, historical-fiction, usa, mm-21

I thought this was going to be a hard read so it's been languishing on my tbr forever. It was a hard read but not in the way that I thought it was going to be. But it was totally worth it.

At first, it was hard to get into the story, the language, and even the protagonist. While I can understand writing dialogue as they would've spoken added that bit of authenticity to a story, I struggled a lot with it and have had to re-read sentences over (sometimes more than once) to understand. I just had to ...more

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Sep 07, 2011 Chris rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, united-states, 300, 2015owned, 2016owned, african-american

This amazing book must be read with careful consideration for the time in which it was written. Modern sensibilities would certainly be offended by much of the language and some of the characters, but I believe Hurston wrote with a sure hand about people she knew and understood. And the writing is so gorgeous!

Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher tu ...more

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Feb 16, 2010 Carol rated it it was amazing

Touching story, could relate to Janie And her struggles throughout her life.

From page 160 -- The wind came back with triple fury, and put out the light for the last time. They sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God.

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Apr 01, 2009 Bucket rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: culture, reviewed, 1001-read-all-editions, literary, classic, diversity, love, life-and-death, women, race

This is an action-packed novel and the story held me unceasingly throughout. The climactic scene between Janie and Tea Cake was terrifying, heartbreaking, and exultant all at once. I loved Janie's tone and powerful belief in herself and her right to reach out and take the life and love she wants. She's a smart and strong woman who has learned from her difficult life experiences and the life-altering decisions that were made for her by being ready and willing to take risks:

Pheoby: "...But you're This is an action-packed novel and the story held me unceasingly throughout. The climactic scene between Janie and Tea Cake was terrifying, heartbreaking, and exultant all at once. I loved Janie's tone and powerful belief in herself and her right to reach out and take the life and love she wants. She's a smart and strong woman who has learned from her difficult life experiences and the life-altering decisions that were made for her by being ready and willing to take risks:

Pheoby: "...But you're takin' uh awful chance."
Janie: "No mo' than Ah took befo' and no mo' than anybody else takes when dey gits married. It always changes folks, and sometimes it brings out dirt and meanness dat even de person didn't know they had in 'em theyselves."

The discussion of race from Janie's (and probably also Hurston's) perspective was illuminating for me. I was particularly interested in Janie's response to her grandmother's hopes for her, which is tied up in both race and gender:

"She was born in slavery time when folks, dat is black folks, didn't sit down anytime dey felt lak it. So sittin' on porches lak de white madam looked lak uh mighty fine thing tuh her. Dat's whut she wanted for me -- don't keer whut it cost. Git up on uh high chair and sit dere. She didn't have time tuh think whut tuh do after you got up on de stool uh do nothin'. De object wuz tuh git dere. So ah got up on de high stool lak she told me, but Pheoby, Ah done nearly languished tuh death up dere."

My favorite part of the book is right at the very end, when Janie tells Pheoby that she can tell all the nosy neighbors anything she wants to tell them - she trusts her friend and cares little about what the others think of her. She also shares two lessons (see the quotations below) she has learned through her experiences, one about love and one about life. Both are worth remembering.

"Then you must tell 'em dat love ain't somethin' lak uh grindstone dat's de same thing everywhere and do de same thing tuh everything it touch. Love is lak de sea. It's uh movin thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it's different with every shore."

"Two things everybody's got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves."
...more

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Mar 31, 2011 Marla rated it really liked it

Shelves: made-me-laugh, religion, book-club, historical-fiction, classics, romance, adult, zz-2014

Interesting story about a pretty, light-skinned black woman's life and loves. She married for security, for excitement and for love.

The southern speech makes for difficult reading. It didn't bog me down much as I read, but I had a terrible time finding things when I referred back in the text. I did not care for the Foreward or Afterward, but the Chronology and Valerie Boyd's "She WAS the Party" describing Zora Neale Hurston were both very interesting.

Janie is a strong woman who started as a gir ...more

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May 05, 2008 Sue rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: southern, civil-war, 1001-books

This book showed the development of the main character from a young, unwilling bride who is unhappy, to a runaway bride who becomes an object of status, to an independent woman free to love someone of her choice. The development arc was very interesting and Hurston's descriptions of life in 1930's Florida was fascinating. She reveals many interesting aspects of rural black life, such as jook joints, harvesting in the muck of the Everglades, relationships with Indians and whites, and the white ju ...more

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