From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora Neale Hurston

Start date: August 1, 2021

Finish date: August 15, 2021

Discussion: Classics Corner

Discussion leader: Matt

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Classics Corner

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What Members Thought

Oct 20, 2022 Ken rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: finished-in-2022

Probably the biggest challenge for most readers will be the dialect, but once you get through 30 pages or so, you'll be fluent enough.

The two big relationships for our protagonist, Janie, are the Mayor (an unhappy marriage) and Tea Cake (a happy one). From one to the other, she gains increasing confidence in her voice and her natural human rights (so to speak).

Characterization, chiefly done through dialogue, carries the day (and the reader) through the book, with some oases of lovely narrative ...more

28 likes · Like · see review

Mar 19, 2021 Debra rated it really liked it

I listened to the HarperAudio version of this, narrated by Ruby Dee.

1 like · Like · see review

Dec 09, 2014 Rosana rated it liked it

Shelves: audio-books, 2015, the-novel, roundtable-w15-challenge

I first tried this book in audio format, but I had a lot of trouble following the dialogues in heavy accented language.

I then read it, and I am glad I did, but I have to say it did not live up to my expectations. It should get extra points for the opening lines, which are among the most memorable book openings I have ever came across, but the book structure
felt contrived, and some of the characters close to caricatures.

Overall it was an uneven book, with moments of brilliancy and poetry, while ...more

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Aug 16, 2025 William rated it it was amazing

A great book with one of the best opening paragraphs I’ve read: “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 turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.”
It traces the life of Janie Crawford, a light skinned black woman’s pursuit of freedom from the demands of societal norms, dominating husbands, racism a ...more

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Jul 25, 2010 Jessica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: southern, 1001

Compelling in a quieter way today than when Hurston was writing, but still powerful and moving - a tribute to how the choices we make shape us in ways not always positive, but easier to bear when we know they're our own. ...more

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Mar 11, 2008 Clackamas rated it really liked it

Shelves: college-lists-and-classics

I hadn't read this since high school, so gave it a reread. It's still good. I still can't relate. Her first husband seemed fine. Her second one might have been if she had ever asserted herself. But she had to have Tea Cake.

Different time, different place, different dynamics at play. ...more

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