Their Eyes Were Watching God
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Did anyone else find the direct speech difficult to read?
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Honestly, I think there's just something about the way the dialogue is written. I usually do pretty well reading through different dialects as they're depicted, but this one was more difficult for me.
I think this is a fab piece of literature but I abandoned it because of the direct speech. My eyes were aching. It is difficult to read for sure and requires stamina.
Aw that is such a pity, it is such a wonderful book. Could you read it in translation? That's why I can't read some of James Joyce's most famous books, the vernacular is completely impenetrable to me because I am not from Dublin. While I was studying Czech I had a copy of one of his books with side by side translation, and I found the Czech easier to understand than the English, despite English being my native language.
Thank you Rachel and Nageen for replying, it has been interesting to get your perspectives :)
Ohhh, great question! What I finally resorted to was reading it out loud in a room by myself at times. The very slow, lyrical southern style of speech came rolling off my tongue...I kinda loved it. Because I read it aloud (also To Kill a Mockingbird), it became one of my favorite books.
It was difficult at first but then like Margaret I would read the text outloud and it made much more sense once my ear could hear it. It is a fantastic read, stick with it.
I, unlike many of the people who read this novel, am from the south where much of this language is common. The dialogue enhanced the novel for me as it helped it become very real to me. I was assigned several difficult novels to read this semester and this was definitely among the simplest. Had I been able to make the decision to read it on my own I would have. I am very fond of this novel.
I don’t know...I didn’t have any trouble with it...it poured through me like warm honey. A wonderful read and the dialect didnt bother me. But that kind of thing doesn’t bother too much in general
I almost abandoned it in the beginning because of the dialect, but I found like others reading those parts aloud helped me through it. Ultimately, I enjoyed reading this book which was also a book club read.
I love this book! I did find it a little difficult in the beginning but it got easier as I went along and the poetry of the writing itself kept me interested. It might be my heritage of Jamaican dialects that helped me acquire the rhythm and just immersing myself in the place and time that got me over the hurdle. One of my favorites!
I tried for a year to read this book, but kept putting it down. I finally checked out the audiobook from the library. The one I listened to was read by Ruby Dee and it is phenomenal. My heart broke for Janie and I celebrated her second chance at love. I laughed at the "mule talk". I remembered sadly how my grandma, born around that time, always covered her beautiful hair. I wish I had read it before she passed so that I could have talked to her about it. Now, I want to read it again! =)
If you want a real treat
I listened to the same audio book and was totally entranced. I couldn't take my earbuds out! Ruby Dee is a genius. I've read part of it but my own imagination could not enliven the story and characters more than Ms. Dee's reading. It is in the top five of my top ten best books ever.
I also listened to Ruby Dee's reading, it is phenomenal. Transcribing dialect is always going to bump up against the reader's unfamiliarity with how it's written, so I think audiobooks work very well for this kind of book. There's a great podcast (https://www.theguardian.com/books/aud...) which talks about this, mentioning also Anna Burns' Milkman.
Great to hear about the audiobook, I'll keep an eye out because I'd love to re-read this and this would be a nice way to do it. I'd encourage anyone who is struggling to find some way that works for you to read this book, because it is a masterpiece. It's well worth it
“Anna Burns’ Milkman” that was supposed to be 🤭
It is a hard to read dialect in general but I did find it especially hard to read when it came to this book. However, do not give up. It is such a good book. If you are interested in the African-American literature, this is a must-read. And practice is everything when it comes to dialects. If you finish this one other books will be much easier to read.
If you think this dialect is difficult, you should try reading some of the Uncle Remus, B’rer Rabbit, etc books. I grew up in the South and have lived all over it all my life, so this particular book was not difficult for me. But reading some older books incorporating what had been slave dialect gets to be almost impossible at times....
i too, found this very hard to read.. there was too many "sound it out" words and i couldn't get a nice flow or pace going.. i found the story interesting, but i sadly, i couldn't get thru the book.. i found i had to TALK it out loud to hear what she was trying to write/say.. i'd have an AHA moment and be like, OH, that's what she is saying..
frustrating
Sorry, I grew up in the deep south and have lived in the south all my life, so I had no difficulty with the speech....
twilight wrote: "i too, found this very hard to read.. there was too many "sound it out" words and i couldn't get a nice flow or pace going.. i found the story interesting, but i sadly, i couldn't get thru the book..." yes I think that's why the audiobook works so well if you're not used to the dialect.
The comments here are very helpful for someone who has repeatedly tried to "get into" the story but found the plethora of dialect spelling a really obstructive element. The author writes the most beautiful and poetic prose and I love that, but the conversations can prove too disruptive in that they are so hard to decipher. I am going to download the audio book as recommended. I am sure I will enjoy it but I do feel a little suspicious about people coming on radio and TV and recommending this book - but never alluding to the struggle many will have with the dialect. Modern writing suggests the writer makes an allusion to dialect once, then leaves it to the reader's imagination, which in my opinion is much more accessible.
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The toughest part is different characters have different accents so, for example, "used to" might be "usa" or "uster" or something else again. So there are a lot of new words to get o a point where I can recognize them as symbols and not have to sound them out.
I wonder is it just me or is it everyone. If I am right that this is an example of what I am reading about then about 1 in 10 people should find themselves reading the dialogue at a very very slow and careful pace, regardless of being familiar with the accent.
You can read about what I am talking about here: https://ugc.futurelearn.com/uploads/f... free thanks to a futurelearn course. It isn't necessarily caused by dyslexia, worry not.