Reviews

Cane by Jean Toomer

agmaynard's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

Vignettes, poetry, even a play feel to some of the pieces that make up the experience of Cane.  Beautiful and wrenching.  And I had a correspondingly beautiful centenary edition with conversation cards to enhance my journey.

flowerbinsh's review against another edition

3.0

Read as a requirement for my Modernism class.

Honestly, I skimmed the HELL out of this one, and I'm not sure if I'm going to go back to it. I was extremely interested to read the introduction and the background of Jean Toomer's life. I was captured by the idea of a story written by a mixed light-skinned man who started passing as white into his adulthood. I also was intrigued by the structure of this story, and how it's a mix of poetry, prose, drama, and short story. The actual story, however, didn't capture me as much as I thought it would. 

mahima123's review against another edition

3.0

While this book was unbelievably interesting in its exploration of very important themes (the sexualization of women, black women as objects, racism, biracial relationships, religion, race relations and Jim Crow to name a few) as well as its imagery, it falls short for me as a piece of art. When reading I look for the ability to comprehend the words on the page before I can begin to decipher what feels like a puzzle, or better said by me “why spend 20 words on something that could be said in 10.” This book is extremely verbose to the point where it crosses over into boring and the mix of different writing forms (story, poetry, pseudo-play) lend to creating a reading environment that doesn’t let any one thought stick in the reader’s brain. I also did some background digging and I think the story got it stars from me because of Toomer’s life story. He was biracial and to see how that experience translated into this book was enough to keep me reading. Tbh I just might not be sophisticated enough to read this, but I’m glad it was chosen for book club it changed up my pacing.

tealeavesandroses's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

alfie_reads's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I love what this book represents as the pioneering work of the Harlem Renaissance but as a novel it’s a confusing selection of vignettes that are too chaotic to follow.

reneeborn's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Very interesting blend of poetry, short fiction, and stage play. So glad I had a professor to explain some things lol

timbo001's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

afvick's review against another edition

5.0

Such a strange, cold, gloomy book, almost apocalyptic aesthetically. Certainly, something is ending- the repeated language of dusk, the harvest; but also burning, all of the violence. As stylistically unique and appealing as it gets for me, especially with all of the sensory language.

starv0yager's review against another edition

The Spotify audiobook narrated by Audra McDonald is rlly good!

bibispizzas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.5