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yajairat's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
There is no way I would have appreciated the impact and importance of this book if I had read it when I was younger. To write this beautiful story about a Black woman learning to live her life on her terms IN THE 1930s?? Truly admirable, inspiring! A list of things that I enjoyed:
- Janie slowly finding her voice, and knowing when to use that voice by the end. She started off as being spoken for by her grandmother and first husband, to being free to speak her mind unprompted. By the time she returned to her old town, where everyone was speculating and expecting her to speak on what has happened since she left, she decided to just to tell her friend, giving her the option to tell her story if she wants to.
- Janie finding a love that made her feel alive in her 40s.
- Wouldn't say enjoy, but there were two thought provoking topics touched upon here: the legacy of slavery and colorism within the Black community.
- Overall, this book was written beautifully. It's a shame that Hurston's works were shuttered away from the world for years. I'm grateful that people like Alice Walker advocated for her and brought her writings back to the world, and still continue to be read to this day.
Some quotes:
"An envious heart makes a treacherous ear"
"Did marriage end the cosmic loneliness of the unmated? Did marriage compel love like the sun the day?.. she knew now that marriage did not make love"
"Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a woman."
"her image of Jody tumbled down and shattered. But looking at it she saw that it never was the flesh and blood figure of her dreams. Just something she had grabbed up to drape her dreams over." - the last sentence, perfectly encapsulates why a lot of relationships can fail
"Mah own mind had tuh be squeezed and crowded out tuh make room for yours in me" - Janie's first marriage was suffocating, but I was glad that it made her realize what she wants out of her life and to break away from her grandmother's expectations.
"All gods who receive homage are cruel. All gods dispense suffering without reason. Otherwise they would not be worshipped... half gods are worshipped in wine and flowers. Real gods require blood."
"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." - pre-hurricane scene. For some reason, while reading about the hurricane, I kept thinking of 1. this sort of great flood, the kind that you read about in a biblical text and 2. how vivid this imagery is and accurate it its depiction of its destruction as someone that is from a city that gets hurricanes.
"she was too busy feeling grief to dress like grief" - when Janie's first husband died, she wore black for months, but her grief was not as impactful as the second time (to the point where she couldn't even think to wear black). when I read this line it brought me back to the beginning, and the stark difference in those relationships.
"Love is lak de sea. It's uh movin' thing, but still and all, it takes its shaped from de shore it meets, and it's different with every shore." - beautiful way to end this novel
- Janie slowly finding her voice, and knowing when to use that voice by the end. She started off as being spoken for by her grandmother and first husband, to being free to speak her mind unprompted. By the time she returned to her old town, where everyone was speculating and expecting her to speak on what has happened since she left, she decided to just to tell her friend, giving her the option to tell her story if she wants to.
- Janie finding a love that made her feel alive in her 40s.
- Wouldn't say enjoy, but there were two thought provoking topics touched upon here: the legacy of slavery and colorism within the Black community.
- Overall, this book was written beautifully. It's a shame that Hurston's works were shuttered away from the world for years. I'm grateful that people like Alice Walker advocated for her and brought her writings back to the world, and still continue to be read to this day.
Some quotes:
"An envious heart makes a treacherous ear"
"Did marriage end the cosmic loneliness of the unmated? Did marriage compel love like the sun the day?.. she knew now that marriage did not make love"
"Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a woman."
"her image of Jody tumbled down and shattered. But looking at it she saw that it never was the flesh and blood figure of her dreams. Just something she had grabbed up to drape her dreams over." - the last sentence, perfectly encapsulates why a lot of relationships can fail
"Mah own mind had tuh be squeezed and crowded out tuh make room for yours in me" - Janie's first marriage was suffocating, but I was glad that it made her realize what she wants out of her life and to break away from her grandmother's expectations.
"All gods who receive homage are cruel. All gods dispense suffering without reason. Otherwise they would not be worshipped... half gods are worshipped in wine and flowers. Real gods require blood."
"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." - pre-hurricane scene. For some reason, while reading about the hurricane, I kept thinking of 1. this sort of great flood, the kind that you read about in a biblical text and 2. how vivid this imagery is and accurate it its depiction of its destruction as someone that is from a city that gets hurricanes.
"she was too busy feeling grief to dress like grief" - when Janie's first husband died, she wore black for months, but her grief was not as impactful as the second time (to the point where she couldn't even think to wear black). when I read this line it brought me back to the beginning, and the stark difference in those relationships.
"Love is lak de sea. It's uh movin' thing, but still and all, it takes its shaped from de shore it meets, and it's different with every shore." - beautiful way to end this novel
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Racism
coffeebooksmonster's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Misogyny
Minor: Racial slurs
emadisonc's review
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
All gods who receive homage are cruel. All gods dispense suffering without reason. Otherwise they would not be worshipped. Through indiscriminate suffering men know fear and fear is the most divine emotion. It is the stones for altars and the beginning of wisdom. Half gods are worshipped in wine and flowers. Real gods require blood.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Misogyny and Slavery
fermentedsorcerer's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Beautiful prose and a wonderful piece of literature. Very tragic and raw.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Sexual violence
a_cuppa_joe's review
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse
phantomgecko's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This book is beautifully written. My first thought was, 'this prose is kinda purple.' But actually it is gorgeous and not over the top.
This type of story doesn't appeal to me straight up, but the writing and the characters pulled me in. I didn't cry, but it was a near thing.
This type of story doesn't appeal to me straight up, but the writing and the characters pulled me in. I didn't cry, but it was a near thing.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Slavery
gardens_and_dragons's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I think this is a hard book to rate for me. It’s very well written, I liked the prose and themes a lot! I loved how feminist it was for being published in 1937. A great story about a Black woman's struggle for independence. It’s an important book as a touchstone in African American history. I don’t think that slow family dramas in lit are for me, tho, so it wasn’t exactly for me, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Racism, and Sexism
Moderate: Gun violence and Physical abuse
Minor: Rape and Slavery
edenmb21's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Violence
Moderate: Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Grief
lilliana_blackstar's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Words cannot do justice or portray the expanse of emotion that resides in this book. The writing is divine and alive. Most of the story is told in dialogue - conversations between two or more people, rich in the colloquial speech of the characters: black people in Florida in the early 1920s and 1930s. The dialogue is rich and alive and tells all the things that are happening through gossip or arguments or conversations between lovers or neighbors.
“You’se something tuh make uh man forgit to git old and forgit tuh die.”
Then, in between the conversations, the poetry. Oh, the prose! The poetic narration to fill in the blanks of the story with such depth of color and emotion.
“So she sat on the porch and watched the moon rise. Soon its amber fluid was drenching the earth, and quenching the thirst of the day.”
“There is a basin in the mind where words float around on thought and thought on sound and sight. Then there is a depth of thought untouched by words, and deeper still a gulf of formless feelings untouched by thought.”
I had a good deep cleansing cry at the end of this book.
“Of course he wasn’t dead. He could never be dead until she herself had finished feeling and thinking. The kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light against the wall. Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see.”
Note - the Harper audiobook is narrated by Ruby Dee, and it is a masterpiece of voice acting.
I picked this book in January because I wanted to read books by Capricorn authors during Capricorn season. Zora Neale Hurston was born January 7, 1891
“You’se something tuh make uh man forgit to git old and forgit tuh die.”
Then, in between the conversations, the poetry. Oh, the prose! The poetic narration to fill in the blanks of the story with such depth of color and emotion.
“So she sat on the porch and watched the moon rise. Soon its amber fluid was drenching the earth, and quenching the thirst of the day.”
“There is a basin in the mind where words float around on thought and thought on sound and sight. Then there is a depth of thought untouched by words, and deeper still a gulf of formless feelings untouched by thought.”
I had a good deep cleansing cry at the end of this book.
“Of course he wasn’t dead. He could never be dead until she herself had finished feeling and thinking. The kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light against the wall. Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see.”
Note - the Harper audiobook is narrated by Ruby Dee, and it is a masterpiece of voice acting.
I picked this book in January because I wanted to read books by Capricorn authors during Capricorn season. Zora Neale Hurston was born January 7, 1891
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Grief
thebookgiraffe's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racism, and Sexism
Moderate: Racial slurs, Slavery, and Xenophobia
Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Fatphobia