Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Their Eyes Were Watching God

As far as classics go, this has got to be one that has stuck with me more than most others. First read it in high school, really liked it then. Reading again, it was so much better than I remembered. Her writing is so vivid and truly pulls you through the story. An already short read for me went by faster because it is such a good story. Janey is a wonderful main character, and her journey to Tea Cake is incredible. I also love the author's commentary on feminism, intersectionality, and society at large. Devastatingly sweet book.

Content Warnings

mlthomas234's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny reflective sad 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? No

5.0

Great read. I was surprised by the lyricism— this book is endlessly quotable and beautifully written. The plot and the characters were both fine, but the writing style really elevated everything. And actually some of the side characters did really jump off of the page.

Content Warnings

amavi's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The dialogue was very hard for me to read/understand luckily people here mentioned the audiobook and that saved me. This book had beautifully written aspects that I enjoyed, and I respected how real, raw and honest it was and the valuable conversations it brought up but I didn't like anything else. This book is supposed to be about Janie, this is her story yet for some reason I felt like she was the background character. I got a lot more from the people in her life rather than her. I wish I got more from her. I did like the ending, I like to think that she is better now. I understand why this book is important and how it's valuable but it just wasn't for me. I do hope someone can find something useful, healing, loving, worthy in this book, I didn't but I'm sure it would work for someone else.

Content Warnings

laura_huey's review

Go to review page

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is a challenging, reflective look at love, marriage, and self-identity in Florida throughout the early 20th century, and offers a confronting yet affectionate glimpse of the area's African-American community at the time.

Janie, the protagonist, has been raised by her grandmother, Nanny, and longs for a loving, equal marriage to bring her fulfilment in life. However, when Nanny catches her kissing a boy over the garden gate, she arranges what she believes will be a profitable marriage for Janie. We follow Janie throughout her life as she comes to understand what real love is, what constitutes a fulfilling life, and the sacrifices she'll make for someone she loves.

As a white Australian woman, I found this book to be a challenging read. It was beautifully written, and portions of Hurston's prose are almost poetic, but I found it took quite a while to get my head around the dialect that the novel is written in. Now that I know the story, I think I would benefit from rereading this book in the future. I'm also interested in viewing the film before revisiting the novel, as I think that may help me with the dialect also.

Overall an excellent read. I recommend approaching it with compassion for all the characters and not forming your opinions about them until the end. Everyone is complex and has layered motivations behind their choices, so it's important not to judge them too quickly.

Content Warnings