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566 reviews for:
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf
Ntozake Shange
4.29 AVERAGE
566 reviews for:
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf
Ntozake Shange
4.29 AVERAGE
Given how deep within my wheelhouse this work is, I'm truly surprised that it took me this long to read it. I remember seeing the Tyler Perry adaption "For Colored Girls" when I was in high school and being moved but generally unimpressed with the film (because he butchered it but I didn't know that until much later). Anyway. This is a perfect work. I loved it. I needed it. I still need it. Reading it is like a coming home. I read it in dual screen while watching the linked performance (which is 100% faithful to the print) and I criiiiieeeed. So beautiful. I already can't wait to read it again.
https://youtu.be/Fry3Si40BPc
https://youtu.be/Fry3Si40BPc
somebody almost run off wit alla my stuff/ & i waz standin there/ lookin at myself/ the whole time
A quick read that took me just under an hour to finish, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf examines the blunt, seemingly unending wickedness of the world that all women know (whether they want to admit it or not) and offers up the possibility that yes, evil endures but so does beauty, love, community and mercy. Through her creative, sometimes flowery poetry—the stylization isn’t for everybody, I myself would’ve not wanted to read more than 200 pages of this so it worked out that the book wasn’t very long—Shange lays down the idea that yes, the world can be bleak but joy and hope and community exist. And they matter.
i found god in myself
& i loved her/ i loved her fiercely
All of the ladies repeat to themselves softly the lines i found god
in myself & i loved her: It soon becomes a song of joy, started by
the lady in blue. The ladies sing first to each other, then gradually
to the audience. After the song peaks the ladies enter into a
closed tight circle.
between the heavy tension of reality, which sometimes seemed overly harsh but is, in actuality, only a mirror into the world of today and yesterday and probably tomorrow, Shange calms the reader, especially the black woman reader (whom in her forward she says this book is primarily for<3) with stunning, tender reminders that through it all, light remains.
I wish I’d read this book way earlier in my life (I’d seen some of the PBS production hears ago, Lynn Whitfield’s performance especially, was dazzling to me) but I’m so glad I finally got to it now. She spoke #real and I saw my own life bleeding from the pages; I need to go find the PBS production and watch it in full.
A quick read that took me just under an hour to finish, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf examines the blunt, seemingly unending wickedness of the world that all women know (whether they want to admit it or not) and offers up the possibility that yes, evil endures but so does beauty, love, community and mercy. Through her creative, sometimes flowery poetry—the stylization isn’t for everybody, I myself would’ve not wanted to read more than 200 pages of this so it worked out that the book wasn’t very long—Shange lays down the idea that yes, the world can be bleak but joy and hope and community exist. And they matter.
i found god in myself
& i loved her/ i loved her fiercely
All of the ladies repeat to themselves softly the lines i found god
in myself & i loved her: It soon becomes a song of joy, started by
the lady in blue. The ladies sing first to each other, then gradually
to the audience. After the song peaks the ladies enter into a
closed tight circle.
between the heavy tension of reality, which sometimes seemed overly harsh but is, in actuality, only a mirror into the world of today and yesterday and probably tomorrow, Shange calms the reader, especially the black woman reader (whom in her forward she says this book is primarily for<3) with stunning, tender reminders that through it all, light remains.
I wish I’d read this book way earlier in my life (I’d seen some of the PBS production hears ago, Lynn Whitfield’s performance especially, was dazzling to me) but I’m so glad I finally got to it now. She spoke #real and I saw my own life bleeding from the pages; I need to go find the PBS production and watch it in full.
for colored girls... is like reading a lit grenade - it's not subtle but it is unbelievably vivid and startlingly beautiful.
dark
reflective
medium-paced
There are a few scenes in the book that still make me wince when I think about them.
I read this play script after watching For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy at the theatre in London. I love the play even more knowing it was inspired by this one. I wish I could see the play on Broadway, reading it just isn't the same!!
challenging
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Feminism, Femininity, Loss, Love, Race
Deeply moving, powerful. It broke me. I needed it. I'm grateful.
Pure brilliance.
Pure brilliance.
This is amazing! I'm so angry I never knew about this book before. It's so good, and it's so important!
This is a choreopoem, so it's a poem that is meant to be performed, and I would LOVE to see it done. It touches on many areas of what it's like to be a woman of color in America, from domestic abuse, to rape, racism, aids, and so on, but it also shows some really lovely moments in there too. It's one of those books where I think you'd get something new out of it every time you read it.
Read it!
This is a choreopoem, so it's a poem that is meant to be performed, and I would LOVE to see it done. It touches on many areas of what it's like to be a woman of color in America, from domestic abuse, to rape, racism, aids, and so on, but it also shows some really lovely moments in there too. It's one of those books where I think you'd get something new out of it every time you read it.
Read it!