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561 reviews for:
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf
Ntozake Shange
4.29 AVERAGE
561 reviews for:
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf
Ntozake Shange
4.29 AVERAGE
I have not seen this on stage. I have not seen the movie. I had never heard of it until the controversy of who was directing the movie surfaced. I don’t know how this passed me by considering how many plays I attended in college, but I attended a predominantly white university in the south. I can’t say thing has ever been shown on campus. It was an interview with the author that made me want to read the play.
I read his on the Kindle, which is probably a mistake, as the formatting doesn’t line up correctly to what you would see with the printed play. That in conjunction with the dialect makes the piece difficult to get into. Also, the formatting changes about 40% (or so) into it so you get jarred almost a the point where you were able to get into the pacing of the dialogue.
This is one of those pieces that really has the potential to make a big impact on you when you are young. Being older and wiser, I know these voices. I have seen these women; I have been some of these women. But twenty-year-old me or even seventeen-year-old me really could have learned so much from this. The most jarring and important point that was made was that while looking out for that stranger that would come along to rape us, we were unaware of the familiar faces, sometimes even of family, that would take on that role in our lives. And nowadays, our sons need to be given this same message; familiar predators are just as much a part of a boy’s life as it is a girl’s.
I read his on the Kindle, which is probably a mistake, as the formatting doesn’t line up correctly to what you would see with the printed play. That in conjunction with the dialect makes the piece difficult to get into. Also, the formatting changes about 40% (or so) into it so you get jarred almost a the point where you were able to get into the pacing of the dialogue.
This is one of those pieces that really has the potential to make a big impact on you when you are young. Being older and wiser, I know these voices. I have seen these women; I have been some of these women. But twenty-year-old me or even seventeen-year-old me really could have learned so much from this. The most jarring and important point that was made was that while looking out for that stranger that would come along to rape us, we were unaware of the familiar faces, sometimes even of family, that would take on that role in our lives. And nowadays, our sons need to be given this same message; familiar predators are just as much a part of a boy’s life as it is a girl’s.
i loved you on purpose3.5/5
i was open on purpose
i still crave vulnerability & close talk
& i'm not even sorry bout you bein sorry
you can carry all the guilt & grime ya wanna
just dont give it to me
i cant use another sorry
next time
you should admit
you're mean/low-down/triflin/& no count straight out
steada bein sorry all the time
enjoy bein yrself
I knew I was setting myself up for a less than complete experience by reading this play script rather than seeing the play performed, but after such a long school period of being trained on the reading of myriad Shakespeare plays, the comparatively inaccessible means of watching specific ones, whether filmed or live, leads me to choose to experience in whatever form I come first upon and worry about better means of exposure later. Plays don't get a lot of traction these days whether on GR or in real life, leastwise to my untutored gaze, so this and [b:A Raisin in the Sun|5517|A Raisin in the Sun|Lorraine Hansberry|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1165522672s/5517.jpg|3154525] remain remarkable for being some of the best known examples outside of the Shakespearean monopoly, and how outside that monopoly the very structural fiber of this play is. It almost begs to be not seen or herd but witnessed, borderline liturgical in its confessions and damnations and revelations, even tending towards celebrations amongst the deprivations that continue to plague black womanhood near a half century later. My personal rating is helped by this comprehension as much as it is hindered by the form by which this choreopoem comes to me. A later, more holistic performance awaits, but when and by what means I will encounter it, I do not yet know.
This work didn't really start coming together for me till the very end, and it ultimately left me somewhat moved but neither totally blown over or completely in hatred. There's a number of random Internet strangers I've recently come into contact with through a discord group who I know would throw conniptions over the choices of spelling and capitalization Shange makes, but I've read too much and too widely to still be bothered by such trivial nitpicking, so it wasn't the framing that interfered with as much as it was what came with [b:The Bluest Eye|11337|The Bluest Eye|Toni Morrison|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388208495s/11337.jpg|1987778], where I acknowledge that my personal experience and that of every white chick under the sun will forever lack the resources, nay, the paradigm needed to encounter this narrative of black womanhood and resonate with it in any way deeper than a murmur near completely superficial with its white washing. Fortunately, the average rating for this work is just fine and likely filled with the recognition of those who have actually seen this performed rather than merely the words on their pages, and as I am committed to accompanying my reading in the same manner, I'm not too concerned about my own lackluster appraisal. These aren't the kinds of pains or pleasures that have buffetted me throughout my own experience, and my recognition of the need for such stories to be told in whatever forms they choose has next to nothing to do with such a simple representation as an honest star rating.
It's early enough in the year for me to be keeping track of the number of books read on the fingers of one hand, and while this work is nowhere near the top, I find it good to stretch my reading faculties so early on. I don't often read plays these days, and this and another work are likely the only representatives of the genre amidst my shelves, leastwise off the top of my head. I don't particularly see myself seeking out more scripts, but I'm hoping this will be ameliorated by my graduating from text to to live performance even if that should take place far further in the future than I unconsciously assume. The 21st century doesn't seem to have been to kind to plays, but that may be sufficient reason to dig the relatively buried examples out from the usual muffled demographics. A project for a time when I'm more in the mood. In the meantime, I have a growing pile of translated behemoths to pin down to my satisfaction, and such projects wait on no woman.
i sat up one nite walking a boardin house
screamin/cryin/the ghost of another woman
who wz missin what i was missin
i wanted to jump up outta my bones
& be done wit myself
leave me alone
& go on in the wind
it waz too much
i fell into a numbness
til the only tree i cd see
took me up in her branches
held me in the breeze
made me dawn dew
that chill at daybreak
the sun wrapped me up swingin rose light everywhere
the sky laid over me like a million men
i waz cold/i waz burnin up/a child
& endlessly weavin garments for the moon
wit my tears
i found god in myself
& i loved her/i loved her fiercely
I'd gotten out of the habit of reading poetry and then picked up this volume at a used book store recently. The author calls it a "Choreo-poem" because it includes stage directions for having 7 women dancers perform the poems. I was mildly put off by the slang she used in the introduction to the piece. However, I loved the series of poems as a whole and would love to see this performed live. I liked some sections better than others, but as a whole, it's just amazing. Also highly recommended.
she’s been dead so long closed in silence so long she doesn’t know the sound of her own voice her infinite beauty she’s half-notes scattered without rhythm/ no tune sing her sighs sing the song of her possibilities
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Obviously because its a dance piece it's better seen than read, but its still an amazing read
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism
Written for colored girls, but powerful reading for this white girl too.
Fucking fantastic. Read it in one sitting. Going back now to read it and take notes
Well...god damn.
This is a "choreopoem"--sort of play. It felt a lot like one of the American tragedies, but distinctly Ntozake's take on the plight of being a woman of color. Evocative, rageful, sorrowful, coy and loving, I could almost see the dancers and the lighting direction.
So, so good. I would have loved to have seen it performed!
CONTENT WARNING:
This is a "choreopoem"--sort of play. It felt a lot like one of the American tragedies, but distinctly Ntozake's take on the plight of being a woman of color. Evocative, rageful, sorrowful, coy and loving, I could almost see the dancers and the lighting direction.
So, so good. I would have loved to have seen it performed!
CONTENT WARNING: