A review by melodyonline
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange

2.0

I have never seen the movie or the stage version of this, so for some reason I went into this expecting some talk about mental illness among black women (based upon the title) or black women overcoming adversity. There were some lines that I liked and some poems that I thought were particularly good, but when I read the last page I had one overwhelming thought, 'That was really overrated.' These poems read more like a bunch of little stories. And all the stories are about black women's misery, pain and heartbreak. I guess it was groundbreaking to tell a black woman's story in the 70s in this fashion. To be gritty and honest about our lives. I appreciate the delicacy she took with these stories. However! Am I supposed to be intrigued and impressed with a book featuring more of the usual fiction stories of how black women's lives are so awful? I liked the diversity in the women's life experiences, but the underlying theme was the same in all of them: it sucks to be us. Kind of depressing. I wish I liked this more.