A review by iamother
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

4.75

I understand now why this book is considered a classic. Because of the way that it gives voice to black women during a time when that was virtually unheard of. The way that it uses the dialect of black people during that time while interweaving it seamlessly with a more traditional Western style points to the complexity of black society. That we are more than people that just react to the opinions and behaviors of white people but instead have our own wants and desires. That is what Janie was in search of throughout the book: a life well lived. A voice that she discovered was there the entire time. Something she was only able to unearth through experience. She realized there was more to life than simply being a wife and only being seen through that lens. Her life wasn’t perfect but if she had to do it over again, she would gladly bear those hardships again for the moments of happiness that still endure. My only problem with this text (and not a major one) is that this work is not indicative of the life of a typical black person during this period. Those adversities are either omitted or glossed over. But I think it was intentional. She was trying to argue that not every work written by a black author during this time period had to carry that tinge of social justice. These experiences are just as valid as those of others, though not as common. The freedom with which these black people operated you would’ve thought it was written in a world post Jim Crow. But it’s not, and that realization took me out of some of the interactions. But I think that says more about me than the story itself.
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