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Their Eyes Were Watching God

Their Eyes Were Watching God

List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $18.87
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Just okay--what's the big deal?
Review: I'll preface this by saying that I may be off base in my judgement of this book (and I invite others to agree or disagree with me), but I really don't understand the hooplas of praise it has garnered since it's reissue twenty years ago.

While I agree that Hurston's prose style is lyrical and easy-to-read and her use of dialect quite effective, I have a problem with the novel's main character -- Janie. Are we supposed to look up to her as a paragon of oppressed African-American womanhood? I understand that she's abused (in essence) by her first two husbands, but Tea Cake doesn't strike me as any better yet she loves him above the others even though he most directly physically abuses her.

I also found the climactic scenes of the novel rather sensationalized.

What are we supposed to make of Janie? She doesn't seem to develop at all through the course of the novel.

Maybe I just don't relate?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A beautiful story that transcends race and time.
Review: The dialogue may be tough at first but it captures a people and a time. It is certainly worth the effort. As a reader with varying taste and a voracious appetite for books, this is THE perfect little masterpiece and the book I most often recommend. Stick with the book--the story is so powerful it might change your life forever.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a twentieth century masterpiece...
Review: Zora Neale Hurston's 'Their Eyes Were Watching God' is an incredible work by a largely unappreciated author in her time. This book is a wonderful testimony of black american life in the 1930's as told through the eyes of a beautifully written heroine who finds herself in love with a much younger man. Definitely recommended.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: HUH?
Review: I didn't even finish the book because the slang dialogue was too complex. I hate when authors fill so many pages with slang because sometimes it makes it way too hard to understand or keep one's attention.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: not for me
Review: terribly overrated. boring. does not hold together. don't believe that this is now required in schools.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I wish I was more like Janie.
Review: I had to read this book for my high school English class. I absolutely loved it. I couldn't put this book down. I had to find out what happened to Janie. After reading it I realized I wanted to be more like Janie. This book was great.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great
Review: This was the first book I ever read,and it compel me to read mor African works. Great Book

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I loved the book Their Eyes Were Watching God
Review: As a half-black, half-white woman, Janie's life was one of new rules and boundaries, new borders and bridges. She was half black and therefore destined to live the life of a black, but she was also half white and she deserved the life of a white. But neither appealed to Janie Her sense of freedom and adventure shaped who she was and who she would become. Throughout the book Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie never gave up her search for love and happiness. And throughout her three marriages she gained a lot of positive experiences. Her first marriage was to a man named Logan Killicks, and she gained many positive experiences from that marriage. She learned the valuable lesson "that marriage did not make love. Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a woman" (Hurston 24). Then she started marking lines of which to cross, and of which not to. She decided what she would accept and what she would not. At one point she told Logan "If you can stand not to chop and tote wood Ah reckon you can stand not to git no dinner (Hurston 25). Shortly after that she left Logan. She then married a man named Joe "Jody" Starks and she learned a lot from that marriage as well. She learned, for example, that money doesn't equal happiness. It started out fine, "he bought her the best things the butcher had" (Hurston 32) and by her way of thinking that was a lot better then Logan's rhymes. But soon "she got nothing from Jodie except what money could buy, and she was giving away what she didn't value (Hurston 72). Also in that marriage Janie learned to "talk some and leave some" (Hurston 72). Some things were important enough to fight with Jodie over and some, well most, weren't. He always won the fights so only the most unique matters could or would be quarreled over. Her third marriage was to Teacake, and she learned a lot of positive things from that marriage too. What she learned was the greatest lesson of them all. She learned Love. How to give it, how to receive it and how to express it. She loved him so much that "her soul crawled out from it's hiding place" (Hurston 122) and she was able to begin her dreams once more. She learned how to express her feelings without fear of what would follow them. At one point she thought that Teacake was having an affair with a girl named Nunkie and she said "You done hurt my heart" (Hurston 131). But not everything with Teacake dealt with love. She learned practical things, like how to shoot and hunt. It got to where she could "shoot a hawk out of a pine tree and not tear him up. Shoot his head off" (Hurston 125). All of the good, bad, and worse in Janie's life was worth something because she learned from it. She became who she was because of it. Without the hurt and the pain and the heartbreak, she would not have been strong, and had she not been strong, she would have died along side Teacake. But she didn't, she lived on, and though it is not written that she loved again it is not written that she didn't keep learning.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An African-American woman who triumphs over adversity.
Review: This novel, Thier Eyes Were Watching God,by Zora Neale Hurston influenced my life as a young female. Reading the Foreword, I realized that the author of this book had established a very respectful, yet controversial reputation for being an 'African-American lady' writer. The beginning of her career was greatly criticized because of the context of her writing. She wrote of the 'black southern life' which brought up plently of both negative and positive reactions among the African-American community and women all around. Reading the different reactions, I had to bias towards Zore Neale Hurston as being a profound writer. What was surprising about this book was that it told a story that went against traditional scenarios and situations. It spoke of a 'black' woman and her struggles among her own commmunity, but it showed the victorious outcomes of her struggles, making herself a stronger 'black' waman which was greatly overlooked and disregarded in society. Her affects on the African-American community and women were greatly accepted, challenged, and appreciated that her stories changed lives, perspectives, and feelings in other's lives. The most interesting aspect of this book is the whole storyline and especially, the author, Zora Neale Hurston. I believe that the author has a strong personality that her thoughts, experiences, and feelings came through in her work.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The sensation of this book is definately on fire.
Review: In the book, "Their Eyes Were Watching God", Zora Neale Hurston paints a picture of reality, what life will teach you and it's rewards. How allowing someone to have some restrictions on your life (especially when you have no say so) will teach you to go for what you know and what your heart tells you. If going against the grain will make you stonger and happier, then go for it. BUT, you must be able to face the consequences, good or bad, with your head up high.


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