Rating: 
Summary: An easy, entertaining read.
Review: I wasn't very impressed with Their Eyes Were Watching God until I was nearly 3/4 of the way through it. It was then I realized Janie's evolving definition of love, based upon others and her own personal experience. It was pretty easy to read, and we didn't spend much time on it in my AP English class. It was enjoyable from beginning to end. If you like novels about people falling in true love and making it through tragedies, Their Eyes Were Watching God should satisfy you.
Rating: 
Summary: Her best book. Probably one of the best books of all time
Review: This is one of the best books that I have read - and that encompasses a lot of books. I see it as a travel novel where someone (Janie) goes on a trip and along the way discovers something, in this case she discovers herself. It takes three husbands and lots of suffering, but Janie does discover herself and in discovering herself she also discovers love. It's not an easy life with Tea Cake. He's not perfect. His flaw, a fatal one it turns out, is that he gets jealous. But the relation Tea Cake-Janie is based on equality. Janie can and does grow there. Hurston speaks to us about these issues with multiple authorities: That of her personal experience as a black woman, that of an anthropologist and folklorist and that of an excellent modern and post modern novelist who grew up in Eatonville, the venue of her book. Yes, she got a degree from Barnard in anthropology studying under and with the famous Boas. Yes, she did original research, real research, and wrote papers on blacks from the point of view of a folklorist, and yes, she is a great novelist with remarkable range and control of language. What more do you want? Under attack from the black literary establishment because of her realistic and mostly unfavorable depictions of black men and the southern black community, she became obscure and died penniless and alone. Alice Walker, almost single handedly, rediscovered her and now she (Huston) is almost as well regarded in literary circles as she had been during the height of her career. Read this, her best book. Find out why.
Rating:
Summary: A Harlem Renaissance Classic!
Review: THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD is a haunting story told in the black vernacular about one woman's search for true love and independence. At age 16, Janie Crawford believes that she has every right to find true love on her terms. The day she lay beneath a pear tree in her grandmother's backyard and witnessed a bee pollinating there was the day she realized the sensual pleasures she wanted very much to experience in her life. But instead of her being able to explore these feelings and find her soul mate, she is confined to a couple of loveless marriages. The first was to a much older man, Logan Killicks, out of financial security and respectability (under the advisement of her randmother). The second marriage to Jody Starks was out of desperation to escape her first marriage and for security. But it will be Janie's third marriage to a much younger man, Tea Cake, which allows her to feel a sense of freedom in choosing someone to love openly for the very first time. Of course when the Eatonville community she lives in shows their displeasure over her relationship with Tea Cake, Janie throws caution to the wind by marrying and moving away with him to start a new life in the Everglades. Even though her third marriage ends tragically with her killing Tea Cake in self-defense, she doesn't seem to regret her experience. In fact, she makes peace with all that has happened in her life and returns to Eatonville in spite of the envious stares and gossip from the people speculating what happened between her and Tea Cake. She comes back no longer under the ownership of a man, but as a self-assured independent woman who owes no one any explanations. After reading this novel and discovering that Zora Neale Hurston was the recipient of 2 Guggenheims, the author of 4 novels, 12 short stories, 12 essays, 2 musicals, and 2 black mythologies, I could not help wondering how this literary giant disappeared from us for nearly 3 decades. To my disappointment I learned that her disappearance was due to her peers (mainly Richard Wright) criticizing her openly and publicly for not writing about the so-called "serious social trends" of the time. But what I cannot understand is how her peers could not think what happened to Janie Crawford (and women like her) by husbands and the community at large was not a serious social trend of the time. Just because Zora chose to write about the injustices done within the black community rather than the injustices done to the black community did not make her works any less poignant. The appeal and rediscovery of this novel by scholars, women writers, and the American public in general has definitely made THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD into a timeless classic of the Harlem Renaissance era.
Rating:
Summary: Not just because you have to!
Review: I know this book is often required by English teachers, but it can still be enjoyed. Hurston frames the story as a story-telling session by the main character, Janie, but the book will run away with you. I lost track of the narration and when it returned to Janie in the present at the closure of the novel I had forgotten that she was telling the story! The language is beautiful when Janie talks of love, trees, and pollen. The book and Janie's quest is a search for love, true love and an identity within that relationship. Janie is a child at the beginning, a wise older woman at the end. The relationships she has with men can relate to her development in age and as a person. It is a good read - it feels like someone is simply telling you a story. As a reader, you are caught in the momentum but you can also appreciate the inherent truths in the novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Ok I suppose
Review: To my great displeasure, i was forced to read this in school, and I didn't like it at all. That is not to say that it was not a good book, but I didn't enjoy it. From the very beginning Janie is apoiled as all get out. Her grandmother forces her into marriage with a sort of old man, who seems to genuinly care for her, but is not as romantic as she would like, so she goes off with another man, who is not much better. You will have to read the book to find out the rest. Even though I personally didn't like it, this book was well written. Janie was a dynamic character who continuously grew throughout the book. She became a woman who understood what she was about and what she was looking for in life. I found the language hard to understand at times, and I would have to read it out loud. I also didn't really like any of the characters because they either seemed foolish or dislikeable. I personally would never recommend this book to anyone, but since other people really do enjoy it, maybe you will too.
Rating: 
Summary: I felt utterly indifferent
Review: In a nutshell, "Their Eyes" is a story of how one woman's passivity and acquiescence tempts men to abuse her. Janie Crawford-Killicks-Logan-Woods is almost impossibly dull and unrealistic in her role as the lead heroine. Being a young (but progressively older) black woman in the rural turn-of-the-century South she seems to have the mobility of a Harrier jet. She marries with little or no consideration, walks out on marriages, and seems unimpeded by either long-distance train fare, Jack Crow laws, or, for that matter, the conventions of standard English. Janie's quest is one for identity, although, being as witless as she is, she constantly gets caught up in deceptive romances that quickly turn into abusive relationships. This tale would be tragic were the heroine anyone but Janie. As it is, it leaves the reader hoping. The writing? In a word: florid. Hurston's prose is purple to the point of being ultraviolet. The narrative is peppered with discussions on the nature of mankind, the humanity of various characters, and how everything is for the best, but eventually the reader begins to notice that everything that happens in "Their Eyes" is due to acts of God. Deaths by kidney failure. Lucrative strangers proposing marriage. Floods and hurricanes. Rabies. By the end of the book, I was watching God myself, hoping that the next disaster to strike would at least propel the story by killing off a tired, depleted character. Frankly, I cannot see why "Their Eyes" is touted as a leading classic of black literature. Perhaps I am not part of its target audience, perhaps I am not in the mood for clumsy, didactic fables, perhaps I am misunderstanding something, but in the end, with everything said and done (I even read the original critics' reviews and the afterword!), I felt completely and utterly indifferent...
Rating: 
Summary: A Scathing Review of an Abominable Novel
Review: Much to my consternation, I was forced to read this book for school. Despite my efforts to take pleasure in the experience, the literature lacked any excitement. In addition, the imagery was sparse, and when it did appear, it was very dry. As the main character, Janie was a one-dimensional sap with the emotional integrity of a neanderthal. While the dialect attempts to create an authentic view of a southern locale, it succeeds only in aggravating the reader. Wading through the perplexing vernacular takes all attention away from the story itself, although this may not be an entirely negative aspect. All in all, Their Eyes Were Watching God fails to live up to its reputation as classic American literature.
Rating:
Summary: Life and Love
Review: Everyone can identify with Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God because she is searching for true love. Through the novel, Janie endures love, loss, humiliation, and redemption. A truly human story of a simple life where only the best will suffice. It is a story about finding oneself and becoming a stronger person.
Rating:
Summary: Of little literary merit
Review: It's a pity that Their Eyes Were Watching God isn't a few hundred pages longer; it would make a most excellent doorstop and perform far more capably in that position than it ever has as a work of literature. Even at its thankfully brief length, it is preferable as a mediocre doorstop to an intolerably pointless novel. Despite a modicum of skill at depicting life in small towns, Nora Zeale Hurston is ultimately unsuccessful in her attempt to write an enjoyable book. There are characters, though not likable ones; a romance, though highly unconvincing; a plot-- sort of; social commentary, though heavy handed and unsubtle. In short, Eyes has the elements of a novel that could and has worked with better writing (see A Room With a View). Unfortunate, then, that no such prowess is displayed. Perhaps the most flawed aspect of Eyes is that it is not written in English. I refuse to concede that the overdone vernacular dialogue contained within is English, particularly as it is fraught with inconsistencies: "lak" and "like" are used interchangeably, as are "yo'" and "you" and "mouth" and "mouf," adding to the confusion of any reader unfortunate enough to be slogging through the conversations. Nor is the prose any better (though it CAN be positively identified as English); it waxes melodramatic and insipid. "A sobbing sigh burst out of Janie"?! Dear me. The story-within-a-story format doesn't work either, particularly when dialogues Janie has no way of knowing and previous conversations with the friend to whom she is narrating her life story show up. Surely both Pheoby and Jane can still remember what they said to each other without Janie's having to repeat the entire conversation? The logic escapes me. Regrettably, the characters are equally baffling. Janie alternates between being incredibly rash (in my opinion, anyone marrying someone of about a fortnight's acquaintance deserves what she gets) and projecting a paragon of wise, black womanliness. This perfect specimen retains faith and optimism through the harshest trials to such a degree that it's nauseating. And did I mention that the magnanimous and courageous Janie is also a beautiful woman, excellent cook, and fast learner? Tea Cake is less perfect, though he does still repeatedly reassure Janie of her beauty and worth and even helps her cook dinner without being prompted. (This is realistic fiction, not fantasy, right?) Subsequently, their 'romance' is as flat as the characters themselves and inspires no interest. Barring characters and writing, Eyes still has a chance for redemption through masterful social commentary...which it does not possess. True, there IS social commentary. Every now and then, there is a brief but transparent rant on the lack of power of black women, or white injustice to blacks or the black inferiority complex. After awhile, these lose their power to amuse with their unsubtlety and become merely tiresome. They are too obvious to have much impact. Dreadful as the language may be, it at least provides the perfect word to describe the entire book: monstropolous. (My inability to find it in a dictionary strengthens my suspicions that Eyes is written in a language loosely based on, but inferior in structure and consistency to, English.) I conclude unable to justify its status as a classic whatsoever and highly recommend that future readers, unless masochists or insomniacs, avoid Their Eyes Were Watching God with utmost care. Ailanna
Rating:
Summary: Great book, much better than expected
Review: I didn't expect to like this book. This book was required reading and, to tell you the truth, I was going into the experience expecting not to like it. I had just read "I Know Why a Caged Bird Sings" and had heard this book was very similar to it. The people who told me that were blatantly wrong. This book has nothing to do with race. This book is the story of Janie and her microcosm of southern black culture. This book deals with cultural boundaries and cultural identitiesÑas WEB Dubois said "the reality of the hyphenated African-American." What I loved about this book was that it didn't deal with oppression or hatred, it simply celebrated the brilliant uniqueness of Janie's culture and all of its characters and lovable imperfections. Hurston did a good job with this book, as she showed the dichotomy between the American culture and the African-American culture through the use of dialogue and poetic prose. The story was interesting and Tea Cake was an intriguingly perfect character with so many imperfections. Reading this book, it is hard not to be engrossed in the culture of Eatonville and the other cities. Why only four stars? I thought Hurston tried a little too hard in some of the "poetic prose" sections and it sounded a little overdone. I think all meaning can be extracted from the exceptional dialogue of the book. A minor qualm. A great book nonetheless. milo
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