Rating: 
Summary: Definitely worth the acclaim
Review: The black South of the 1930's is brought vividly to life by Hurston, who tells the story of a young woman struggling to find a life of her own and genuine love. Janie Crawford breaks away from a life pre-destined by her grandmother, then from a life pre-destined by an overbearing husband, to find her own definition of success--a simple life, but full of love and freedom. Aside from being a great story, the novel is also a course in the fundamentals of conveying dialect and language through literature. I loved it!
Rating:
Summary: You Are Always Being Watched
Review: You Are Always Being Watched
"Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide and others they sail forever on the horizon but, never out of sight, never landing until the watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by time." Which proves to be the life of men. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, women find themselves powerfully representing in this novel often directed and personal.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora N. Hurston Write about a woman who wasn't sad nor compassion. She wasn't a tragic mulatto, who defied everything that was expected of her. The woman went off with a man without bothering to divorce the one she left and wasn't broken, crushed, and run down. Intimately, the readers know the two characters talked about in this novel.
In the beginning a woman comes back from burying the dead. The people knew because the sun went down and he left footprint in the sky. She gives a pleasant speech and "the porches couldn't talk for looking." It's now time to sit on the porches beside the road where the most gossip done. "Where the people sit around the and the pictures of their thoughts from the others to hear and see."
The protagonist journey from the object to the subject throughout the novel. Shifting from third person to first person. Third person signifying this awareness of self in the protagonist.
Hurston source of language seems to be her principal concern, as she constanly shift back and forth between her narrator's voice to a highly "street talk". She uses personification and metaphor several times throughout the novel. Characters and the mood come alive and "words walking without masters; walking altogether like harmony I a song" is an example of personification.
Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora N. Hurston is a great book for women who love to read love stories. The life that Hurston could write wasn't the life that she could live. Hurston's life, much reality than does the standard sociological rendering reveals how economic limits determine our choices even more than does violence or love. This book is two thumb up and it shouldn't be a book anyone should pass up no matter who you are.
Rating:
Summary: You have to read this book
Review: If you read only one book in it entirety, then I recommend that you read Their Eyes Were Watching God. This novel is one of the best story of women independence that I've had read in a while. It is a story of Janie Crawford who finds herself after many difficult struggles. It is a deep felt story told expectionally well. You might be surprised with the outcome because it is not like what you would expect from Janie when you first meet her.
The novel showed the oppression from racism, and also the hardships from sexism during the 1930s. The dialogue compliments the story so well, the culture and mental pictures are vivid and wonderful. I enjoyed reading this novel because it speaks for the equality, for the pursuit of happiness instead of possessions. Hurston is an amazing writer. I highly recommend this novel to anyone that wants to learn more about women struggles in life and how they overcome these obstacles.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: A librarian from Mount Vernon, IA:The novel begins with gossip and speculation about Janie, a woman returning home. It deepens when Janie and her friend, Phoeby, gather at dusk to discuss the reason for Janie's return. As Janie begins her story, that is really a story of self-discovery, the darkness around them deepens, becoming a 'monstropolous old thing.' Her tale ends before dawn and through hearing the intimate details of her life, which seem as 'a giant tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone,' we, listeners much like Phoeby, understand that all lives, including our own, have 'dawn and doom. . .in the branches.' Please do yourself a favor and buy this book! Also recommended: THE LOSERS' CLUB by Richard Perez
Rating: 
Summary: this book is horrible
Review: My highschool class had to read this in class so due to the many people in our public schools who can hardly read this took us about a month and a half to read. The story didn't start off good for me because its a book written mainly for women and I am a man who enjoys a Tom Clancy novel well I felt that it also puts down the African American race by making it look as if most African Americans are like Tea Cakes who is a run around or the judge who beats his wife and treats her about as good as a slave (which isn't good at all). This book in my opinion is smut and if I where African American I'd be upset that people said this book showed the struggle of the African american it does not it does show many steryotypes similar to the ones that the movie hollywood shuffle fought against I'm sorry if that step on some toes but thats my opinion
Rating:
Summary: Must Read
Review: I feel like every African American who wants to really understand where we came from should read this book. This is not the only one they should read, but it is at the top of my list.
Rating:
Summary: It could have been good.
Review: Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel which, in terms of story line, is about a black woman who lives in the deep south during the early 1900's. No, this isn't a book about discrimination and Jim Crow laws. No, this isn't a book about hate or lynchings or some of the other topics that novels which similar characters in similar settings are about. This book touches on one womans search for love, and while things may have taken a change for the worse, she never lost herself. The story is laced with all sorts of metaphors and similies, which I do enjoy in a novel. I find that being spoon fed all the meanings and themes can create boredom, and seeing a creative style of writing can be refreshing. So why, do you ask, did I give this novel only one star? The answer is simple: it was the diction in the dialogue. As I explained before, the characters are african americans living in the deep south during the turn of the century. In order to reflect this, the author (Zora Neale Hurston) decided to write all of the dialogue with the accent. A character meaning to say "I don't care" came out as "Ah dun keer." A character meaning "Child, the Lord is watching over you" came out as "Child, da Lawd is watchin' ovah you!" While some may claim that this gives the novel a certain degree of authenticity, I find that it ruined an otherwise good novel.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Beautiful
Review: This book was given to me by my husband when we were dating. It became one of my favorite books - it is beautifully written and one can hear the words coming off of the page. This is one of those books that should be required reading of every person and certainly should be taught in school. I wish Hurston had written more in her lifetime - I cannot get enough.
Rating: 
Summary: Gripping
Review: An intense, personal look at a woman's search for self that is not cliched, though it is familiar. Janie is so very real and her story demands attention. My only problem is the complete insularity of the characters and the non-dimensional portraits of some of the men. Still, you must read this. It is that good.
Rating:
Summary: What can I say about this book?
Review: It's almost silly to write a review of Their Eyes Were Watching God, because so many things have been said about it already. I liked the book tremendously. It is written in a powerful style, and you feel the pain and happiness that Janie goes through. It was a bit difficult for me at the beginning to follow the dialect, but after a while it was no longer so. This is a great novel, and I can see how Zora Neale Hurston's influence has touched a great deal of contemporary African American writers.
|
