Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Published June 1st 2006 by Harper Perennial Modern Classics (first published 1937)
ISBN 9780061120060
235 pages
Series? No
Rating: R
BUY / Nook / Kindle

One of the most important works of twentieth-century American literature, Zora Neale Hurston's beloved 1937 classic, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is an enduring Southern love story sparkling with wit, beauty, and heartfelt wisdom. Told in the captivating voice of a woman who refuses to live in sorrow, bitterness, fear, or foolish romantic dreams, it is the story of fair-skinned, fiercely independent Janie Crawford, and her evolving selfhood through three marriages and a life marked by poverty, trials, and purpose.

A true literary wonder, Hurston's masterwork remains as relevant and affecting today as when it was first published - perhaps the most widely read and highly regarded novel in the entire canon of African American literature.

Cover. The cover of this particular version is gorgeous. I am really unable to really appreciate the original cover however because I don't like abstract or contemporary or whatever it is called art. The reason that I am reading this book is because I had to for my Literature class. It is not that complicated but there you have it.


Plot. I am still wondering what the book is about. I could not stand the dialect. My teacher called it literary dialect but I called it a nuisance. It slowed me down and even after repeated reading I still had no clue on what it said half of the time. I did not like the story a large part due to the fact that it is a product of a different time from me. The time that I was born in does not see Janie as independent. In fact she is probably the definition of dependence and was too pathetic to live. She ran away from every marriage for another guy and she got married within days of meeting each.


Characters. I could not stand the main character. She bugged me beyond words. I was bored with her before she even began her first marriage. And about the summary that I got from GoodReads, it is a lie. Janie had so many foolish romantic dreams and it is because of them that she ends up in three horrible marriages. I realize that we are supposed to like Tea Cake, her third husband, but I did not see anything to back it up. He beat her, he stole two hundred dollars from her, and he was an all around idiot. I disliked this book so much that I now know what book to mention when people ask me for a book that I have read that I absolutely hated.


Recommend? No.