Library's review
I bought this book in 2014 and I don't know what took me so long to read it. Written in 1937, it's now considered a classic of African-American literature, though it got mixed reviews on publication, even from other black intellectuals, and it fell into obscurity for a long time after it was
The novel tells the story of Janie, a black woman who refused to conform to the expectations of her time for women of her race and class. She married three times, and struggled to maintain her own autonomy in a world where women were supposed to take whatever their menfolk dished out. I thought the storyline was a powerful one, and I felt a great deal of sympathy for Janie, living in a time and a place that could not value her true gifts.
Much of the book's dialogue is rendered in black vernacular, and I am of two minds about it. On the one hand, it brought the voices of Janie, Tea Cake, and their friends and neighbors right into my head in a way that dialogue written in standard English would not have. On the other hand, I struggled with reading and comprehending it. The fault is entirely mine for simple lack of familiarity with black dialect, but it did make reading a chore when I so wanted it to be pure pleasure. (I've had a similar problem with Faulkner although my issues with that guy go far beyond how he chose to render Southern working-class dialogue in print.)
If reading vernacular doesn't bother you, or you are willing to push your way through it in the service of greater familiarity with the world Hurston wants to show us, I expect you would find this to be a book that offers food for thought far beyond turning the last page.
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written before being re-surfaced largely due to the efforts of Alice Walker, who considered Hurston a role model when she was writing The Color Purple.The novel tells the story of Janie, a black woman who refused to conform to the expectations of her time for women of her race and class. She married three times, and struggled to maintain her own autonomy in a world where women were supposed to take whatever their menfolk dished out. I thought the storyline was a powerful one, and I felt a great deal of sympathy for Janie, living in a time and a place that could not value her true gifts.
Much of the book's dialogue is rendered in black vernacular, and I am of two minds about it. On the one hand, it brought the voices of Janie, Tea Cake, and their friends and neighbors right into my head in a way that dialogue written in standard English would not have. On the other hand, I struggled with reading and comprehending it. The fault is entirely mine for simple lack of familiarity with black dialect, but it did make reading a chore when I so wanted it to be pure pleasure. (I've had a similar problem with Faulkner although my issues with that guy go far beyond how he chose to render Southern working-class dialogue in print.)
If reading vernacular doesn't bother you, or you are willing to push your way through it in the service of greater familiarity with the world Hurston wants to show us, I expect you would find this to be a book that offers food for thought far beyond turning the last page.
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Description
Janie Crawford, a Southern Black woman in the 1930's, journeys from being a free-spirited girl to a woman of independence and substance.
Awards
Audie Award (Finalist — 2001)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1937