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alysses's review against another edition
5.0
This is the FIRST book you should read. This was phenomenal.
I suggest listening to the audiobook or doing a hybrid read.
I will definitely read this again.
I suggest listening to the audiobook or doing a hybrid read.
I will definitely read this again.
archiebb's review against another edition
funny
slow-paced
The first half of this describes more of her growing up and as a young adult and WOW can she tell a story. I was so engaged. I was already planning on re-reading it. No one writes like Zora!
The second half of the book was a bit harder because she describes her relationship with a man she loved (she based the love story in Their Eyes Were Watching God on herself) and it’s very very abusive. Like he was incredibly abusive and she describes it as if that is the greatest love of all. Soured the book for me and I only slowly picked it up after that (not her fault just really hard to read).
Hurston describes herself as very influential in the music scene and I’d really like to learn more about that! She also has interesting takes on religion.
I don’t know what her politics were, she does have a chapter that rings similarly of color blindness (not “holding the sons of slave masters responsible” etc). It makes me wonder what kinds of conversations she was responding to when she wrote this kind of thing.
I couldn’t bring myself to fully finish the book after the abuse bit so I stopped around 85% and just counted it done.
The second half of the book was a bit harder because she describes her relationship with a man she loved (she based the love story in Their Eyes Were Watching God on herself) and it’s very very abusive. Like he was incredibly abusive and she describes it as if that is the greatest love of all. Soured the book for me and I only slowly picked it up after that (not her fault just really hard to read).
Hurston describes herself as very influential in the music scene and I’d really like to learn more about that! She also has interesting takes on religion.
I don’t know what her politics were, she does have a chapter that rings similarly of color blindness (not “holding the sons of slave masters responsible” etc). It makes me wonder what kinds of conversations she was responding to when she wrote this kind of thing.
I couldn’t bring myself to fully finish the book after the abuse bit so I stopped around 85% and just counted it done.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
sbreadsfantasy's review against another edition
5.0
Maya Angelou’s foreword concludes that, in this autobiography, “It is difficult, if not impossible, to find and touch the real Zora Neale Hurston.” I agree completely. The appendix reveals that editorial oversight may have influenced this in some degree. I am left to wonder if perhaps the true Zora Neale Hurston would not have been palatable to her white readers in the early 40s, or if she herself did not wish to be that vulnerable.
Hurston’s autobiography is fascinating. Her imagery is striking, firmly planting her readership in Eatonville. In understanding her roots, I was able to connect Their Eyes Were Watching God with the real-life influences that lead Hurston to write her novel.
However, after finishing this book, I do not feel that I gained any intimate knowledge of who Hurston truly was. Throughout her autobiography, she holds her readership at an arm’s length. The most intimate emotion she conveys involves her feelings of failure as a nine-year-old girl. Her dying mother implored her not to let them take away her pillow or cover the clocks in the room, as tradition apparently called for, but Zora was unable to convince the adults in the room to respect her wishes. After that, I was hoping she would continue to show how that moment impacted her life, but Hurston becomes more emotionally closed off as the book progresses. Even in her tales of a passionate, jealous love affair that spanned years, there was little emotional depth truly conveyed.
I am intrigued by her research on “Negro lies” (folktales), and her discussions of race were interesting, if not confusing.
Although it is not an intimate portrait of Hurston, it is an interesting tale of her life and definitely offers insight into her novels. The book itself is relatively straightforward, but the task of analyzing what went unsaid ended up being highly complex and occupied most of my time while reading. I recommend this book for anyone interested in the Harlem Renaissance or Ms. Hurston.
Hurston’s autobiography is fascinating. Her imagery is striking, firmly planting her readership in Eatonville. In understanding her roots, I was able to connect Their Eyes Were Watching God with the real-life influences that lead Hurston to write her novel.
However, after finishing this book, I do not feel that I gained any intimate knowledge of who Hurston truly was. Throughout her autobiography, she holds her readership at an arm’s length. The most intimate emotion she conveys involves her feelings of failure as a nine-year-old girl. Her dying mother implored her not to let them take away her pillow or cover the clocks in the room, as tradition apparently called for, but Zora was unable to convince the adults in the room to respect her wishes. After that, I was hoping she would continue to show how that moment impacted her life, but Hurston becomes more emotionally closed off as the book progresses. Even in her tales of a passionate, jealous love affair that spanned years, there was little emotional depth truly conveyed.
I am intrigued by her research on “Negro lies” (folktales), and her discussions of race were interesting, if not confusing.
Although it is not an intimate portrait of Hurston, it is an interesting tale of her life and definitely offers insight into her novels. The book itself is relatively straightforward, but the task of analyzing what went unsaid ended up being highly complex and occupied most of my time while reading. I recommend this book for anyone interested in the Harlem Renaissance or Ms. Hurston.
christinajcraig's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 - I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would. It was worth reading to learn about Hurston's childhood and her thoughts about race and class. There were also some really beautifully unusual passages but altogether it didn't hold my attention.
sam_bizar_wilcox's review against another edition
5.0
Gorgeous. Zora Neale Hurston's autobiography is incomparable. She approaches life with such wisdom and such boldness; I am saddened that I will never get to meet her in real life - I feel that we'd be such good friends.
cemoses's review against another edition
3.0
I liked her book Their Eyes were watching God much better. The commentators of this edition I read felt she she may have taken some creative liberties with her life.
The part about her childhood and getting to college were very good. She becomes more reserved about her later life. Also the later part of the book is more political; maybe it was her politics that caused her to loose appeal as author until Alice Walker rediscovered her.
The part about her childhood and getting to college were very good. She becomes more reserved about her later life. Also the later part of the book is more political; maybe it was her politics that caused her to loose appeal as author until Alice Walker rediscovered her.