Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

58 reviews

accidentalfolklore's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Rape, Sexism, Medical content, and Grief

kylieve's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexism

historyoftape's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

There are so many good things packed into this story. A rich understanding if culture and language, characters that grow or are stifled depending on their environments, social, economic and political commentary, great dialogue, captivating imagery... It's a book that had me deeply invested in the main character's goals, dreams, and growth, where I loved the side characters, and where, while I may not have made similar decisions, I could understand and even support Janies decisions because I understood that they were the right path for her. The ending was heartbreaking and real, hurt me in a good way. It's been a while since I read a book that finished this strongly.

The way Janies words were so rare in the beginning of the story, to how confident and free in speaking she is by the end was one of the most striking things to me. One of the most effective but subtle ways to show her growth I have encountered in a while. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Blood, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Addiction

susanatherly's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Violence, and Abandonment

Minor: War

charliebites's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Minor: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Dementia, Grief, and Colonisation

jasisreading's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A devastating tale of a woman finding and reclaiming herself, throughout her adult life. The writing is impeccable. The audio performance by Ruby Dee is unmatched. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, and Violence

Minor: Xenophobia

Reading this in high school vs reading this now and understanding the writing on a more mature level. Because

I absolutely forgot Tea Cake had to die because this man ended up with rabies and he attacked Janie towards the end. And the trial, and aftermath, drawing stark parallels with our current interactions with the criminal justice system

gardens_and_dragons's review against another edition

hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I think this is a hard book to rate for me. It’s very well written, I liked the prose and themes a lot! I loved how feminist it was for being published in 1937. A great story about a Black woman's struggle for independence. It’s an important book as a touchstone in African American history. I don’t think that slow family dramas in lit are for me, tho, so it wasn’t exactly for me, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Racism, and Sexism

Moderate: Gun violence and Physical abuse

Minor: Rape and Slavery

lilliana_blackstar's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Words cannot do justice or portray the expanse of emotion that resides in this book. The writing is divine and alive. Most of the story is told in dialogue - conversations between two or more people, rich in the colloquial speech of the characters: black people in Florida in the early 1920s and 1930s. The dialogue is rich and alive and tells all the things that are happening through gossip or arguments or conversations between lovers or neighbors.

“You’se something tuh make uh man forgit to git old and forgit tuh die.”

Then, in between the conversations, the poetry. Oh, the prose! The poetic narration to fill in the blanks of the story with such depth of color and emotion. 

“So she sat on the porch and watched the moon rise. Soon its amber fluid was drenching the earth, and quenching the thirst of the day.”

“There is a basin in the mind where words float around on thought and thought on sound and sight. Then there is a depth of thought untouched by words, and deeper still a gulf of formless feelings untouched by thought.”

I had a good deep cleansing cry at the end of this book. 

“Of course he wasn’t dead. He could never be dead until she herself had finished feeling and thinking.  The kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light against the wall. Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see.”

Note - the Harper audiobook is narrated by Ruby Dee, and it is a masterpiece of voice acting. 

I picked this book in January because I wanted to read books by Capricorn authors during Capricorn season. Zora Neale Hurston was born January 7, 1891

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Grief

thebookgiraffe's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racism, and Sexism

Moderate: Racial slurs, Slavery, and Xenophobia

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Fatphobia

readersbutterfly's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

A story where Janie’s own terms of love are set and fixed by her and her alone, and in that way it’s revolutionary. Beautifully written, and an ode to the cultural color of the south and its mighty strong women’s wills. It’s a coming of age story as riveting as anything modern. It warmed my heart to read it and know that there was someone as frilly-natured of a writer as me in the 1930s. You’ve got to live to have a life worth loving, and you’ve also got to love to have a life worth living.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Gaslighting

Minor: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Grief, and Murder