Reviews

Cane by Jean Toomer

bookish_skies's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.5

oceanatthesky's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

yeahnaar's review against another edition

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

2.0

Toomer tries to make being a simp intellectual and romantic, but fails. This was a slog to get through 

jasmine_reid16's review against another edition

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The misogyny made it hard to read. Hopefully it improves but it was enough to turn me off. The poetry was beautiful though!

dukegregory's review against another edition

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3.0

February 9 2021

More of a 3.5.

Still incredible but a little less impenetrable. Not a lot less but a little. Wonderfully groundbreaking, and Toomer's diction is wildly gifted, but alas I was indeed bored or apathetic to much of what goes on while being very entertained by more of it than that which made me bored.

January 20th 2019

Incredible and impenetrable.

faintgirl's review against another edition

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4.0

I don't really know what to say about Cane. As you start, you feel detached, confused, concerned, and as the lyrical text draws you in, you find yourself deep in a dark music. These stories are short portraits of the African American experience in the Deep South and the DC area, and while the events described can be brutal, rich personalities are drawn and the whole experience becomes quite mesmerizing.

blairmahoney's review against another edition

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4.0

Stylistically innovative.

emmaprew's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

I was suggested this for one of my reading challenge prompts. Definitely not at all something I would have picked myself. I didn’t find it the easiest to take in but I appreciate its importance.

branson416's review

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slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

2.75

carsonelainee's review against another edition

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3.0

*read for class (Cane and Fern)
The first vignette from this selection that I read was an interesting read, but the rest of them were painful for me to read. Definitely not my favorite selection that we've read. I do think Jean Toomer had interesting insights into the intersection of gender, sexuality, and race.