Their Eyes Were Watching God

Set in the 30s in the height of the Jim Crow era when many black people were under suppression, this novel tells the story of how the main protagonist Janie overcomes obstacles and stereotypes to become the person she yearned to be - using love.In spite of her not knowing that she was black until she was 6 - she was shielded from this knowledge having been raised by a nanny who worked for white people - doesn't devastate her.Zora presents Janie as a strong woman who has been married three times - one marriage was forced upon her by her nanny who thought it was a good idea to marry her off to an older man, as it would provide stability for her, the other marriage she walked away from as the husband was too domineering and her final love - her true love, gave her everything she desired. She could become part of every conversation, have friends, wear her hair down, dress how she felt to dress. She was liberated ... all through love.The book is 80% dialogue which I loved and full of metaphorical language.Even though this book was written so many years ago, I can see some parallelism in today's society.A great read!

This book is one of the set texts for my English Literature degree. I would not have read it if it hadn't been but I would have missed something beautiful. I will admit I struggled with the language, much of it is in dialect (i hope nobody objects to that term) which meant I had to virtually read it out loud to understand it. I found this challenging but as I had to read it, I invested in the Audible copy as a way into the text.The reading by Ruby Dee was brilliant, it brought the book to life. The ending is so evocative, I cried. I really hope that one day I will generate that degree of feeling in someone.

The most beautifully written novel I have read. At first it could be tricky to get into the flow of this book, however persevere as the story is well thought out and the writing is almost lyrical in places. This has become one of my favourite books and a real shame that not many people are aware of its greatness. Give it a go.

I’m glad I read this book as it’s a classic for a reason but I wouldn’t read it again, ultimately hard going and depressing

My daughter bought this and as far as I know, she has not returned it so she must have liked it because She is quite fussy.