I’m so glad I finally picked up Their Eyes Were Watching God, a classic that’s been on my TBR for ages, for the #BlackLitChallenge! Although I struggled a bit with the first 50 pages or so, I soon found my rhythm and the rest of the book was a delight!
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Hurston’s story follows our protagonist Janie as she grows from a 16 year old with no real will of her own to a woman in her mid-40s who has gained plenty of life experience, coming to know herself and her desires along the way. It’s quite a short book, around 220 pages or so, but Hurston manages to fit so much life into those pages without it feeling rushed.
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When it was first published in 1937 it wasn’t very well received, one of the reasons being, as Zadie Smith points out in her excellent foreword, is that Hurston chose to write a lot of the book in the dialect she grew up with in her all-black town and no one wanted to read it. But her decision to reflect these speech patterns in her writing, paying homage to black oral culture is part of what makes the book come alive. Combined with the beautiful descriptions of nature in all of its glory and power (the hurricane section gave me shivers), everything from the dialogue to the narrative is a joy to read.
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I loved how Janie developed as a character and knew exactly what she wanted out of life. She’s not content to just take what life gives her without a fight. If I were one for underlining in books (and my copy wasn’t a library book, of course!) there are so many passages I would have highlighted, but two of my favourites that demonstrate Janie’s forthright character are To my thinkin’ mourning oughtn’t tuh last no longer’n grief’, and then ‘She was too busy feeling grief to dress like grief’. She doesn’t play games and she won’t cloak her true feelings for anybody.
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Definitely a classic everyone should pick up, but I wouldn’t recommend it as a commute read - it deserves your full attention!