perfection

My sister-in-law and I share books, since we have similar tastes. In our latest conversation I suggested a few I'd just finished -- she gave me Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Uhhh...I have to admit, it was not one I wanted to read, and had in fact removed it from my TBR list. Why? Because I tried to watch the Harpo Production in 2005 and didn't feel it (hated it; nod to Sandy's review). The production felt like a piece extrapolated from art twisted for a motive. There was a sense of arrogance to the production, like that you feel when someone thinks they can improve on great art, and goes on to disprove that haughtiness by giving Mona Lisa a bigger smile. I feel vindicated for my harsh opinion -- I don't like to feel like a meany -- by the reviews I just read concerning that debacle:
"Catering to its TV audience, the film largely avoided the more controversial themes of race, gender, and power. "[Wikipedia]
Karen Valby of Entertainment Weekly comments, "While the book chews on meaty questions of race and identity, the movie largely resigns itself to the realm of sudsy romance."
New York Times critic Virginia Heffernan writes, "the film is less a literary tribute than a visual fix of Harlequin Romance: Black Southern Series—all sensual soft-core scenes and contemporary, accessible language."
*ouch-ouch-ouch* My purpose in bringing this up is that I had been so turned against this book I was never going to read it, and what a shame. Maybe this will change someone else's mind that turned the channel that day back in 2005.

But, when my sis-in-law said it was her favorite book of all time, I'm always excited to get a recommendation that someone is passionate about. Oh; not Proust, Nabokov, etc., those tomes that intellectuals can discuss together for years...I know they are great gifted writers. I've read them, I get it. But, I can't help but have an affection for the rare humble books that seem to be less about an author's abilities, and more a revelation from their heart. The kind of book so beautiful in its simplicity that it's a piece of the writer's soul that resonates in the reader. Those are the gems you find just once in a while; TEWWG is one of those rarities.

I'm not going to even attempt to describe the book; it would all feel like hyperbole that would cheapen my experience. 10 people can stand in front of a painting and see it differently; read a book and give a different * rating; sip a wine and give you everything from sooty, woodsy, to fruity. If I would have missed this book, I'd have missed one of the best *reading* experiences I've ever had. My caveat here is: I listened to Ruby Dee read this and that made all the difference in the world. Hurston's words come through Dee, and it was amazing. When I think back, I could almost swear my memories are from being in this place with these people -- not just listening to a book. I'll warn that in some spots it's hard to understand Miss Dee, just because she is speaking in the vernacular of another time, another culture (1937) and I don't hear well with one ear.
*FYI: I never did figure out the name...it's Tea Cake, yes it is.

122 people found this helpful

Ruby Dee is amazing

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this book to anyone, particularly the audio book. Not only is this an amazing story beautifully written, but Ruby Dee takes the words and the story and breathes a life into them that I'm not sure I could have managed with my own imagination.

What does Ruby Dee bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Ruby Dee can read the dialect of the characters in a natural and beautiful way that pulls the deepest meaning and emotion out of their words. The language is poetry to begin with but Ruby Dee adds beauty and emotion to the already powerful words.

99 people found this helpful

a pleasure

This is the story of a woman struggling against the expectations of everyone in her life who is supposed to care for her; her grandmother, the man she wanted her to marry so she would have a "good life" but without love, and the man she ran off with to make a "better life" and what she thought was love, which turned out to be yet another disappointment. It is a bittersweet story, beautifully written with memorable, full-bodied, thought-provoking characters, and expertly read by Ruby Dee. I was pleasantly surprised from beginning to end. If you have a long, tedious project, pop this one in and you will be finished with both before you know it. Definitely recommend!

91 people found this helpful

A real treat

I am new to audiobooks, and while I don't intend to stop actually reading, I now understand how a skilled narration can create a completely different experience for the listener, and enhance the enjoyment of a novel far beyond a simple read. It's a wonderful story and artfully written. But the narration is so well-done that I don't think I would have enjoyed the book as much had I read it myself. Highly recommended.

83 people found this helpful

RIVETING!

If you could sum up Their Eyes Were Watching God in three words, what would they be?
BEAUTIFUL LITERARY GIFT

Who was your favorite character and why?
TEA CAKE was my favorite character because he was the one person Janie had encountered in her life up to the point of meeting him that allowed her to develop into her authentic self. He wasn't ( but then who is ) perfect, yet he had no qualms about being who he was. He enjoyed the people in his community! He truly loved being around people and seeing them have fun and lots of laughter. This being so, despite the hard times and unsure future. He lived in the moment, and that was refreshing for me, the listener.

Which scene was your favorite?
My favorite scene was when Janie's second husband (Joe Starks ) shut her out of his life as he was dying, and Janie refusing to let him die without hearing her out, and explaining why she said such hurtful things to him. She wanted to apologize, and also let him know that she didn't say the hurtful things for any reason other than reacting to the awful way he had treated her.
She truly wanted them to end things on a good note before he died. He denied he was dying, as he died in front of her. His denial, resentments, and insecurities led him to spend his last years angry and fearful.
He lived in so much self-centered fear that he was more willing to believe a witch doctor, who was only out for his money, rather than make peace with his wife, and allow Janie to provide his care. She had real concern for his genuine well being, and how sad he couldn't rid his resentments towards her, and die peacefully.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
Hope, Courage, Joy, and Peace- One woman's journey to finding her authentic self.

Any additional comments?
Highly recommend! Great Novel! SO much to learn and ponder within this amazing literary classic!

51 people found this helpful

Beautiful, poetic, and wonderfully performed!

This novel about a black woman in Florida in the 1930s who endures two bad marriages only to find the love of her life, and then to lose him, is beautifully written and a brilliant illumination of a time and place where race relations affected everything. Ruby Dee's performance of the characters is pitch perfect, from the snide commentary of gossipy women to the hilarious antics of men who know just how to stir each other up for an idle laugh on a summer evening. This is one of the best audiobooks I've ever heard.

47 people found this helpful

Perfect

The story itself is not gripping. It's a tragic tale of love long awaited and too soon lost. I usually avoid tragedies, but this came so highly rated that I thought I'd give it a try, and I am so happy I did.
You know from the beginning that it isn't a happy story, that the love isn't going to end well, but- despite not liking the leading man- you root for the couple and try to find a way around the impending tragedy.
The writing is heartbreakingly beautiful, with perfect dialect for the characters and breathtaking language in the narration. It combines the colloquial with the esoteric.
The narrator is perfect. She gives a rich preformance that makes characters out of people who otherwise could be caricatures and gives passion wisdom and heart to the voice of the narration.

40 people found this helpful

Sheer Enjoyment !

Truer words could not be spoken, when in the introduction, the narrator says, "performed by Ruby Dee". The narrator is none other than Ruby Dee, and her performance is spectacular! I listened to this book with my teenage granddaughter and we were enthralled. I remember when I first read the book while in college, how I frequently read out loud, to audibly hear the voice of the characters of the story. It is a story begging to be read aloud. Ruby Dee masterfully captures all the characters and voices. It is beautiful and mesmerizing. I loved it. This is my all time favorite audio book.

32 people found this helpful

Thank you Ruby Dee

I've tried to read Zora Neale Hurston before, gotten ten pages in thinking "wow, she really can write" then put the book down and never picked it up again.

In audio I was drawn in and listened happily to the end.

I think this happens a lot to me, that with the voice in my mind I could read other Hurston (or any of a dozen other authors) cheerfully.

29 people found this helpful

Truth and Suffering

This book was so beautifully painful, so wondrously wrought and read with such revelation that there have been few books in my lifetime of reading that have touched me so intensely that I had to stop listing at times to ponder what I was experiencing. And no other than Ruby Dee could have possibly read this book in the manner of a revelation to the listener. Stories need to be told and this book is such telling at it's highest. Even Toni Morisson could not have achieved more!

22 people found this helpful