192
people found this helpful, as of 2023
ranked #172,185 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★★★★
There's a reason this is on virtually every "classic" list you can find.
I've set a goal to reread the classics I read when I was way too young to appreciate them. I first read THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD because my older friend, Becky, told me it was "great" when I was about ten. I remember thinking it was a nice story, and that's about it. Coming back to forty years later, I can agree that it's great, but there's so much more here.
The most special part of Zora Neale Hurston's writing is that she takes subjects that society wants to segment into "good" or "bad" and makes them human -- thereby making them complicated. Subjects like infidelity, domestic abuse, killing for self-protection, killing as an act of mercy, colorism, white savior complex, poverty, female pride, female submission, moral relativism... You name a tough topic, and Hurston handles it in this book with a deft touch rarely found in today's world.
NOW I understand why it's a classic & don't just have to take everyone else's word for it. Definitely worth a read or ten.
