a book

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Name: Their Eyes Were Watching God
Rating: 5 (18 reviews)
Author: Zora Neale Hurston
ISBN: 9780061120060

Zora Neale Hurston · 2006 · 256 pages

One of the most important works of twentieth-century American literature, Zora Neale Hurston's beloved 1937 classic, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is an enduring Southern love story sparkling with wit, beauty, and heartfelt wisdom. Told in the captivating voice of a woman who refuses to live in sorrow, bitterness, fear, or foolish romantic dreams, it is the story of fair-skinned, fiercely independent Janie Crawford, and her evolving selfhood through three marriages and a life marked by poverty, trials, and purpose. A true literary wonder, Hurston's masterwork remains as relevant and affecting today as when it was first published -- perhaps the most widely read and highly regarded novel in the entire canon of African American literature.

recommended by 18 people

sourced from public statements

Shonda Rhimes
“It's #BookLoversDay. Here are some of my favorite books📚.”↗
Janet Mock
“I first read this novel at 16 and felt centered in ways I’d never felt before as a reader. I’ve since returned to it whenever I feel lost and am given affirmation to journey for answers, like Hurston’s protagonist Janie in the muck.”↗
Alice Walker
“Reading Their Eyes for perhaps the eleventh time, I am still amazed. .. that it speaks to me as no novel, past or present, has ever done; and that the language of the characters, that ‘comical nigger dialect’ that has been laughed at, denied, ignored, or ‘improved’ so that white folks and educated black folks can understand it, is simply beautiful. There is enough self-love in that one book – love of community, culture, traditions – to restore a world. Or create a new one.”↗
Jacqueline Novogratz
“Zora Neale Hurston was a leader of the Harlem Renaissance movement and a fighter for the rights of African-Americans. Like so many, I was profoundly impacted by her novel Their Eyes were Watching God, one of the most important books of the 20th century.”↗
Jennifer Lopez
“Books to read📖: "WHY I'M NO LONGER TALKING TO WHITE PEOPLE ABOUT RACE" BY RENI EDDO-LODGE, "THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD" BY ZORA NEALE HURSTON. "THE HATE U GIVE" BY ANGIE THOMAS, "I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS" BY MAYA ANGELOU, "WHITE FRAGILITY" BY ROBIN DIANGELO, PHD”↗
Phoebe Robinson
“I first read this when I was a sophomore in college. I’m always a fan of female authors and their work isn’t always included in canons or revered or placed on a pedestal the way male authors are — this is a book that has stood the test of time. It’s incredible to read books that represent different time periods in black people’s lives. Not just about slavery. Not just about black suffering. That can often be the only narrative that we get. This is more a snapshot of a woman’s life throughout different periods. That should exist more in this world.”↗
Ibram X. Kendi
“Of course, the black body exists within a wider black culture — one Hurston portrayed with grace and insight in this seminal novel. She defies racist Americans who would standardize the cultures of white people or sanitize, eroticize, erase or assimilate those of blacks.”↗
Zadie Smith
“This is a deeply soulful novel that comprehends love and cruelty, and separates the big people from the small of heart, without ever losing sympathy for those unfortunates who don’t know how to live properly. Hurston is a lyrical writer, and lyricism is not usually my cup of tea, but there are talents that go beyond genre and taste. Her greatest claim over me is that she never was ashamed of the novel as a form—she believed in the transformative power of storytelling, and she took risks with sentiment that few contemporary writers are prepared to make. This book is a part of my character now—that’s how many times I’ve read it. I don’t look to fiction to find heroes, but I have to admit that Janie has meant more to me than any other character. She’s singing my song, somehow. And you realize the breadth of Hurston’s talent when you find out how many other people feel exactly the same way.”↗
Tarana Burke
“Janie’s resilience was a powerful lesson in choosing yourself.”↗
Howard Zinn
“A classic of Black literature, written in the 1930s, a forerunner in its originality, honesty and power of Alice Walker’s novels today.”↗
Brit Bennett
“In this short novel, Zora Neale Hurston somehow manages to capture the challenges faced by Black women seeking liberation in a racist, misogynistic world while never losing sight of the liberating power of Black joy.”↗
Yara Shahidi
“Everything about this novel is poetic. From the ripe symbolism and haunting telling of true love, to witnessing the true liberation of a woman who has led a life dictated by societal pressures. The story of Janie is both insanely specific to her life and also a statement on the universal transformative stages of womanhood.”↗
Hanif Abdurraqib
“I love that Hurston refused to grant Blackness a single lens. Their Eyes does its best to complicate the primary colors of emotion, and so joy is given equal ground as grief and hope is given equal ground as trauma. But beyond all of that, Janie Crawford is speaking to the reader through Hurston, with language that a Black reader might find a home in. I absolutely did.”↗
Rupi Kaur
Xan Brooks
Gaby Goldberg
Kate McKean
Farah Jasmine Griffin