My Review of Their Eyes Were Watching God

As we read Their Eyes Were Watching God, I quite enjoyed the book as a coming-of-age story. At first, I was not a huge fan of the dialogue in the book, as it made it harder to read, but by the end of the first few chapters, I was able to read it much more easily and found that it really added to the setting of the story. The narrative was gorgeously written and there was beautiful imagery in almost every section of narrative. The characters were well-developed in general, but I got very annoyed with some of them--especially the men--and at times felt like the story got a little repetitive. There were also a few times in the book when Hurston wrote conversations or monologues that had almost no context and were very difficult to follow, or did not add to the plotline at all. I feel as though this story could be taken in many different perspectives--such as an innocent love story, or a judgment of the black people and reinforcement of many negative stereotypes--and judged very differently on the way that it is viewed. Personally, I see this story as one of growth, love, and loss; essentially, a coming-of-age story. It was easy to see changes in Janie's character from the innocent girl, to the abused woman, a lady in love, and finally a person who had lost her one and only love. However, this character as well could get annoying at times, in fact, there were a few times in the book when I wanted to slap Janie in the face. Overall, though, I liked the book and loved many of the themes and gorgeous examples of imagery in the pages of Their Eyes. I would recommend this book to other teen readers, but it would not be my highest recommendation.

My Rating: Three and 3/4 Stars

Me, the Reviewer (riding Okay, the Shetland)