Bookseller Pick
Their Eyes Were Watching God
- By: Zora Neale Hurston
- Narrated by: Ruby Dee
- Length: 6 hours 44 minutes
Bookseller Recommendation
If you enjoyed The Bluest Eye, then you’ll love Their Eyes Were Watching God.
“This is easily the best performance of an audiobook I've listened to, ever. Ruby Dee is so comfortable inside the lives and words of Janie and her friends and husbands and everyone in this masterpiece.”
Kristen, Bestsellers Books & Coffee Co.
Description
Their Eyes Were Watching God, an American classic, is the luminous and haunting novel about Janie Crawford, a Southern Black woman in the 1930s, whose journey from a free-spirited girl to a woman of independence and substance has inspired writers and readers for close to 70 years.
This poetic, graceful love story, rooted in Black folk traditions and steeped in mythic realism, celebrates boldly and brilliantly African-American culture and heritage. And in a powerful, mesmerizing narrative, it pays quiet tribute to a Black woman who, though constricted by the times, still demanded to be heard.
Originally published in 1937 and long out of print, the book was reissued in 1975 and nearly three decades later Their Eyes Were Watching God is considered a seminal novel in American fiction.
Performed by Ruby Dee
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Testimonials
“In Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston breathes humanity into both her men and women, and allows them to speak in their own voices. ”
Alix Wilber, author of The Wives' Tale
“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.”
Zadie Smith, author of White Teeth
“There is no book more important to me than this one.”
Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple
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About the author
Zora Neale Hurston, the author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, was deemed "one of the greatest writers of our time" by Toni Morrison. With the publication of Lies and Other Tall Tales, The Skull Talks Back, and What's the Hurry, Fox? new generations will be introduced to Hurston's legacy. She was born in Notasulga, Alabama, in 1891, and died in 1960.
Related reading
A Woman on a Quest, via Hurston and Oprah
The New York Times
The Fabulous Zora Neale Hurston
The Washington Post
Audiobook details
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