Book Review: Their Eyes Were Watching God; I needs mah Tea Cake!!!

In addition to being the coolest band nerd and President/Co-Founder of the IBTC I am also an avid book reader.  When I started my undergraduate degree, I met a person who truly changed my life (I'll have to dedicate a whole post to her at a later time). She was exactly what I needed when I needed it. She exposed me to a whole new way of living and activities that I wouldn't have tried, or admit to wanting to try.  One of the many things I am grateful to her for is getting me into reading.  Many stories also seemed to be what I needed when I needed it.

With the hundreds of books I've read, there are a few which are outstanding works of art. So far this year, my hands down favorite book is Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God."

The book was written by an African American woman and published in 1937.  It was one of the first stories written with a woman (a BLACK woman) as the heroine. Initially, many critics snubbed the story as they thought it was too unrealistic and poorly written. However, now it is a highly acclaimed novel in Black Literature and has been repeatedly analysed with new intriguing insights revealed with each analysis.

The story takes place in a fictional American world shortly after slavery was abolished. The story opens with the main character, Janie, trudging home covered with mud, unkept and wearing overalls (VERY unlady like).  As she walks, the other women are huddled on their porches whispering behind her back bristling with satisfaction in knowing that they were right. They're all convinced that a young, sweet talking man, who swept a recently widowed Janie off her feet, had abandoned her and run off with all of  her money. They just KNOW that this has happened and they're itching to tell her they had told her so!!! One of her friends, Phoeby, approaches Janie, now sitting on her own porch, to get Janie to spill the beans...

The prose in this book is amazing.  Zora has written the majority of the book through the characters' dialogue using the vernacular of the African American's during that time period. Getting started was a bit of a struggle, as I had to get used to the tongue, but once I got into it, I was blown away by Zora's whit, humor and enthralling story. I loved reading the way these characters interacted with each other and the clever Southern phrases, some of which reminded me of my late grandmother, that she used.  This story is filled with adventure, humor, love and tragedy.

Here is an excerpt, taken from chapter 6, which left me literally LOL:

Take for instance the case of Matt Bonner's yellow mule. They had him up for conversation every day the Lord sent...Sam and Lige and Walter were the ringleaders of the mule-talkers...All they needed was to see Matt's long spare shape coming down the street and by the time he got to the porch they were ready for him.
"Hello, Matt."
"Evenin', Sam."
"Mighty glad you come 'long right now, Matt. Me and some others wuz jus' about tuh come hunt yuh."
"What fuh, Sam?"
"Mighty serious matter, man. Serious!!"
"Yeah man," Lige would cut in, dolefully. "It needs yo' strict attention. You ought not tuh lose no time."
"What is it then? You oughta hurry up and tell me."
"Reckon we better not tell yuh heah at de store. It's too fur off tuh do any good. We better all walk on down by Lake Sabelia."
"What's wrong, man? Ah ain't after non uh y'alls foolishness now."
"Dat mule uh yourn, Matt. You better go see 'bout him. He's bad off."
"Where 'bouts? Did he wade in de lake and uh alligator ketch him?"
"Worser'n dat. De womenfolks got yo' mule. When Ah come round de lake 'bout noontime mah wife and some others had 'im flat on de ground usin' his sides fuh uh wash board."

The great clap of laughter that they had been holding in, bursts out...."Yeah, Matt, dat mule so skinny till de women is usin' his rib bones fuh uh rub-board, and hangin' things out of his hock-bones tuh dry."
Matt realizes that they have tricked him again and the laughter makes him mad and when he gets mad he stammers.
"You'se uh stinkin' lie, Sam and yo' feet ain't mates. Y-y-y-y-you!"
"Aw, man, 'tain't no use in gittin' mad. You know yuh don't feed de mule. How he gointuh git fat?"
"Ah-ah-ah d-d-does feed 'im: Ah g-g-gived 'im uh full cup uh cawn every feedin'."
"Lige knows all about dat cup uh cawn. He hid round yo' barn and watched yuh. 'Taint no feed cup you measures dat cawn outa. It's uh tea cup."
"Ah does feed 'im. He's jus' too mean tuh git fat. He stay poor and rawbony jus fuh spite. Skeered he'll hafta work some."
"Yeah, you feeds 'im. Feeds 'im offa 'come up' and seasons it with raw-hide."
"Does feed de ornery varmint! Don't keer what Ah do Ah can't git long wid 'im. He fights every inch in front uh de plow, and even lay back his ears tuh kick and bite when Ah go in de stall tuh feed 'im."
"Git reconciled, Matt," Lige soothed. "Us all knows he's mean. Ah seen 'im when he took after one uh dem Roberts chillun in de street and would caught 'im and maybe trompled 'im tuh death if de wind hadn't of changed all of a sudden.  Yuh see de youngun wuz tryin' tuh make it tuh de fence.....and de mule was dead in behind 'im and gainin' on 'im every jump, when all of a sudden de wind changed and blowed de mule way off his course, him bein' so poor and everything, and before do orenery varmint could tack, de youngun had done got over de fence." The porch laughed and Matt got mad again.
"Maybe de mule takes out after everybody," Sam said, " 'cause he thinks everybody he hear comin' is Matt Bonner comin' tuh work 'im on uh empty stomach."
"Aw, naw, aw, naw. You stop dat right now, " Walter objected. "Dat mule dont' think Ah look lak no Matt Bonner. He ain't dat dumb. If Ah thought he didn't know no better Ah'd have mah picture took and give it tuh dat mule so's he could learn better. Ah ain't gointuh 'low 'im tuh hold nothin' lak dat against me."
Matt struggled to say something but his tongue failed him so he jumped down off the porch and walked away as mad as he could be. But that never halted mule talk. There would be more stories about how poor the brute was; his age; his evil disposition and his latest caper......

This book is only 200 pages long and took me about 2 weeks to read (riding to and from work on the train). I strongly rate it a 5 out of 5 and hope that you will enjoy it as much as I did (if I did it any justice).