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krobart's review
4.0
See my review here:
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2023/08/24/review-2226-dust-tracks-on-a-road/
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2023/08/24/review-2226-dust-tracks-on-a-road/
womanistwoo's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
literarybutterfly's review
3.0
With Hurston being an anthropologist, her memoir is definitely written from an anthropological lens. I find that interesting as I’ve never seen a memoir approached in that way before. This memoir also helped me connect the dots as to how Hurston’s life influenced the writing of Their Eyes Were Watching God.
barbrattybooks's review
5.0
A must read! Zora Neale Hurston was incredible and doesn't get enough shine.
earthseeddetroit's review
5.0
I so thoroughly enjoyed this book.
I have read a few classic Zora Neal Hurston novels in the past and I want to pull them out again and I want to read everything that she has ever written. I just relate to her style of writing which is at times a combination of idiom and sarcasm and just no holds barred truth, her truth as she knows it to be. And she makes a lot of good points, political and social and otherwise.
There were a lot of times that her wit made me laugh right out loud. At the same time there was a matter of factness about violence, especially violence against women, that clinched my heart.
I am realizing that she did not talk a lot about her published writings. At the end of the autobiography (that I listened to on audiobook) there is a chronological timeline of her life as well as all of her published works and the list is extensive. Throughout the book she mentions a few notable works but I did not get a feel for how the writing bug was running through her. She spoke a lot about relationships, the nature of friendship, and the fabric of society and how she felt moving within all of her various experiences working at so many odd jobs. But I guess that probably was due to the fact that this was written and originally published in 1942, at a time when she was well known.
This book made me want to immediately purchase the actual book for my library. I want to see her words on paper and I honestly would read it all over again right now if I had it. It was that good to me.
I have read a few classic Zora Neal Hurston novels in the past and I want to pull them out again and I want to read everything that she has ever written. I just relate to her style of writing which is at times a combination of idiom and sarcasm and just no holds barred truth, her truth as she knows it to be. And she makes a lot of good points, political and social and otherwise.
There were a lot of times that her wit made me laugh right out loud. At the same time there was a matter of factness about violence, especially violence against women, that clinched my heart.
I am realizing that she did not talk a lot about her published writings. At the end of the autobiography (that I listened to on audiobook) there is a chronological timeline of her life as well as all of her published works and the list is extensive. Throughout the book she mentions a few notable works but I did not get a feel for how the writing bug was running through her. She spoke a lot about relationships, the nature of friendship, and the fabric of society and how she felt moving within all of her various experiences working at so many odd jobs. But I guess that probably was due to the fact that this was written and originally published in 1942, at a time when she was well known.
This book made me want to immediately purchase the actual book for my library. I want to see her words on paper and I honestly would read it all over again right now if I had it. It was that good to me.
hopecaldwell's review against another edition
5.0
Hurston is a new find for me (What was I doing with my reading life before?) and I am fully cast in her spell. I’ve loved hearing her words through audio books and Bahni Turpin does this one so, so well. It is a masterclass in audio acting/reading.
Zora Neale Hurston is funny, insightful and, man, can she turn a phrase. I read this immediately after Their Eyes Were Watching God. Glad there are still a few other books to read of hers.
Zora Neale Hurston is funny, insightful and, man, can she turn a phrase. I read this immediately after Their Eyes Were Watching God. Glad there are still a few other books to read of hers.
meghan111's review against another edition
4.0
“I did not know then, as I know now, that people are prone to build a statue of the kind of person it pleases them to be. And few people want to be forced to ask themselves, 'What if there is no me like my statue?' The thing to do is to grab the broom of anger and drive off the beast of fear.”
Zora Neale Hurston has the most perfect use of metaphors in this memoir. The story of her childhood in the black community of Eatonville as well as her adolescence is indelible and incredibly evocative. Her adult work conducting anthropological research and gathering folktales in black communities in the South and the Caribbean is also vivid. You can really feel her presence in this book.