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autumnhab's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Short stories so I enjoyed more than others. It was worth the read and enjoyed her style of writing
sh3v's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
moragab's review against another edition
3.0
I definitely would have liked this book more if I was expected to read it quickly. I liked the writing style of the author, it had a very eerie undertone. I would be up for reading more of her books in the future. I also liked how some of short stories connected to each other and had crossovers with others.
aub7611's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
kfreedman's review
Collection of all of Hurston’s short stories, both published and unpublished. What an amazing writer. Some of the dialogue was difficult to follow, but her anthropological work combines with her own history and life and she just writes beautifully and how could you not love Hurston?
queerandweird's review
3.0
Enjoyed the language throughout the stories I completed. There were similar or recurring character tropes in the works, the most common being the young, intelligent, ambitious person held back tragically in life because of race or class. Hurston was writing the history that was not making it into textbooks; her writing is important in understanding the plight of impoverished blacks in the pre-civil rights era south.
My favorite story was with the brook and stream watching lovers, incredible use of movement in poetic prose.
My favorite story was with the brook and stream watching lovers, incredible use of movement in poetic prose.
elvenavari's review against another edition
2.0
I might be one of the few but I dislike Hurston's writing. I appreciate what she wrote and the insight it gives readers to this time but I find it extremely difficult to read and boring.
ellarintala's review against another edition
5.0
one of the first short story collections i’ve read, let alone cover to cover. this pulled me out of a reading lull. i loved every moment. hurston is magical.
nwhyte's review against another edition
4.0
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2140983.html[return][return]This is, as I hoped, an awfully good collection. There are some journeyman pieces about love, lust and death in a small town; there are some awesome character sketches, a great story written in Harlem slang, and an unfinished novel telling the story of John the Baptist's execution from Herodias' point of view. I chose the quote above, from an account of a black person being wrongfully prosecuted for attacking a white man, for its eerie resonance with the racially charged trial currently taking place a hundred miles farther south. Some things take a long time to change.[return][return]The stories are topped and tailed by essays by Henry Louis Gates, but the gold nugget at the end, mysteriously not even mentioned on the contents page, is Alice Walker's account, "Looking for Zora", of how she tracked down Hurston's grave in 1973, 14 years after her death in 1959. It's an incredible tale of erasure, hidden history and exclusion.