Caroline's right, the dialect in this book is challenging to read but so very worth it. What an amazing piece of fiction.
Excerpt 1:
"Ah was wid dem white chillun so much till Ah didn't know Ah wuzn't white till Ah was round six years old. ... So when we looked at de picture and everybody got pointed out there wasn't nobody left except a real dark little girl with long hair standing by Eleanor. Dat's where Ah wuz s'posed to be, but Ah couldn't recognize dat dark chile as me. So Ah ast, 'where is me? Ah don't see me." "Everybody laughed. ... Dat's you, Alphabet, don't you know yo' ownself?" "Aw, aw! Ah'm colored!"
And so we meet Janie, an African-American woman whose life experiences include three marriages, running a store, and picking beans, along with trying to outrun a hurricane and becoming a gunslinger. 15 down, 11 to go.
Favorite line:
Put me down easy, Janie, Ah'm a cracked plate.
4 comments:
ah! see, when I think of my favorite lines I didn't even think about those, but how amazing! okay. need to go read it again. I think I need to read this once a year. it's so, so good. it's just beautiful. (we just got back from Biwa and I have had a little bit of sake. so am waxing rhapsodic about everything).
Sake will do that to you.
i had a hard time reading just one short story by hurston!! do you have any tips on how to get through that diction? ;)
Leah,
I do! What worked for me was reading out loud.
Post a Comment