Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography

This was a book I felt I needed to have read for my general education and rounding as a person. I am aware of what people say about the way Hurston fabricated her life for this autobiography, but isn't all of history in some way fabricated and presented through someone's eyes? I mean, this is a highly subjective field, even when presenting mere facts, it is so easy to skew things when deciding which bits to leave in and which to take out. We all do it, Hurston is no exception. The spirit and nature of her life was captured beautifully: a sad (very), positive, hopeful, stubborn, opinionated, strong, resilient, hard-working woman. A remarkable woman in every way that I can see, and I feel right to have spent some time honouring her life by reading her story through her eyes, "Nothing that God ever made is the same thing to more than one person". The other value of the book lay in her exploration of basic life concepts, such as Love, Friendship, Religion and Race. I always enjoy the experience of getting as close as possible to looking at things through someone else's eyes, an opportunity afforded here as Hurston shares her opinions. Finally, I would give this 4 stars, not 5, but for some reason, star-rating is fixed at 5 for this book...

This autobiography focuses equally on her opinions (highly untraditional)and her life (also highly unorthodox) giving the reader an unashamed glance to peer into the deepest wells of her being.

Hurston's Dust Tracks on a Road is a true story of a smart little black girl, who has the intelligence and the perseverance to rise above her all-black community, Eatonville, and become a respected and well known novelist,short-story writer, folklorist and anthropologist. However, it is not a typical autobiography, not in any way. It has often been said that Hurston lived her life 'half in shadow' and this is also characteristic also of this book. It is rare that ,after having read an autobiography, the reader is left without the information of the writer's year of birth, for instance. On the other hand, it is, in the words of Robert E. Hemenway, who also wrote her biography, 'a fascinating self-portrait, despite its inconsistencies, of one of the major black women artists of the twentieth century'. The main reason for reeding Dust Tracks is its nature, i.e. the way she describes the struggle of a poor black girl to 'secure an education and catch fame'(R.E.Hemenway, Introduction to Dust Tracks on a Road, Second Edition) and the way she manages to collect her reflections and ideas about her own life into three unique chapters at the end of the book.

Whenever I think of Ms Hurston, I smile while I am sad. Her life story is a joyous song and while still a judgement on society and an insight on Black America at that time. she was extremely funny and apparently a very kind woman. She was also a wonderful writer and talented one. Her prose was a gift that few can duplicate. If you are into women writers, you must include all her books. If you want to write, you must study her style. You will not be able to put it down and will be upset when you finish because you want there to be more beyond the last page.

Calling forth her memories from within, spinning yarns of the deep south and beyond, Zora Neale Hurston weaves a tapestry of language in her autobiographical Dust Tracks on a Road. Reading the memoirs of this phenomenal woman with such a zest for life, a love of living, one cannot help but get swept away by her eloquent prose, swept away to her childhood in the south. From her birthplace of Eatonville, Florida, "a pure Negro town", Zora sets out upon her road of life, one often paved with stones, with a smile on her face, and the will of an ox. Her often wicked sense of humor makes this woman's life seem not sad or depressing, but as fun as well as funny. Hurston sees every chance and takes it; sees every downfall as a challenge to be met. Such a will to live, but not just to live, but to live fully, and righteously-- this pure energy comes across in the book, leaping from the pages as if Zora were in the very room. "The primeval in me leaped to life", she recalled at one point, recounting another incident which would be mundane and dull to any other writer, but taken as a wild adventure by Zora. This book is the proof that even the lowliest of people needn't stay humble and meek; anybody can rise to fully realize their dreams and ambitions. Anybody can be somebody, and Zora is the some-bodiest of them all, leading the parade and twirling the baton of life. This book raises an energy in the reader, an energy of spirit-- of soul. With her energy, Zora has made something of her life, rising to become one of the more prominent writers of the Harlem Renaissance. This book is the truly remarkable account of her early life, her loves, and her energy for life.