Jonah's Gourd Vine

I loved this story. The story is so true to life for many women who are with men, who don't seem to be able to get it together, unless there is a woman making it happen. The husband is a great orator, but isn't the kind of man he should be. His wife is his long suffering mate. I just love Zora's use of black dialet. It is so beautiful. When I read the following excerpt, it felt like something hit me in the head. I was moved beyond words. It goes something like this: "Ah done been in sorrows kitchen, and ah done licked out all the pots; ah done died in grief and been buried in de bitter waters. Ah done rose from the dead lak Lazarus. Nothing can touch mah soul no mo!" I highly recomment it.

I always thought of Toni Morrison as the leader, the queen, and the matriarch of black women's fiction, but the more I read of Zora Neale Hurston, the more I feel that everyone else must have taken their cues from her! Her writing is enchanting and thought provoking, her use of "black" language is absolutely delightful. The story and the characters are interesting in and of themselves. What makes this work really shine is the language, and the heritage and history that it preserves. She takes care to write the way that people speak, resulting a unorthodox spelling and usage that at first I had to say out loud in order to properly understand. (My grandmother didn't have to do that, though, and for that reason alone, she loved Zora Hurston.) Ms. Hurston also uses words, idioms and phrases that are unique to black america, and that my generation would likely have lost -- the news of the "Black Dispatch," "Old Hannah" rising, "hittin' a straight lick with a crooked stick." Some of the sayings I remember my Grandmother using, and some I remember using as a child. I found all of them interesting and beautiful, and I am grateful to Ms. Hurston for finding them valuable enough to put down.

John Buddy Pearson's life got off to a rocky start. His stepfather resented him for his light skin and the fact that another man's blood ran through his veins, and often picked fights with him. John worked hard in the cotton fields on their sharecropping tract, but little could be done to please his stepfather. John always longed to see what life was like "on the other side of the tracks", so after a particularly serious brawl with his stepfather, he decided to go for it. He moved across the bridge, where children went to school in their free time, and his real father, Alf Pearson, resided on his large plantation. Alf encouraged John to attend the local colored school in his spare moments, and it was here that John first lay eyes on the smart and beautiful, albeit young, Lucy Potts. John, with his high yellow skin and godlike stature, was a favorite among the ladies on the Pearson estate. However, he cast their advances aside as he pined for Lucy.John and Lucy eventually married and moved to Eatonville, Florida, a "whole town uh nothing but colored folks", where John was called to preach the gospel, honing his already strong speaking skills. John was still a favorite with the ladies, and in a position to do so, he strayed from the mores he was supposed to uphold and engaged in illicit affairs. Thus begun the descension of our character, as his deviant ways became exposed and no longer shrouded in his notoriety.Zora Neale Hurston's first novel, Jonah's Gourd Vine marks the beginning of a dazzling writer's craft. Peppered with the southern dialect that Hurston is so well-known for, it was, at times, a bit unclear as to what the characters were saying. I found myself saying sentences, and even paragraphs, aloud to discern their meaning. Lucy's character is particularly strong throughout the story. John's character, to me, represents both the "good guy" and later "the bad guy," as I was taken through his struggles, comeupances, and downfalls. I believe everyone should read Hurston, if only for her superb use of language and, in this case, biblical themes. Jonah's Gourd Vine is a great place to start.Reviewed by CandaceKThe RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Every bit as enjoyable as "Their Eyes Were Watching God," Hurston's first novel recounts the rise-and-fall trajectory of John "Buddy" Pearson from a backwoods adolescent to pillar of an all-black community to a philandering preacher. What gives her debut special resonance is that it is a wholly undisguised portrait of her family--not even the names of her siblings have been changed--and she incorporates much of the black folklore, Caribbean mysticism, and African spirituality she encountered in her scholarly research.Hurston enviably manages to present her father and her long-suffering mother with all their strengths and weaknesses; her account is unsparingly brutal, yearningly affectionate, and remarkably nonjudgmental. (Her portrayal of her wicked, hoodoo-leaning stepmother is less even-handed; here Hurston takes the opportunity for revenge.) A sign of her achievement is that it is hard to tell where fact ends and fiction begins (for example, Hurston's father died in 1917, but John Pearson's story continues through the 1920s). Even though the story never lags, I found the representation of black Southern dialect hard-going for the first few chapters. After a while, though, you get used to the cadences and colloquialisms, and the reader's diligence is repaid tenfold. "Jonah's Gourd Vine" is one of those surprising discoveries you wished more people had read.

I NEVER THOUGHT THAT I WOULD READ A BOOK THAT WOULD SURPASS THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD BUT THIS IS COMING MIGHTY CLOSE!! SOME MAY BE PUT OFF BY HURSTON'S METHOD OF SHOWING DIALOGUE BETWEEN HER CHARACTERS BUT IT FORCES YOU TO SLOW DOWN AND SAVOR THE ESSENCE OF THE STORY. BELIEVE ME, IT IS WORTH THE EFFORT. HER CHOICES OF WORDS AND HER CATCHY PHRASES MAKE HER WORTHY OF ALL THE PRAISE THAT SHE HAS RECEIVED.