Their Eyes Were Watching God is my November book club pick. I read it many years ago and didn’t really get it at that time. I find that if enough time has passed and I give a book a second chance, my opinion is very different.

When Ms. Hurston wrote this book in the 1930’s, the world was a very different place. While many things have changed since then, many things have not, in the world of a strong, independent black woman. She received much criticism when the book was published for pandering to white people by the way she described the lives of the black in rural Florida. The dialogue is written in dialect which for me was slow to read and comprehend, but added such rich flavor to the story overall.

Today I look at this book as a learning experience. It gives an inside view into the culture, oppression and often the joy of the lives of people I wouldn’t know if I didn’t explore the pages of a variety of books. Their Eyes Were Watching God is a classic for good reason. It deserves a second look.