When I got Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston for a book club, I was fairly sure that I had read it before. Goodreads showed that I read it in 2005. I couldn't for the life of me remember it so I went ahead and downloaded the audiobook from Audible to listen to while I finished knitting gifts.
Almost immediately into the book, I started remembering it. When Tea Cake was mentioned, nearly all of it came back to me (I'm not sure why Tea Cake triggered my memories). There were so many moments in this novel where I just sat down whatever I was doing to listen. The narrator, Ruby Dee, is phenomenal. The writing by Zora Neale Hurston was phenomenal. The story is so well done, I was invested at every step with Janie.
I'm delighted that Ruby Dee's version of the audio book is out on YouTube where you can listen for free. It's less than 7 hours and a billion percent worth taking your time to listen.
There is also a movie with Halle Berry but I can't find a good trailer or the movie to share.
The novel starts off with Janie Crawford walking back, barefoot and in overalls, to her home in Eatonville, Florida. Her neighbors are sitting on a porch chatting when they spy her walking up the road. We know nothing about Janie yet, but we know she is a source of gossip among the towns people. Janie gets back to her big house and opens it up to air out. Her best friend, Pheoby, comes by with food for her. That's when we realize that Janie has been gone a while. Her leaving with a "younger man" and being away for years has made her more of a source of gossip than her previous life in Eatonville.
Thankfully, Janie sits and tells Pheoby her story. We learn she was raised by her grandma, who was once a slave, and her grandma married her off so she would have stability. But Janie wanted love, which she was not getting in her marriage. She happened to meet Joe Starks, who was heading to Eatonville, Florida to an all-black community to help build it up. She was taken with Joe, so she left with him.
Eatonville wasn't all they imagined. Joe had the money to help buy more land and start building it up, putting in a general store and eventually becoming Mayor. Which made Janie a prominent person in town as well, much to her dismay. Janie was a trophy wife to Joe, nothing more. She endured a lot as his wife, quite a lot of verbal and some physical abuse. My heart broke for her during this time of her life. She had been told what to do by her grandma, her first husband, and now Joe. You can feel her longing to be herself and to be the type of person who has a relationship where love is key, not money, stability or whatever other excuse people made.
Eventually, Joe does die and Janie is left with all of the inheritance, including the big, fancy house Joe built. She still works the general store but keeps to herself, until Tea Cake walks in. He has no money to his name, really, but he falls hard for Janie and she does the same. This seems to be the relationship she's always wanted.
Their time together is beautiful and painful and ends sooner than it should. Hurston takes us through all of it, edge of our seat, crying, and worried. It's a rollercoaster.
From my 2022 perspective, the domestic violence inflicted on the women in this novel is incredibly disturbing. Especially in regards to how Janie was treated by people who supposedly loved her. I'm guessing that is how things were back then but that is still hard to swallow.
Also from my 2022 perspective, how men overall treated the women was horrific, comparing them to chickens and cows. “Somebody’s got to think for the women and chillen and chickens and cows. God, they sho don't think none fo themselves.” Seriously enough to make you want to jump through the book and smack a man.
I can't recommend this classic enough. I would recommend the audio by Ruby Dee because she brought every line life and emotion.
Part of this novel was a bit autobiographical. Hurston's dad was the mayor of Eatonville for a time. Here's a short crash course on Hurston:
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