Jonah's Gourd Vine

Jonah's Gourd Vine by Zora Neale Hurston  316 pp.

I really enjoyed this book and the discussion about it I attended at the library. Christa's description of the story pretty much covers it. I had not read this work by Hurston although I had heard about it and planned to read it "one day". The dialect in the story is a bit challenging at first, until a kind of rhythm sets in. That the story is based on Hurston's family makes the characters come alive. This is one I recommend.

Jonah's Gourd Vine

Jonah's Gourd Vine by Zora Neale Hurston, 316 pages


Christa offered an excellent plot summary here, so I won't rehash it. What I will say is that I probably wouldn't have picked this one up if it wasn't part of the Big Book Challenge this summer, but I'm glad I read it and I look forward to reading more Zora Neale Hurston over the next couple of months. This was a fascinating look at African American life in the post-Civil War South, and the fact that it's loosely based on Hurston's parents is equally compelling. A word of warning, however: the dialect in this book is pretty difficult to wrap your head around at the start; sounding out the words in your head is a good way to figure it out though, and once you get used to it, the going gets MUCH easier. Too bad this doesn't exist as an audiobook.