• Their Eyes Were Watching God

  • By: Zora Neale Hurston
  • Narrated by: Ruby Dee
  • Length: 2 hrs and 45 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (297 ratings)

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Their Eyes Were Watching God  By  cover art

Their Eyes Were Watching God

By: Zora Neale Hurston
Narrated by: Ruby Dee
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Publisher's summary

This recently rediscovered and critically acclaimed 1937 novel tells the story of Janie Crawford, a long-legged, articulate, and fiercely independent African-American woman of the 1930s. Janie's quest for identity includes three marriages and a return to her roots. Despite her struggles, Janie never defines herself by regret, fear, or unrealistic dreams, and refuses to be anything but her own person. Read by actress Ruby Dee, this outstanding recording has been widely praised for its flawless adaptation of Hurston's classic.
©1937, 1965 Zora Neale Hurston (P)1997, 2000, 2004 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"Ruby Dee does an excellent job of narrating Hurston's classic 1937 novel." (Library Journal)
"This audio succeeds in its rich descriptions and freshness of dialogue, delivering in terms that are alternately funny and moving." (Publishers Weekly)

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Editor's Pick

Zora Neale Hurston’s masterpiece—completely accessible
"Thank the literary gods I picked up Their Eyes Were Watching God before I knew it was ‘a classic’ written in 1937 and published years later. I loved the story of Janie Crawford, reared by her Grandmother, married to a respectable but incompatible husband, who comes into her own at age 38—love, loss, and great storytelling ensue. Because Hurston was an anthropologist as well as novelist, narrator Ruby Dee has rich language to work with in personifying unforgettable characters."
Christina H., Audible Editor

What listeners say about Their Eyes Were Watching God

Average customer ratings
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It is only 5 chapters!

This was a complete waste of my time. I needed all 20 chapters. It needs to be a description of how many chapters are in the audible.

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40 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A lovely performance!

If you could sum up Their Eyes Were Watching God in three words, what would they be?

Incredibly beautiful language!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Their Eyes Were Watching God?

When Nannie says "Put me down easy, Janie, I'm a cracked plate.”

Which scene was your favorite?

The opening scene, when Janie walks thru town and past all the gossipers.

Any additional comments?

Beautiful language and amazing performance!

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Their Eyes were Watching God

Brief, but poignant. Really worth hearing, although occasionally a little hard to understand the accents, for us northerners. This is already heading towards being considered a classic. An ideal audio selection.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Passages missing??????

Great reader and love this story. However, I’m pretty upset that there are so many sentences missing from the reading! Why would they do that?

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3 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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DO NOT BUY

Any additional comments?

THIS RECORDING DOES NOT FOLLOW THE BOOK!! it skips around a lot and does not follow what is written in the book

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Beautifully Contrasting

Though it was expertly delivered, it did skip quite a bit of text. Overall, it was a beautifully contrasting story of tradition vs convention, duty vs desire, appearance vs reality, and the intricate way fear and vulnerability serve as both comrade and foe to love. The journey Janie's innocence takes as her curiosity leads her to self-discovery is riveting.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent, Dreamy, Transcendant

This was one of my favorite books in high school, and one of the best women's memoirs ever. Inspired me all my life as a writer and writing teacher. To hear Ruby Dee was like going to a great stage performance. I envy her, I wish I could read it outloud myself! This is just a very, very special book by a kind of person you never hear from otherwise.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A Classic

I read this book in high school and I wanted to revisit it to see if the words were different to me now vs then.

The book was even better. Zora Neale Hurston is such a gifted historian and story teller. She paints such powerful imagery with her words and language.

It’s an American classic- I wonder if any schools read any classic African American stories in an English class as I did in my school vs. a specific African American Literature class? I hope so. It’s such a beautiful story- one not to be missed.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Entirely excellent.

You can’t go wrong with “There Eyes Were Watching God.” Hurston takes on fundamental questions of life’s meaning, gender, race, and intimacy. And she does so in prose that is spare and honest.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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This is a classic!

Ruby Dee's reading was magical, I felt as though I was in a theater. Janie grew so much in this novel.

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  • Atoll Grande
  • 07-03-21

lovely little story

this is such a great insight into the issues of early 20th century Black America beautifully read. I loved it

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  • Anonymous User
  • 05-24-18

excellent

this was a wonderful rendering of life, it was narrated with such feeling and gave so much life to the story

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