Their Eyes Were Watching God led me on a meaningful journey through the adult life of Janie Crawford, which kept me pondering long after I had finished the last page. (Which is a talent only a really well written book posses.) And that's exactly what this book was, well written in many areas.

Many lines in the book were beautifully poetic, metaphorical, and even philosophical. Despite the small-town-in-the-deep-South setting and the post-slavery yet pre-civil-rights-movement time frame, both far from familiar to me, I found the text was relatable and applicable today. I give a big round of applause to the author, Zora Neale Hurston, because she could have easily focused solely on the conflicts of a black woman living in a white man's world. However, she took the liberty of also exploring love, heartbreak, courage, and most dominantly finding a place and a purpose. This kept me much more interested as a teenager in the twenty-first century.

That being said, though I found the novel largely relatable I wasn't nearly as emotionally invested as I felt I should be. Janie Crawford endured a series of extremely traumatic events, and maybe I'm really just a heartless punk, but I never found myself tearing up or even feeling a little disheartened over her sad state of affairs. I found this book appealed much more to my thought than my emotions. I've read my share of books that left me feeling emotionally scarred and crying like a mentally disturbed kindergartener. Even though some seriously sad and intense things transpired throughout the novel, I was never truly on the edge of my seat or reaching for a tissue. I admired Janie's undying will and courage to take hold of the life she desired, but I wanted to really fall in love with her character. And when she fell in love with her final husband of the novel, Tea Cake, I wanted to adore him as much as she did. I was unable to do so in either case. Sorry, Zora.

All in all, I enjoyed Their Eyes Were Watching God. It kept me interested a good 85% of the time and gave me a heaping spoonful of food for thought. I wouldn't exactly scream from the rooftops that you all need to read this, and read it now. But I would definitely mention it to that one friend who really likes this genre. I'll be putting this one on the shelf with a genuine and deserving four out of five stars.