Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora Neale Hurston

Oct 2005 · HarperAudio · Narrated by Ruby Dee

About this audiobook

“A deeply soulful novel that comprehends love and cruelty, and separates the big people from the small of heart, without ever losing sympathy for those unfortunates who don’t know how to live properly.” —Zadie Smith

One of the most important and enduring books of the twentieth century, Their Eyes Were Watching God brings to life a Southern love story with the wit and pathos found only in the writing of Zora Neale Hurston. Out of print for almost thirty years—due largely to initial audiences’ rejection of its strong black female protagonist—Hurston’s classic has since its 1978 reissue become perhaps the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel in the canon of African-American literature. The audio is performed by the legendary Ruby Dee.

Ratings and reviews

What I heard of this story it was very good as i love listening to books read to me. I can picture every word of it and someday may even buy this book. Where I live now there are not to many coloured or black folks around here. But where I worked in Brampton Ontario back in 1968 to 1984 I had the chance to get to talk but love these black ladies. When I get to see black people I think of the time i worked with all these great ladies in Ontario.

I also enjoyed Ruby Dee’s narration in bringing several towns and communities to life. Each time I listen to Their Eyes Were Watching God, I discover something new.

This movie has inspired me so very much it reminds me of my life in so many ways ..ive watch this movie over 50 times and i cry every time still.. Tonya Peete...

About the author

Zora Neale Hurston was a novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist. She wrote four novels (Jonah’s Gourd Vine, 1934; Their Eyes Were Watching God, 1937; Moses, Man of the Mountains, 1939; and Seraph on the Suwanee, 1948); two books of folklore (Mules and Men, 1935, and Every Tongue Got to Confess, 2001); a work of anthropological research, (Tell My Horse, 1938); an autobiography (Dust Tracks on a Road, 1942); an international bestselling nonfiction work (Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo,” 2018); and over fifty short stories, essays, and plays. She attended Howard University, Barnard College, and Columbia University and was a graduate of Barnard College in 1928. She was born on January 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama, and grew up in Eatonville, Florida.

Not only is Ruby Dee one of the most respected African-American actors of her day, she was also an important part of the civil rights movement. She is probably best known for her role in A Raisin in the Sun, which she performed on both the stage and the screen.Dee has also written plays, fiction, and a column in New York's Amsterdam News.Born in Cleveland, she worked initially with the American Negro Theater in Harlem, where she grew up. She is married to the actor and author Ossie Davis.