#177 in Classics
Their Eyes Were Watching God
- 231
- Pages
- about 4 h
- Reading time
- 20th Century's Greatest Hits: 100 English-Language Books of Fiction
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Our view
“Their Eyes Were Watching God” is the story of Janie Crawford finding her own voice, and Janie is reason enough to read it. Around her Hurston sets the gossiping voices of a small town, richer on a second visit, and the novel looks at life inside a Black community more than at its dealings with white America. Some admire it more than they feel it. At 231 pages, this classic asks for little time.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Their Eyes Were Watching God is a 1937 novel by American writer Zora Neale Hurston. It is considered a classic of the Harlem Renaissance and Hurston's best-known work. The novel explores protagonist Janie Crawford's "ripening from a vibrant, but voiceless, teenage girl into a woman with her finger on the trigger of her own destiny."
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.8 across 576 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 80% of the weight and the score stays at 7.8 — the Classics average of 7.7 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.3 | 50 | 9% |
| Google Books | 7.0 | 28 | 5% |
| Hardcover | 7.7 | 498 | 87% |
Frequently asked
How long is Their Eyes Were Watching God?
It has 231 pages — shorter than 65% of the ranked books in Classics.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Classics — and a score of 7.8, the closest to this book.
