Revisiting ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’

NPR's Book of the Day

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 29 November 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Janie Crawford – back in her hometown of Eatonville, Florida – recounts a journey of self-discovery, structured around three marriages. Their Eyes Were Watching God is Zora Neale Hurston’s most celebrated work and a classic text of the Harlem Renaissance. In today’s Books We’ve Loved, Andrew Limbong and B.A. Parker, joined by R. Eric Thomas, discuss what makes this novel a coming-of-age story, despite its focus on a woman in her late 30s. And special guest Tayari Jones shares her take on Hurston’s relationship to folklore.

Eric’s Recommendation: ‘Getting Mother's Body’ by Suzan-Lori Parks

Parker’s Recommendation: ‘Like Water for Chocolate’ by Laura Esquivel

Andrew’s Recommendation: ‘Tom Lake’ by Ann Patchett

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I identified with Janie.
0:02.7	Like, I was like a 16-year-old
0:04.4	cisgender boy.
0:05.9	I was like, I am this 37-year-old woman.
0:09.5	I am searching for love and identity.
0:12.2	You're listening to Books We've Love from NPR.
0:14.8	The show where we reread old favorites
0:17.1	and tell you why they still matter today.
0:19.9	I'm Andrew Limbaung.
0:20.8	I'm B Limbaung.
0:22.2	I'm B.A. Parker.
0:27.4	What's up, Parker? You said that so, like, you said that's so sly.
0:33.8	Why? I don't know. I'm in a sly kind of mood. I feel free. I feel beautiful. This is what the book makes me feel. Yeah, that's what I'm faking up. All right. I am very stoked to talk to you about this book. And with us today, we've got writer and Chicago Tribune columnist R. Eric Thomas. What's up, man? How you doing? Hi, I'm excited to be here. Are you also feeling sly and slinky? I feel like my delivery was not very sly and slinky. I'll try again. Hi. Ooh, all right. Now we go. Now we're getting it. Okay, folks, we are reading, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neil Hurston. All right, let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Thank you. Okay, okay.
1:12.1	Now, let's get to the summary.
1:14.0	First published in 1937, their eyes are watching God is a coming of age story of Janie,
1:21.4	who goes through a series of marriages, but ultimately discovers who she is in Southern Florida.
1:30.1	And like, I don't want to give too much away, but I also feel like it's one of those
1:33.5	books where I think you just need to savor it.
1:37.5	Yeah, I mean, the book is kind of structured around those three marriages, right?
1:41.5	First to a guy named Killix, then to a more ambitious man named
1:45.7	Jody, and then to Tcake, who's young and hot. But I think it's fair to say he's a bit of a,
1:53.6	I don't know, he's not the most responsible man, right? Which I guess it's a good time to say we're
	...

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