Dust Tracks on a Road: A Memoir (Modern Classics)

I remember the last time I set foot in a Barnes & Noble, many years ago, on my lunch hour perusing the aisles for something to sink my eyeballs into. Lo’ and behold I stumble across this black and white cover of a woman’s face with her eyes looking downward. The title of the novel stated Their Eyes Were Watching God. I looked at the author’s name Zora Neale Hurston. Hmm, I’ve heard of this author, but for some strange odd reason I had not read any of her work. I thought, what the hell, I’ll give it a go. The cover was sort of haunting and I liked the woman’s face on it. See, readers really do judge books by covers! (Ha, who knew?)Well let me tell you something, liking the cover of the book was one thing, but reading the words this woman slaved over were downright intoxicating! I could not get enough of Zora’s story. OMG, that was one of the best stories I’ve ever read. Her writing style reminds me of Toni Morrison and Alice Walker. Hmmph, those authors are in great company. Man, oh man could Zora tell a story! I remember when the movie was coming out with the same title as the novel and Halle Berry was playing the lead character, I was too excited. I ended up purchasing the DVD to add to my collection. But, as I always advise, reading the book first is your best bet because Hollywood almost always gets it wrong, although I will admit, they didn’t do too bad of a job with the movie adaptation.One of my many dilemmas is trying to find my next good book to read and I’m going through my extensive library and I realized I had Zora’s autobiography on my shelf for about six years now. Ok, so it’s Black History Month and I love celebrating this month by reading about African-Americans I have not read. So, I select Zora’s book Dust Tracks on a Road. Umm, when I tell you Zora kicked up a fire storm of dust with all her life had to tell. What an incredible woman and human being.She was born on January 7, 1891, but through my Google search I note that there are some websites that state she was born in 1901. I did manage to find some articles stating the discrepancy, but Zora Neale Hurston was in fact born in 1891 in Notasulga, Alabama. Try saying that three times fast—good luck! She was the fifth child out of eight children total born to John Hurston and Lucy Potts Hurston. Her father was also a Baptist preacher and her mother a retired schoolteacher.From an early age, Zora was different. Where other children were off playing and doing what children do, Zora was climbing trees and watching the horizon and dreaming and making up stories in her head. She made up every kind of story you could possibly think of and her grandmother was not too pleased with Miss Zora telling all these lies, as her grandma put it. Luckily, her mother took pleasure in hearing young Zora’s stories and encouraged her to keep on dreaming. It’s a good thing too because I would have never had the pleasure of reading Their Eyes Were Watching God. What I found so fascinating is that Zora had seven dreams that actually came true. She could recite each dream with great detail. Even though some of those dreams were downright terrifying, she went on with her life and checked them off as they happened to her. One being that her mother would die way too early. That left a hell of an impression on Zora and her mother’s passing set off the course that Zora’s life would go.Readers, when I tell you this was an incredible story, it truly was. She has a language all of her own. In fact, it’s so funny reading her slang because the way people talk today is vastly different from the era that she was from. She didn’t have an easy life by any means, but God was truly watching her. He managed to always put her in the right place at the right time.The novel had a beautiful foreword by Maya Angelou, which was very heartfelt. That had to be such an honor to be able to write your own piece from one author to another. Sadly, they are both deceased and have moved on to write in Heaven, as I would imagine. My only critique of the novel would be it was a bit boring. I found sections of the story to appear as ramblings more so than telling of her own story, but I suppose that was how she was feeling at the time. One will never know. But outside of that, I truly enjoyed the book.

There is a uniqueness that is felt from this writing. Her obvious life path but more colorful her word usage. It made me long to have known her and simply sit by her side and just...listen.

I absolutely loved this book. My mother came from the part of Florida she writes about. Her recounting of the history brings back many stories my mother shared with me.

Nora Neale Hurston wrote an interesting autobiography which is basically a "rags to riches" book. Her book is a lesson about rising above one's circumstances. In fact Hurston described herself as "sassy and NEVER accepting apprehensively convention wisdom. In other words, Hurston's book is one of encouragement following one's desires dreams rather than the status quo. The book should be required reading for those who have intellectual dreams but are afraid to try.Robert Hemenways's introduction is useful. While Hemenway described the book as peculiar, he is wrong. Hurston's autobiography is one of inspiration and careful reflection. While Hurston was not necessarily a political activist, whatever that means, she was astute. She scathingly denounced President Truman's order to drop atomic bombs on innocent civilians in August, 1945 when the Japanese were ready to surrender in February, 1945 per the MacArthur Memorandum in February, 1945. She also condemned the "war crimes" trials of Japanese leaders after WW II-whatever a war crime is. As Hurston commented. "...War is war."The introduction was followed Hurston's description of family life. Hurston's father migrated from Alabama to Florida where he became the mayor of the first incorporated black city in Eatonville, Florida. Hurston's description of the courtship between her parents was amusing. Hurston's father was a Baptist pastor who pestered Hurston's mother by writing notes in hymnals and flirtation. As Hurston wryly responded, her mother married "just to get rid of her father. What may surprise readers is that even among poor segregated blacks in the South, there was a "pecking order" and class distinctions. Hurston's father was of mixed race ancestry and was considered born out of wedlock.Hurston was consider "sassy" which relatives warned could lead to lynching or shooting. Hurston's father resented her being feisty, but her mother argued that such a feisty attitude was an asset since it could lead to independent thinking. Hurston's mother taught Huston grammar, reading, arithmetic/decimals, and whatever else the mother knew. This was rare among poor segregated blacks in the South.Hurston also described her childhood friends and the petty spats she had with her friends. For example, had a silly spat that the moon loved one girl more than the other. After an angry exchange, the two girls reconciled their silly spat. Hurston remarked that she liked to break curfew even if it meant a "whipping.As mentioned above, Hurston was "sassy." She was also very clever. Hurston got into a school in Maryland by lying about her age. She reported to be ten years young than she actually was. Hurston did well in school and was an eager student. In other words, Hurston realized that she was smarter than she was led to believe.As feisty and determined as Hurston was, she reported on her disappoints which NEVER led to fatalistic despair. When Hurston's mother died, her father remarried, and the second wife forced Hurston out of the house. Hurston had to reside with different family members and was starved for books. She got a break when she was hired as a maid in the North. She also worked as a waitress and got an acting "gig." She saved money and continued learning. She met two friends who were Fanny Hurst and Ethel waters who remained friends for the remainder of their lives.Hurston wrote a chapter title "My people! My people! which related the vestiges of US race relations. She also related that among blacks, she described them as "uncouth Negros and gentleman Negros. Yet, Hurston never let he success and fame interfere with her relations with others regard of wealth and reputation. Such an attitude influenced Hurston's religious views. She was an agnostic who considered that people were blessed by Father Sun, and that regardless of race, status, or wealth. As Hurston noted, we are part of the Cosmos, and such distinctions have little meaning "in the grand scheme of things."As stated above, this book should be required reading for young students to inform them what "guts" and determination can achieve regardless of one's social status. Hurston's book is a reminder of that what people can achieve in spite of disappointments and criticism. Her book is a n inspiration and tribute to the human spirit.James E. EgolfFebruary 24, 2016

What's not to love about Zora Neale Hurst's writing, and point of view on everything from fighting and loving and living Life to the fullest. Encapsulated like this, it sounds like a bunch of cliches, but her choice of words eliminates anything like that. A great read, I am passing it on to others as fast as I can read it!

This is a delightful autobiography. Hurston was born in 1891, and grew up in central Florida. She was evidently a remarkable child, and her desire to learn and the odd way in which she saw the world come through strongly in her writing. That writing is also very much in the vernacular of Florida at that time, which makes the reader stop and read a sentence again, in order to understand what’s being said. This usually is rewarding, only occasionally was I unable to make sense of a peculiar figure of speech. The story of her life (up till about 50 or so—it was published in 1942) is fascinating, particularly her earlier life, in which she suffered real privations. But she’s a massively resilient person, and her positive attitude to life throughout is very endearing and inspiring. Toward the end the book loses a little of its impetus, when she philosophises at greater length (there are diversions from the narrative throughout the book, but these tend to be concise and to the point—toward the end they become a bit long-winded.). That said, the book was a pleasure to read, and opened my eyes to a wonderful writer and a remarkable life.

The discovery of Zora Neale Hurston's writings was a shock that led me to re-evaluate certain things I considered basics in 20th century literature as well as much of what I thought I understood about the black civil rights movement in the United States. Hurston was a novelist, an historian and an anthropologist and much of her findings (from studying such practices as Voodoo in Haiti for example)are included in her novels. The steep learning slope does not diminish the reader's pleasure and involvement in the stories and the characters and as soon as I finished one novel I couldn't bear the thought of having to wait in order to start the next one. She was one of the first writers to write an entire book in idiomatic vernacular and some of her contemporaries felt that in doing so she was providing white readers with characters they could laugh at. Since then, however, we have seen many novelists (VS Naipaul is a good example) whose characters seem so much more alive by speaking in the vernacular. She was highly admired but also widely and violently criticized on many levels but in the end most of the critcism seems to stem from the fact justaposition of two apparently unforgivable facts: she was a woman and an avant garde thinker. Many of her ideas seem incomprehensible in retrospect. (For example she was against integration in schools but after having read how she came to develop that opinion the reader can understand the historical and personal/subjective perspective from which she was seeing things). Dust tracks on the Road is autobiographical and in its pages we meet the real life poeple who provided the models for many of the rich characters in her novels. I would recommend starting to read Hurston with a novel such as "their Eyes Were Watching God" or Jonah's Gourd Vine rather than this autobiography which is much more interesting after having met the characters they inspired. If you haven't read anything by Hurston yet, you have such a treat ahead of you!

A good understand who Zora is,was, and what made tick. She wanted readers to understand the culture of her upbringing..

DUST TRACKS ON A ROAD is unique in the sense that Zora Neale Hurston is trying to explain what it means to be a Black Girl Little Child, how is it to be a Black Girl growing up in America and what it means to be a Black WOMAN in America.She is trying to explain the Black issues to the BLACKS THEMSELVES !!!! Her target is not the Whites. Other Black writers try to explain the Black problems to the Whites. Her feeling is that it is the Blacks who MUST understand BLACK ISSUES.If you accept this view you would perfectly appreciate ZORA NEALE HURSTON as a BLACK WRITER. This is how I feel about it. If you share this view I have not made a mistake in recommending this book to my students.

Great book and product, arrived undamaged, however it is not the edition pictured (see picture). Still good though!