For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When The Rainbow Is Enuf
by Shange , Ntozake
- Used
- near fine
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Near Fine
- Seller
-
Palestine, Texas, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Macmillan Publishing Company, 1977. Hardcover. Near Fine. An excellent copy . The book is clean , no marks of any kind . The hinge is tight . The cloth on the boards is fresh . The graphics on the spine are bright . The dust jacket is protected with a mylar cover .
Reviews
On Jul 3 2022, a reader said:
“for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf” is a book that is unflinching, raw and real in its expression of Black female identity. The book is a 'choreopoem', sung and enacted on stage by actors. The collection consists of twenty poems narrated by women wearing the colors of the rainbow, except for one wearing brown. The poems talk about the “dark phases” in the lives of Black women growing up in America.
Ntozake Shange is frank and unapologetic in her verse. The poems are deliberately punctuated and have a style of their own. The themes of sexual, physical and psychological violence on Black women pervade the poems, lending them an ominous tone. While some poems are glimpses of painful moments for Black women in a male world, other poems discuss the women’s own insecurities and anxieties. Notably, one has to have an understanding of Black culture and history if they want to comprehend the local jargon and the numerous references.
Besides its startling subjects, the poems simmer with hidden resentment and anger. For instance, “We gotta dance to keep from crying, we gotta dance to keep from dying.”- Although impactful, these lines flirt with fantasy. The detailing of the events is laudable and makes it all the more tangible. The movement of the events for the most part, seem natural.
At certain moments, the stilted style of the verse distances the audience from the powerful narrative it wishes to tell. It is not an easy read for those used to conventional verse on comfortable subjects. There seems to be no apparent connection between the poems, except that they deal with the experiences of Black women. The poems are written for the stage and therefore will succeed more as a production than as a book of poetry. Admittedly, I wondered if the rainbow at the end is worth all the ordeals these women have to undergo. However, the book ends in the celebration of the individual and hope for the future.
Undeniably, the poems portray the “metaphysical dilemma of being alive, being a woman, being colored” in a predominantly oppressive society that hinders their progress at every turn. for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf is bold for the stories it chooses to tell, but will those stories outlive the test of time is a question worth asking.
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Details
- Bookseller
- The History Place (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 00398322
- Title
- For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When The Rainbow Is Enuf
- Author
- Shange , Ntozake
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- Macmillan Publishing Company
- Date Published
- 1977
Terms of Sale
The History Place
All books may be returned within thirty days of the original shipping date. A full refund for the amount of the original sale will be made to the buyer. The buyer is responsible for the cost of the return shipping. If the book is not as described on Biblio , The History Place will also refund the cost of the return shipping.
About the Seller
The History Place
Biblio member since 2005
Palestine, Texas
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About The History Place
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Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Hinge
- The portion of the book closest to the spine that allows the book to be opened and closed.