For colored girls who have considered suicide, when the rainbow is enuf : a choreopoem
by Shange, Ntozake
- Used
- Acceptable
- Paperback
- Condition
- Acceptable
- ISBN 10
- 0553133071
- ISBN 13
- 9780553133073
- Seller
-
Seattle, Washington, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Bantam Books, 1980. Paperback. Acceptable. Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
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
- ThriftBooks (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- G0553133071I5N00
- Title
- For colored girls who have considered suicide, when the rainbow is enuf : a choreopoem
- Author
- Shange, Ntozake
- Format/Binding
- Paperback
- Book Condition
- Used - Acceptable
- Quantity Available
- 1
- ISBN 10
- 0553133071
- ISBN 13
- 9780553133073
- Publisher
- Bantam Books
- Place of Publication
- New York Ny Usa
- Date Published
- 1980
Terms of Sale
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Seattle, Washington
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Glossary
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- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Acceptable
- A non-traditional book condition description that generally refers to a book in readable condition, although no standard exists...