The depth of the characters, the flaws and faults- all so vivid and human. Reading this along with Their Eyes Were Watching God was like having the soft insistent voices inside every woman's head be voiced aloud on paper.
I even managed to get past a salutary rape [sic], but eventually, the heroine Arvay just depressed me too much. Even giving up on it, though, I have to say that I really enjoyed the look at Florida life at the beginning of the twentieth century, and especially the odd look at race relations: black author, writing in the mindset of white characters, who in turn are quite close to several black characters. Her plots are steady and engaging without ever being contrived. It's a story of a tremendously flawed relationship, but one that is buoyed over a lifetime by love and, under it all, understanding. Arvay is so convinced that she can never be worthy of anything more than a shack in the “teppen time” woods that her heart isn’t open to love Jim, expecting him to quit her any day.Arvay Henson came from a Florida “cracker “ family and had already fallen in her own self esteem from little to nothing before handsome Jim Meserve came along. Her husband was a much more interesting character, though he had his drawbacks too.
The novel is the story of two people, Arvay and Jim Meserve, and their life together as a married couple: children, struggles, miscommunication, etc. Unusual for Hurston this tale centers on a white woman in Florida and her life from poverty in a turpentine processing village to being a well respected and fairly affluent person.
I think Hurston struggled to identify with her as well, which makes her occasional aThis is Hurston's last published novel. Buuut I had to give up.
I think Hurston struggled to identify with her as well, which makes her occasional ambivalence towards Arvay disconcerting due to what happens to this character in the novel. This was hard to read..very harsh gender roles, violence, misogyny: interesting expression of racism. The type of book you think about for long after and feel conflicted in your thoughts. A victim of her social class’s mores and values, Arvay is not a woman in charge of her own destiny. Published in 1948, it tells the story of a poor rural white family in Florida and their complicated relationships. This is the most experimental of her novels. Apparently, African American authors were seen as more talented if their characters were white. -- "Saturday Review of Literature" "A simple, colorfully written, and moving novel ." The heroine, young Arvay Henson, is convinced she will never find true love and happines, and defends herself from unwanted suitors by throwing hysterical fits and (FROM JACKET)This novel of turn-of-the-century white "Florida Crackers" marks a daring departure for the author famous for her complex accounts of black culture and heritage. Nature Themes in Hurston’s Novels, Their Eyes Were Watching God and Seraph on the Suwanee Nature themes resound throughout Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and Seraph on the Suwanee. I almost skipped this one after the extremely negative reaction I had to Moses, Man of the Mountain. It is also the novel that gets the least critical attention because it does not fit comfortably within the feminist or African American literary traditions. The fourth and final novel by African-American author, Zora Neale Hurston, is quite different from the prior three.
There are a lot of interesting ideas and questions being articulated in this text. Full of insights into the nature of love, attraction, faith, and loyalty, "Seraph on the Suwanee" is the compellilng story of two people at once deeply at odds.
Peering through its strong, life-affirming branches, Arvay cannot see the heavenly figures she strains to envision. Certainly it was the one I understood least & for me it raised more questions than it answered. It humorously and colloquially covers family dynamics and her internal struggle to accept the worth she has and the devotion of her family and friends.This is one of Hurston's overlooked novels, but I think it's easily her second best behind Their Eyes Were Watching God. The description on goodreads says that this book is about a marriage "full of love but with very little communication," but seeing as that marriage starts with rape and kidnapping, I would say I think NOT. “The sun had become a light yellow yolk and was walking with red legs across the sky.”“Her resolutions against Jim Meserve were just like the lightning-bugs holding a convention. This section of Seraph on the Suwanee is rich with imagery and similes. The story of Arvay Meserve is the story of a woman’s quest for self-fulfillment, a quest fraught with self-imposed obstacles.
Those all focused on the AA experience, but in the late 1940s Hurston was struggling to get a new novel published (as well as struggling financially) so she turned her formidable talents to writing a book with white principal characters. This novel follows one woman's innermost feelings and insecurities as she goes from an awkward teenager to a wife and a mother.