Yesterday's book buy. 
I wanted the original cover for this but this one is gorgeous too and plus it was only $4!

Title: for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf

 

Author: Ntozake Shange 

 

Genre: poetry

 

Type: Library loan 

 

Synopsis: From its inception in California in 1974 to its highly acclaimed critical success at Joseph Papp's Public Theater and on Broadway, the Obie Award-winning for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf has excited, inspired, and transformed audiences all over the country. Passionate and fearless, Shange's words reveal what it is to be of color and female in the twentieth century. First published in 1975 when it was praised by The New Yorker for "encompassing...every feeling and experience a woman has ever had," for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf will be read and performed for generations to come. Here is the complete text, with stage directions, of a groundbreaking dramatic prose poem written in vivid and powerful language that resonates with unusual beauty in its fierce message to the world. (From GoodReads)

 

Triggers: domestic abuse, abortion, rape, 

 

Thoughts/Feelings/So Forth: 

 

for colored girls was something that I was really looking forward to reading and was glad that I actually found a copy of. This book of poetry I think was popular in its own right, but the movie being made and coming out did bring it further attention, all of which it deserves. Shange has a style like no other, and says things like no other as well. Both of which are A++ in my book. She discusses sexism, racism, rape, domestic abuse, and more. She brings up issues that affect women of color, especially black women, and specifically places her narrative on black women. Something I really liked. I did resonate with a lot of poems, especially the ones dealing with racism, sexism, and/or just being black and woman at the same time. And I didn't resonate with some poems, and I don't think I was meant to. And even when I didn't necessarily share an experience with one of the characters, I still understood and got all of their feelings. Point being. I loved it. It was great. Glad I read it. Adored it. 

 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars 

 

Link to GoodReads:  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58098.for_colored_girls_who_have_considered_suicide_when_the_rainbow_is_enuf

The Accidental Reader

When I watched the movie For Colored Girls who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuff I loved the way the plot flew and the poems...oh the poems were amazing. Two years later I picked the book expecting to find poems in it but what I found was a play. This particular book is not available in Greece so I read it last month in the USA.



I am not really good with reading plays and sceenplays, a reason I never really liked reading Shakespeare, but what I liked was the words. Written freely and with misspelled words and other errors I would consider it a waste of time, but no...the book is meant to be performed and not read, its meant to be seen and not read but above all this play has a story to tell, a very painful one.



''Reading'' about five different girls with the colors of rainbow I saw the difficulties of life, the pain of love and the pain of loss, the crash of hope and the ray of hope through the tunnel in an era of hatred and racism towards black women. This book is art, while reading you can actually visualize and you can hear the songs and see the dances but above all the author asks you to FEEL.



I loved every word of this book and although I had to re-read a few parts in order to comprehend through the slung and errors that did not stop me from finishing this play.

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange is probably one of the realest poems I have ever read. These are the stories about coming of age and what these women are going through in terms of heartbreak, assault, abandonment and finding their redemption. It is quite moving because these stories are not sadly not new instead these are true stories.

 

 

One part I just loved is:

i usedta live in the world

really be in the world

free & sweet talkin

good morning & thank-you & nice day

uh huh

i cant now

i cant be nice to nobody

nice is such a rip-off

reglar beauty & a smile in the street

is just a set up

 

These are totally the words of anyone who feels that life is beating you down…classic!  Anyway what I liked the most was in the beginning the ladies are clearly separate and isolated but by the end you can see there is solace.

 

 

I will say I think you loose something by reading this I think this is one of those things that should be witnessed on a small stage with music and dancing. 

brilliant.