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For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf
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For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf

by Shange, Ntozake

  • Used
  • fair
  • Paperback
Condition
Fair
ISBN 10
0020248911
ISBN 13
9780020248910
Seller
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
OCEANSIDE, California, United States
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About This Item

MacMillian. Fair. 1977. Water Damage. Soft Cover. 0020248911 (H302) .

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
J. E. MILES, A BOOKSELLER US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
402724
Title
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf
Author
Shange, Ntozake
Format/Binding
Soft Cover
Book Condition
Used - Fair
Edition
Water Damage
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10
0020248911
ISBN 13
9780020248910
Publisher
MacMillian
Place of Publication
New York, New York, U.s.a.
Date Published
1977

Terms of Sale

J. E. MILES, A BOOKSELLER

30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.

About the Seller

J. E. MILES, A BOOKSELLER

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2020
OCEANSIDE, California

About J. E. MILES, A BOOKSELLER

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Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Fair
is a worn book that has complete text pages (including those with maps or plates) but may lack endpapers, half-title, etc....

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