Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick
Stories from the Harlem Renaissance
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Narrated by:
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Aunjanue Ellis
About this listen
From "one of the greatest writers of our time" (Toni Morrison) - the author of Barracoon and Their Eyes Were Watching God - a collection of remarkable stories, including eight "lost" Harlem Renaissance tales now available to a wide audience for the first time.
New York Times’ Books to Watch For
BuzzFeed’s Most Anticipated Books of 2020
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In 1925, Barnard student Zora Neale Hurston - the sole black student at the college - was living in New York, "desperately striving for a toe-hold on the world." During this period, she began writing short works that captured the zeitgeist of African-American life and transformed her into one of the central figures of the Harlem Renaissance. Nearly a century later, this singular talent is recognized as one of the most influential and revered American artists of the modern period.
Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick is an outstanding collection of stories about love and migration, gender and class, racism and sexism that proudly reflect African-American folk culture. Brought together for the first time in one volume, they include eight of Hurston’s "lost" Harlem stories, which were found in forgotten periodicals and archives. These stories challenge conceptions of Hurston as an author of rural fiction and include gems that flash with her biting, satiric humor, as well as more serious tales reflective of the cultural currents of Hurston’s world. All are timeless classics that enrich our understanding and appreciation of this exceptional writer’s voice and her contributions to America’s literary traditions.
©2020 Zora Neale Hurston (P)2020 HarperAudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Darkly Lovely
- By Michael on 07-22-17
By: William Kennedy
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As I Lay Dying
- By: William Faulkner
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman, Robertson Dean, Lina Patel, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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One of William Faulkner’s finest novels, As I Lay Dying, originally published in 1930, remains a captivating and stylistically innovative work. The story revolves around a grim yet darkly humorous pilgrimage, as Addie Bundren’s family sets out to fulfill her last wish: to be buried in her native Jefferson, Mississippi, far from the miserable backwater surroundings of her married life.
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Faulkner's As I Lay Dying review
- By Kristina on 11-12-08
By: William Faulkner
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The Known World
- By: Edward P. Jones
- Narrated by: Kevin Free
- Length: 14 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Henry Townsend, a black farmer, bootmaker, and former slave, has a fondness for Paradise Lost and an unusual mentor, William Robbins, perhaps the most powerful white man in antebellum Virginia's Manchester County. Under Robbins's tutelage, Henry becomes proprietor of his own plantation, as well as of his own slaves. When he dies, his widow Caldonia succumbs to profound grief, and things begin to fall apart.
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A meandering audiobook...
- By Daniel on 09-03-04
By: Edward P. Jones
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Rain of Gold
- By: Victor Villaseñor
- Narrated by: Johnny Rey Diaz
- Length: 30 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Rain of Gold is a true-life saga of love, family and destiny that pulses with bold vitality, sweeping from the war-ravaged Mexican mountains of Pancho Villa's revolution to the days of Prohibition in California.
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Thank you Victor again!
- By cynthia g on 09-24-20
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The Third Mrs. Galway
- By: Deirdre Sinnott
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lee
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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It’s 1835 in Utica, New York, and newlywed Helen Galway discovers a secret: Two runaway slaves are hiding in the shack behind her husband’s house. Suddenly, she is at the center of not only the era’s greatest moral dilemma, but her own, as well. Should she be a “good wife” and report the fugitives to her husband? Or will she defy convention and come to their aid? Within her home, Helen is haunted by the previous Mrs. Galway, recently deceased but still an oppressive presence.
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Never thought I'd enjoy a novel so much.
- By HBvideo on 12-01-21
By: Deirdre Sinnott
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The Sound and the Fury
- By: William Faulkner
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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The Sound and the Fury is the tragedy of the Compson family, featuring some of the most memorable characters in literature: beautiful, rebellious Caddy; the manchild Benjy; haunted, neurotic Quentin; Jason, the brutal cynic; and Dilsey, their black servant. Their lives fragmented and harrowed by history and legacy, the character’s voices and actions mesh to create what is arguably Faulkner’s masterpiece and one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century.
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Hang in
- By W.Denis on 07-11-05
By: William Faulkner
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Memories of Another Day
- By: Harold Robbins
- Narrated by: Stephen Bowlby
- Length: 15 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Born to a life of violence and tragedy, Dan becomes one of the most powerful and dangerous labor organizers in the country - at the expense of his personal relationships. He's a man who embraced violence, fierce ambition, lust and a deep hunger for justice even as he accumulated personal wealth, fame, and power.
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Good story too much unnecessary sex
- By J. Veinot on 08-14-17
By: Harold Robbins
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Pale Horse, Pale Rider
- Three Short Novels
- By: Katherine Anne Porter
- Narrated by: Chelsea Stephens
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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The classic 1939 collection of three novellas by the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author and journalist, including the famous title story set during the influenza epidemic of 1918.
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Some of the most brilliant prose ever written
- By Anonymous User on 03-21-23
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Family
- A Novel
- By: J. California Cooper
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards
- Length: 4 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Family is a stunning, often painfully graphic re-creation of the realities of slavery: black women raped by white masters; black children sold to sustain failing plantations - or to satisfy the whims of a petulant mistress; strong men humiliated, whipped, and beaten because of the color of their skin. But it is also the triumphant story of a mother whose loving spirit transcends the barriers of death and time, allowing her to watch over her children and her children’s children.
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Love this book
- By legacy329 on 04-30-21
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To Kill a Mockingbird
- By: Harper Lee
- Narrated by: Sissy Spacek
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Harper Lee’s Pulitzer prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep south - and the heroism of one man in the face of blind and violent hatred, available now for the first time as a digital audiobook. One of the best-loved stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than 40 languages, sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the 20th century by librarians across the country.
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A gift to be treasured
- By David Shear on 07-09-14
By: Harper Lee
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Miranda Trilogy
- By: Grace Livingston Hill
- Narrated by: Anne Hancock
- Length: 29 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Grace Livingston Hill’s three novels about nineteenth-century small-town America remain relevant a century after they were first published. The timeless themes include the powerful influence of gossip, the importance of faith, and the precious gift of true friendship.
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Sweet series of romances of NY 1800s.
- By L. Locker on 05-28-24
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Lighthouse
- By: Eugenia Price
- Narrated by: Tessa Richards
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Raised in post-Revolution Granville, Massachusetts, James Gould could only imagine the beauty and warmth of the lands to the south. It was there that he longed to build bridges and lighthouses from his very own designs and plans. His gripping story unfolds as Gould follows his dream to the raw settlement of Bangor on the Penobscot River, St. Simons Island off the coast of Georgia, lawless Spanish East Florida, and back - at last and finally - to St. Simons.
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Re: Wonderful Story
- By Cmorgan on 01-27-23
By: Eugenia Price
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Very nice!
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skip the introduction!
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Difficult to hear so I can't rate Story fairly
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Dust Tracks on a Road is the bold, poignant, and funny autobiography of novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, one of American literature's most compelling and influential authors. Hurston's powerful novels of the South - including Jonah's Gourd Vine and, most famously, Their Eyes Were Watching God - continue to enthrall readers with their lyrical grace, sharp detail, and captivating emotionality.
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Very nice!
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Collected Early Works (AmazonClassics Edition)
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So good that I'm writing my first Audible review!
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A remarkable talent far ahead of her time, Diane Oliver died in 1966 at the age of 22, leaving behind these crisply told and often chilling tales that explore race and racism in 1950s and 60s America. In this first and only collection by a masterful storyteller finally taking her rightful place in the canon, Oliver’s insightful stories reverberate into the present day.
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mesmerizing
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How It Feels to Be Colored Me
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How It Feels To Be Colored Me was first published in The World Tomorrow in May 1928. In this autobiographical piece that focuses on race and 1920s America, Hurston reflects on her early childhood in an all-black Florida town and her first experiences in life where she felt "different." Hurston focuses on the similarities we all share and on her own self-identity in the face of difference. "Through it all," she says, "I remain myself."
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made me tear up
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In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens
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Originally published forty years ago, Alice Walker’s first collection of nonfiction is a dazzling compendium that remains both timely and relevant. In these thirty-six essays, Walker contemplates her own work and that of other writers, considers the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the anti-nuclear movement of the 1980s, and writes vividly and courageously about a scarring childhood injury.
By: Alice Walker
What listeners say about Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Felicia
- 09-25-21
Great storytelling.
Some of the stories are hard to digest but enjoyed overall. I laughed a lot.
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- jamaica ivery-glover
- 09-30-21
Wonderfully Performed
Aunjanue Ellis brought these words to life! Excellent performance of this collection of witty short stories. Kudos to Ms. Hurston. Each character and storyline were phenomenal! Great listen…
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- Anonymous User
- 12-12-20
Real Life Situations!!
We did this as a small group book review. We laughed & related this to personal , family & friends situations. It was also written as it was related to biblical times. overall, a very good read.
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- Ken Haygood
- 05-15-20
Beautiful Stories
The stories were beautiful and the narrator was amazing! Some stories were so thought provoking, I had to go back and listen again.
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11 people found this helpful
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- Rhonda J. Kuykindoll
- 07-09-20
Very entertaining...
The narrator was excellent. I really enjoyed this book. Some of the short stories were very funny.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Karen West
- 10-13-20
Good stories
excellent narration of a variety of the authors works. I enjoyed especially her stories of Eatonville and of Caroline.
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- Dubi
- 12-18-20
The Beat to her Own Crooked Drumstick
I recently read a book about the Blues that included several chapters about Blues literature -- primarily Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. I didn't think it was fair to the writers to pigeonhole their work under a musical form, but I was intrigued enough to want to check them out. The title of this story collection by Hurston even contains a musical reference, hitting a straight lick with a crooked stick as a metaphor for her angle on the subjects of her stories.
I still think the concept of Blues literature is too much of a straightjacket for Hurston -- these stories have a lot more going on, being about black life in both the South and the North in the early 20th century, dealing with issues of race, gender and class, as well as migration, and most of all real life characters and their real life concerns.
There are two layers of interest here, covered in detail in the editor's introduction -- the chronological presentation of the stories, including a number of previously unknown stories only recently discovered, demonstrating Hurston's broader range of interest than previously believed, and the restoration of the natural idiom of her dialogue, which can be a challenge (if it was written by a white person, it would be the literary equivalent of blackface, but as written by Hurston it feels refreshingly authentic, especially in audio).
By the way, some readers have had problems with the extensive introduction. I found it illuminating in preparing me for what I was about to hear. If it's not working for you, just skip it. Despite my enthusiasm for both the forewords and the stories, I have to give it four stars rather than five because I really did not care for the three or four stories toward the end that were written in biblical style -- great idea, highly original, but it just didn't work for me, especially given the authentic feel of the other stories.
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4 people found this helpful
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Story
- dwana washington
- 02-28-23
Story and reader
Loved the short stories and the reader was phenomenal!!! I wish she would read all the books that I choose.
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- Anomelie
- 07-10-23
Smart writing, vibrant characters
I really enjoyed the detailed worlds and vibrant characters of these stories. Cleverly told, sometimes poignant and sometimes funny. Extremely well-performed.
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- Kokoa B.
- 11-06-23
Great Book
I loved this book, and I loved the person who narrated the book. It was really awesome very enjoyable and kept my attention the entire time.
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