
Jonah's Gourd Vine
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Robin Miles
About this listen
A story of love and community, written by the hand of Zora Neale Hurston, one of the 20th century’s greatest authors, and a woman who truly understands her characters’ motivations.
Jonah's Gourd Vine, Zora Neale Hurston’s first novel, originally published in 1934, tells the story of John Buddy Pearson, “a living exultation” of a young man who loves too many women for his own good. Lucy, his long-suffering wife, is his true love, but there’s also Mehaly and Big ‘Oman and the scheming Hattie who conjures hoodoo spells to ensure his attentions. Even after becoming the popular pastor of Zion Hope where his sermons and prayers for cleansing rouse the congregation’s fervor, he has to confess that though he is a preacher on Sundays, he is a “natchel man” the rest of the week.
And so in this sympathetic portrait of a man and his community, shows that faith and tolerance and good intentions cannot resolve the tension between the spiritual and the physical. That Zora Neale Hurston makes this age-old dilemma come so alive is a tribute to her understanding of the vagaries of human nature.
©1934 Zora Neale Hurston (P)2025 HarperCollins PublishersPeople who viewed this also viewed...
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like the lion needs no weapon but himself
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Performance
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In Mules and Men, some of the rich cultural heritage of black America is revealed and preserved. In the 1930s, Zora Neale Hurston returned to her home town of Eatonville, Florida, to collect and record the oral histories, songs, and sermons, many dating back to slavery times, that she remembered hearing as a child. These highly metaphorical folktales, "big old lies", and powerful songs helped her to recover her history, and preserve an important part of American culture.
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ABRIDGED version
- By Ben on 02-06-19
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Tell My Horse
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- By: Zora Neale Hurston
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Based on Zora Neale Hurston’s personal experiences in Haiti and Jamaica, where she participated as an initiate rather than just an observer of voodoo practices during her visits in the 1930s, this travelogue into a dark world paints a vividly authentic picture of the ceremonies, customs, and superstitions of voodoo.
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Magnolia Flower
- By: Zora Neale Hurston
- Narrated by: Ibram X. Kendi, Sheryl Lee Ralph
- Length: 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Born to parents who fled slavery and the Trail of Tears, Magnolia Flower is a girl with a vibrant spirit. Not to be deterred by rigid ways of the world, she longs to connect with others, who too long for freedom. She finds this in a young man of letters who her father disapproves of. In her quest to be free, Magnolia must make a choice and set off on a journey that will prove just how brave one can be when leading with one’s heart.
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Beautiful Love story
- By Jaki on 07-12-23
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Their Eyes Were Watching God
- By: Zora Neale Hurston
- Narrated by: Ruby Dee
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Their Eyes Were Watching God, an American classic, is the luminous and haunting novel about Janie Crawford, a Southern Black woman in the 1930s, whose journey from a free-spirited girl to a woman of independence and substance has inspired writers and readers for close to 70 years.
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perfection
- By Mel on 04-06-15
-
Moses, Man of the Mountain
- By: Zora Neale Hurston
- Narrated by: Blair Underwood, Robin Miles
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this novel based on the familiar story of the Exodus, Zora Neale Hurston blends the Moses of the Old Testament with the Moses of black folklore and song to create a compelling allegory of power, redemption, and faith.
-
The Life of Herod the Great
- By: Zora Neale Hurston, Deborah G. Plant - editor
- Narrated by: Blair Underwood, Robin Miles
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1950s, as a continuation of Moses, Man of the Mountain, Zora Neale Hurston penned a historical novel about one of the most infamous figures in the Bible, Herod the Great. In Hurston’s retelling, Herod is not the wicked ruler of the New Testament who is charged with the “slaughter of the innocents,” but a forerunner of Christ—a beloved king who enriched Jewish culture and brought prosperity and peace to Judea.
-
-
like the lion needs no weapon but himself
- By william t. on 03-25-25
By: Zora Neale Hurston, and others
-
Mules and Men
- By: Zora Neale Hurston
- Narrated by: Ruby Dee
- Length: 2 hrs and 57 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Mules and Men, some of the rich cultural heritage of black America is revealed and preserved. In the 1930s, Zora Neale Hurston returned to her home town of Eatonville, Florida, to collect and record the oral histories, songs, and sermons, many dating back to slavery times, that she remembered hearing as a child. These highly metaphorical folktales, "big old lies", and powerful songs helped her to recover her history, and preserve an important part of American culture.
-
-
ABRIDGED version
- By Ben on 02-06-19
-
Tell My Horse
- Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica
- By: Zora Neale Hurston
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on Zora Neale Hurston’s personal experiences in Haiti and Jamaica, where she participated as an initiate rather than just an observer of voodoo practices during her visits in the 1930s, this travelogue into a dark world paints a vividly authentic picture of the ceremonies, customs, and superstitions of voodoo.
-
Magnolia Flower
- By: Zora Neale Hurston
- Narrated by: Ibram X. Kendi, Sheryl Lee Ralph
- Length: 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born to parents who fled slavery and the Trail of Tears, Magnolia Flower is a girl with a vibrant spirit. Not to be deterred by rigid ways of the world, she longs to connect with others, who too long for freedom. She finds this in a young man of letters who her father disapproves of. In her quest to be free, Magnolia must make a choice and set off on a journey that will prove just how brave one can be when leading with one’s heart.
-
-
Beautiful Love story
- By Jaki on 07-12-23
-
Their Eyes Were Watching God
- By: Zora Neale Hurston
- Narrated by: Ruby Dee
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Their Eyes Were Watching God, an American classic, is the luminous and haunting novel about Janie Crawford, a Southern Black woman in the 1930s, whose journey from a free-spirited girl to a woman of independence and substance has inspired writers and readers for close to 70 years.
-
-
perfection
- By Mel on 04-06-15