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For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf: a Choreopoem
by Ntozake Shange
- Used
- near fine
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Near Fine/Near Fine
- ISBN 10
- 0026098407
- ISBN 13
- 9780026098403
- Seller
-
Binghamton, New York, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Macmillan, 1979. 6th ptg . Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. DJ by Rubin Pfeffer. 13400 shelf. Gold-stamped blue cloth spine w/ lightly aged yellow bds. No names, clean text. Lightly aged but unchipped dust jacket.
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
- Gil's Book Loft (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 074442
- Title
- For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf: a Choreopoem
- Author
- Ntozake Shange
- Illustrator
- DJ by Rubin Pfeffer
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Near Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 6th ptg
- ISBN 10
- 0026098407
- ISBN 13
- 9780026098403
- Publisher
- Macmillan
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1979
- Pages
- 64
- Keywords
- poetry women's studies Black studies
Terms of Sale
Gil's Book Loft
Checks/money orders must reach us in 5 business days. Returns: within 10 days if item is not as described
About the Seller
Gil's Book Loft
Biblio member since 2006
Binghamton, New York
About Gil's Book Loft
~~Gil's Book Loft, located at 9 Glenwood Ave, Binghamton NY, is open only by appointment. Our 46,000+ Internet listings, hand-picked with pride, are updated at least once a day. ~~Orders are packed with care & usually shipped the same day. All dust jackets are protected in clear mylar. ~We also feature over 200 pairs of antique bookends, plus pottery & decorative objects. ~~We stock more than 5,000 fine original artist-signed American prints, drawings, & watercolors (1880 to present). ~~Internet prices are net to all, including book dealers; discounts given only with personal visits to the shop.
Glossary
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- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- BDS
- Common term for the covers of a hardbound book. The term 'boards' refers to the thick cardboard under the paper or cloth...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...