Poetry Books
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf
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Manufacturer: Scribner
Author: Ntozake Shange
Publisher: Scribner
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price: $9.95
You Save: $ ( % )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Scribner
Author: Ntozake Shange
Publisher: Scribner
Average Customer Rating:
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For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 811.54
EAN: 9780684843261
ISBN: 0684843269
Label: Scribner
Manufacturer: Scribner
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 80
Publication Date: 1997-09-01
Publisher: Scribner
Studio: Scribner
Dewey Decimal Number: 811.54
EAN: 9780684843261
ISBN: 0684843269
Label: Scribner
Manufacturer: Scribner
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 80
Publication Date: 1997-09-01
Publisher: Scribner
Studio: Scribner
Editorial Review of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf
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.
Customer Reviews of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Wow!
Review: Performed on the stage in 1975 by Ntozake Shange, pronounced (En-toe-ZAK-kay SHONgay), a playwright, poet and novelist. The structure for this play is choreopoem, a chorus of people reciting poems. Here, the roles are spoken from a group of black women, only identified by color of clothes, as in (lady in brown, lady in red, lady in yellow, etc.)
A departure written from the average play, the intent is clear, a voice for all black women who have suffered indignations, painful experiences from men. The language is strong offensive and obscene, but you get the point!
The colors depict a rainbow, and each girl is identified with a color that closes matches her style of speech. For example, lady in yellow speaks of love, high school, lost virginity, to bolder colors that speak of pain and tension. The cities they come from are San Francisco, Manhattan, St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Houston and Baltimore. The subjects range from youth, losing virginity, rape, abuse, rebellion, abortion, theft, social, political, etc.
The subjects range from youth, losing virginity, rape, love, theft, indignation. Some poems are done as a solo and with others, all girls chime in. Some titles of the 20 poems are: The messages are powerful. This is womanhood!
A televised version is available amongs the players are Alfre Woodard, Lynn Whitfield, and playwright Ntozake Shange herself. ...Rizzo
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: It Ain't The Same If Your African American
Review: This incredibly precious gem of a book was produced on Broadway back in the late 70's or early 80's but I was too young to see it at the time and probably would not have been able to relate to it anyway. In this prose poem, a "choreopoem" Shange depicts the hardships of African American Women in America. The different perspective of their lives is precisely and poignantly elucidated by the incredible and fascinating prose poetry of this book.
It is stunningly shocking that things that white Americans take totally for granted are just not part of the African American milieu in this country. Rape, pregnancy, domestic violence of the highest order, living in squalor and prostitution are all common place in so many of the African American communities of the 70's, 80's, 90's and now the 00's. Shange's representation of the perspective on rape is extraordinary. If an African American girl gets raped, she better not have ever been seen in public with the rapist, or there will be no conviction. Obviously it was invited. Not so with White Americans. But common place with African Americans.
A quick example of her wondrous lyricism are the following two lines that just give a glimpse of the different perspective that African American Women have toward American life:
"... we gotta dance to keep from cryin
we gotta dance to keep from dyin ..."
While the book is surely most meaningful to African American Women, it is recommended for all Americans so that the true reality of this dilemma and this shame can be absorbed and understood by all Americans. Perhaps if we all understood the conditions of the African American Women, something would be done about it. As of now, it is just not the same for people with black skin as it is for all other ethnic minorities in the United States of America.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: I just about this today....
Review: I was Lady in Red in when my high school drama department lauched a production of this book. I had no idea how much it would change my life. So many times I have come back to this book and the women speak to me. It is real and it is riviting. Now that I am...mmore mature, I would love to do this play again. Anyone with a daughter or a neice should read this book. This is one that Showtime or HBO should consider for a movie.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Wonderful
Review: This book is absolutely amazing. It speaks to all the aspects that a minority teen girl goes through. It should be a Christmas present for every teenage girl. I loved this book.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Amazing Stuff
Review: When I was a little girl my mother was in a local acting group that traveled and put on this play. When I was about 13 years old I saw it in it entiretly for the first time. It was heartwrenching, funny, inspiring and contraversial. I loved every bit of it. Everyone especially women and men who love women should read it at least once, it provides an interesting perspective that you may be unfamiliar with. Being a black woman ain't always easy but it sure is beautiful, if you can find God in yourself.
Review Summary: Wow!
Review: Performed on the stage in 1975 by Ntozake Shange, pronounced (En-toe-ZAK-kay SHONgay), a playwright, poet and novelist. The structure for this play is choreopoem, a chorus of people reciting poems. Here, the roles are spoken from a group of black women, only identified by color of clothes, as in (lady in brown, lady in red, lady in yellow, etc.)
A departure written from the average play, the intent is clear, a voice for all black women who have suffered indignations, painful experiences from men. The language is strong offensive and obscene, but you get the point!
The colors depict a rainbow, and each girl is identified with a color that closes matches her style of speech. For example, lady in yellow speaks of love, high school, lost virginity, to bolder colors that speak of pain and tension. The cities they come from are San Francisco, Manhattan, St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Houston and Baltimore. The subjects range from youth, losing virginity, rape, abuse, rebellion, abortion, theft, social, political, etc.
The subjects range from youth, losing virginity, rape, love, theft, indignation. Some poems are done as a solo and with others, all girls chime in. Some titles of the 20 poems are: The messages are powerful. This is womanhood!
A televised version is available amongs the players are Alfre Woodard, Lynn Whitfield, and playwright Ntozake Shange herself. ...Rizzo
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: It Ain't The Same If Your African American
Review: This incredibly precious gem of a book was produced on Broadway back in the late 70's or early 80's but I was too young to see it at the time and probably would not have been able to relate to it anyway. In this prose poem, a "choreopoem" Shange depicts the hardships of African American Women in America. The different perspective of their lives is precisely and poignantly elucidated by the incredible and fascinating prose poetry of this book.
It is stunningly shocking that things that white Americans take totally for granted are just not part of the African American milieu in this country. Rape, pregnancy, domestic violence of the highest order, living in squalor and prostitution are all common place in so many of the African American communities of the 70's, 80's, 90's and now the 00's. Shange's representation of the perspective on rape is extraordinary. If an African American girl gets raped, she better not have ever been seen in public with the rapist, or there will be no conviction. Obviously it was invited. Not so with White Americans. But common place with African Americans.
A quick example of her wondrous lyricism are the following two lines that just give a glimpse of the different perspective that African American Women have toward American life:
"... we gotta dance to keep from cryin
we gotta dance to keep from dyin ..."
While the book is surely most meaningful to African American Women, it is recommended for all Americans so that the true reality of this dilemma and this shame can be absorbed and understood by all Americans. Perhaps if we all understood the conditions of the African American Women, something would be done about it. As of now, it is just not the same for people with black skin as it is for all other ethnic minorities in the United States of America.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: I just about this today....
Review: I was Lady in Red in when my high school drama department lauched a production of this book. I had no idea how much it would change my life. So many times I have come back to this book and the women speak to me. It is real and it is riviting. Now that I am...mmore mature, I would love to do this play again. Anyone with a daughter or a neice should read this book. This is one that Showtime or HBO should consider for a movie.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Wonderful
Review: This book is absolutely amazing. It speaks to all the aspects that a minority teen girl goes through. It should be a Christmas present for every teenage girl. I loved this book.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Amazing Stuff
Review: When I was a little girl my mother was in a local acting group that traveled and put on this play. When I was about 13 years old I saw it in it entiretly for the first time. It was heartwrenching, funny, inspiring and contraversial. I loved every bit of it. Everyone especially women and men who love women should read it at least once, it provides an interesting perspective that you may be unfamiliar with. Being a black woman ain't always easy but it sure is beautiful, if you can find God in yourself.