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    Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Renaissance
    Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Renaissance
    Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Renaissance
    Audiobook8 hours

    Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Renaissance

    Written by Zora Neale Hurston

    Narrated by Aunjanue Ellis

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    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.

    Editor's Note

    Editor’s pick…

    “Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick” brings together 21 of Zora Neale Hurston’s stories, including eight “lost” tales dug up in dusty old archives and long-forgotten periodicals. Seasoned with the perfect blend of sarcasm, lively dialogue, and wicked humor, these stories serve up a sharp (and entertaining) look at racism and sexism, the country versus the city, and love gone sour.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateMar 17, 2020
    ISBN9780062915832
    Author

    Zora Neale Hurston

    Zora Neale Hurston was a novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist. She wrote four novels (Jonah’s Gourd Vine, 1934; Their Eyes Were Watching God, 1937; Moses, Man of the Mountains, 1939; and Seraph on the Suwanee, 1948); two books of folklore (Mules and Men, 1935, and Every Tongue Got to Confess, 2001); a work of anthropological research, (Tell My Horse, 1938); an autobiography (Dust Tracks on a Road, 1942); an international bestselling nonfiction work (Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo,” 2018); and over fifty short stories, essays, and plays. She attended Howard University, Barnard College, and Columbia University and was a graduate of Barnard College in 1928. She was born on January 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama, and grew up in Eatonville, Florida.

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    Reviews for Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick

    4.5/5

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    • 4/5
      Audioperformance was excellent. Stories were a mixed bag but started strong.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Poignant, funny, literate, funky. Read with insight and enthusiasm. A masterpiece. The intro is a bit long winded. Get past it at 1.2x speed.
    • 5/5
      I too, feel like I have to go to Eatonville to meet Zora. The depth and life that Aunjanue brings to the stories with her voice? Unmatched.
    • 5/5
      A wonderful book. The stories are amazing!!!! A definite must read
    • 5/5
      The way that Zora crafted these stories! They’re all amazing!
    • 4/5
      These rediscovered stories show the talent of Hurston the author and Hurston the anthropologist. The rural stories originate from her home in Eatonville, FL, the first town successfully established by African American freedmen. She turns an eye, at times jaundiced, at times hopeful, all times so warmly expressed and laugh-out-loud hilarious, to domestic situations primarily ruled by abusive husbands. The city stories are from Harlem, and it's almost like another woman has taken over Hurston’s pen via biblical recitations of similar domestic strife, with these created by country men who seek to take advantage of the vastness of the sophisticated female population. I prefer the tales from Eatonville, but all are enjoyable and filled with wisdom and charm.Quotes: "Ah got to shave Gran'ma.""Who say so?", Joel asked, surprised."Nobody doan hafta tell me. Look at her chin. No ladies don't weah no whiskers if they kin help it.""Brazzle's yellow mule, his Yaller Highness, was always mentioned before the weather, the misery of the back or leg, or the hard times.""Joe Clarke's store porch was full of chewing men. Some chewed tobacco, some chewed cane, some chewed straws, for the villager is a ruminant in his leisure."
    • 4/5
      This was my second read by Zora Neale Hurston. I read Barracoon and enjoyed reading that novel, which felt more like an anthology. My book group AAABDG picked Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick for discussion. I listened to the audiobook version read by Aunjanue Ellis, which I highly recommend, because she does a wonderful narration in differentiating the characters. First and distinguishable is the eye catching colorful artwork on the cover. The introduction by Genevieve West was long, detailed and informative, but I was anxious to get to the stories. A beautiful forward by Tayari Jones (another great author). This is a book that requires you to take your time reading to understand the dialect of the time and to follow the changes in her writing styles that progressed and grew as written in chronological order.Written in the 1920s and most of the stories took place in Eatonville, Florida and Harlem with colorful characters like Muttsy, Bluefoot, Spunk and Pinkie. I didn't love all of the twenty one stories, but I favored a few. "John Redding Goes to Sea" was depicting men v women and the desire to venture other places was heartbreaking. "The Conversion of Sam" depicts class and race division that tugs at your emotions. "Sweat" entails domestic abuse and infidelity, it was gut wrenching. "Under The Bridge," a sad but tender tale of love between a father, wife and son. "The Country in the Woman" brings Cal'line and Mitchell Potts to revisit with a hilarious outcome to the story, which should have been part ll to the previous story in The Eatonville Anthology titled "Pants and Cal'line." The final favorite was "The Gilded Six-Bits” that addressed infidelity and greed, but love triumphed."The Eatonville Anthology" were snippets of various stories and felt incomplete, but interesting just the same. The re-mention of Sykes Jones, in "Tippy" and womanizing Joe Clarke in "Coon Taylor,"and "The Head of the Nail," Brazzle in "Village Fiction" are characters from previous stories, which brought me familiarity. "Possum or Pig?" was the shortest story in the book (2 pages), but was humorous. Cal'line with her axe once again makes an appearance in "She Rock." I was not fond of the stories that were written in bible verses. Overall, I enjoyed the read with its southern drawl vernacular, skillful use of idioms, class, gender, sexism, folklore and identity. Hurston explored the African American culture in these stories, as well as adultery and infidelity in a marriage. I'm proud to include this book into my collection.
    • 4/5
      Zora Neale Hurston was one of the pioneering authors during the Harlem Renaissance and is most well-known for the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. This work is a compilation of short stories published during her life. Many of these short stories are previously unavailable to a wider audience. Together, they open a tall and wide window to African American life in Eatonville, Florida, Hurston’s hometown, and Harlem, New York, in the early twentieth century.Hurston beautifully depicts a dialect of African American speech in Eatonville, consistent with most of her other works. Although this speech can be a difficult barrier at first, reading it gets better with practice. In the twenty-first century that I write, such indigenous dialects are falling by the wayside due to the pervasive influence of television. The capture of these patterns in written language is simply ingenious. They add another layer to her writing – and to the reader’s imagination.The stories are humorous and intriguing in how the depict the culture in which Hurston was raised. They are also intriguing from the sociological perspective. They portray marriages and family life in a respectful yet insightful style. Hurston never demeans nor mocks but often touches upon difficult subjects like sexuality and domestic violence. In this work, there is not one character that I remember being white; instead, she focuses upon black culture among blacks. No doubt that her skill stems in no small part from her advanced education in anthropology.Her writing style in this volume falls into three categories: First, traditional Eatonville stories with their unique dialect; second, the Harlem stories without a recast dialect and with themes of trying to reestablish lives after the Great Migration; third and finally, stories with a dialect similar to the King James Version of the Bible that harken contemporary stories back to the Christian narrative. Each story is filled with human dignity, humor, and an ain’t-that-so-true approach to life.Fellow author Alice Walker famously rediscovered Hurston’s gravesite over a decade after a death in anonymity. Hurston’s stories have grown in influence since. It is now almost fifty years since that rediscovery. This work provides a small but unique contribution to Hurston’s now-famous literature. Fans of African American culture and literature will enjoy this collection that vividly relates her seminal style. Thanks to West and Amistad publishing house for the research to provide us with these short stories!
    • 5/5
      Zora Neale Hurston is a brilliant writer, and these stories showcase a broad range of skill. She satirizes, writes folklore, and uses black vernacular English in lyrical and original ways. If you like folk stories, sly humor, or Harlem Renaissance writing, this collection is a must-read.
    • 4/5
      Hitting a Straight Lick With A Crooked Stick: Stories From The Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston, author, Aunjanue Ellis, narrator Hurston is one of the most prominent African-American authors who wrote during the period of time from 1917-1937, the time of the Harlem Renaissance. These authors wrote books focused on social issues, like assimilation, faith, racism, black pride, and the atmosphere in the home between husbands and wives, parents and siblings, lovers and friends, in short, they wrote about all aspects of black life. In this book, featuring several newly discovered short stories by Hurston, love and loss, relationships, drug addiction, racism, infidelity, physical and sexual abuse, injustice and a lack of women’s rights are featured. Some stories featured, education issues, religious issues, spiritual, superstitious or magical themes. They featured jealousy and greed, as well as kindness and joy. While some of the characters were loving, loyal, gentle, moral, well educated, grateful for their achievements, and grounded in their faith, others were hateful. They were liars, boasters, connivers, violent and even possibly downright evil. The stories, therefore, represented a microcosm of the world, during the time of the Harlem Renaissance, even though the particular focus is absolutely on the struggles of the black community. The evils presented existed in all communities, across color lines and religions, at that time, and perhaps, still today. The strong in society, who are sometimes evil, prey upon those who are weaker.The stories do capture the times and the people very authentically, using the dialect they would use to communicate with each other. Some of the language may be offensive to the reader, since today, it is really frowned upon to use many of the terms in the book. There were times that I even thought I glimpsed what might be a bit of anti-Semitism or hostility toward the Jews, in some of the stories, because of references to the Sadducces and the Pharisees, both major historic influences in Jewish history, which sometimes seemed to be double entendres. I love the author’s writing style. Listening to the audio, which was excellently performed, creating characters that were real and unique, I felt like I was viewing each story on a stage, but it was really the theater of my mind. Some of the stories were strange, some I didn’t quite understand, but each was so uniquely creative that I could not stop listening, completing it in one day. There was humor and there was tension, and I never lost interest. On the negative side, the Editor’s Note, Foreward and Introduction were distracting and probably took up too much of the book, although learning about her background was inspiring and informative. The title essentially means, accomplishing something surprisingly, in a way that was thought to be unsuccessful, and perhaps that is the message. Although the Black community is still struggling to gain equality, they have struggled throughout their history in America to gain full recognition and respect often gained or thwarted, by unexpected means. Certainly, Hurston, did not get the recognition she deserved during her own lifetime.
    • 5/5
      I found the introduction to this book by Genevieve West particularly helpful in helping me understand Huston’s growth as a writer. Although I struggled with the black dialect, it was a necessary part of the story. I found myself reading much of the conversation out loud to understand what was said. What Hurston did so adeptly was showing the sad side of love, how race and poverty puts people in positions that aren’t favorable to them. Hurston’s ability to observe people and then recreate them in short stories is evident. Yes, this wasn’t my favorite book, but it is an important book in helping me to understand how a writer’s talents are developed.