50 pages • 1 hour read
Zora Neale HurstonTell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1938A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Before You Read
Super Short Summary
In Tell My Horse, Zora Neale Hurston explores African diasporic culture and customs in the Caribbean, drawing from her fieldwork in Jamaica and Haiti. She delves into rituals, beliefs, and Voodoo practices, examining gender, power dynamics, and racial inequalities. Hurston describes ceremonies, funeral rites, and the pantheon of Voodoo deities, while providing historical context on Haiti’s political turmoil and societal structure. The narrative includes depictions of sexual violence, abuse, and discrimination.
Reviews & Readership
Review Roundup
Zora Neale Hurston's Tell My Horse offers a rich immersion into Jamaican and Haitian cultures, voodoo practices, and folktales. Praised for its vivid storytelling and anthropological insight, the book faces criticism for a lack of objective analysis and some ethnographic inaccuracies. Overall, it remains a vital, if imperfect, cultural document.
Who Should Read Tell My Horse?
Readers who cherish anthropological works intertwined with storytelling and African American culture will be captivated by Zora Neale Hurston’s Tell My Horse. Fans of Hurston’s own Their Eyes Were Watching God or Alice Walker’s In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens will find this blend of travel narrative and ethnographic study particularly engaging.