[This work] concentrates more on Hurston's art and less on her life than does Valerie Boyd's Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston (2003). Plant's approach, which is accessible without being simplistic, complements that of Carla Kaplan in her eponymous edited collection of Hurston's letters (2003). Plant vaults between levels of formality, but this ingenious method bears fascinating fruit in her bravura account of the plot of Their Eyes Were Watching God, told, as in the novel, from Janie Crawford's point of view. Plant takes particular note of Hurston's unpublished work on Herod the Great, long neglected by Hurston scholars. Though her treatment of that work is a bit diffuse, Plant convincingly demonstrates the Herod project's pertinence, particularly in any revision of Hurston's later years. Plant's explanation of Hurston's alleged improvidence ”that she believed money was to be spent to gain experience ”gives insight into Hurston's creative soul. Also valuable are Plant's interviews of readers and advocates of Hurston's work, material that shows the reader why Hurston still resonates in the 21st century. Recommended.

Lower-division undergraduates and general readers.