explores spiritual and emotional frustration, failure of basic communication between individuals, and repression of natural energies. It reveals the chaos of contemporary black American life and calls for a spiritual awakening. A land mark novel that changed the way America looked at black writers. I love it passionately; could not possibly exist without it. -- Alice Walker This book should be on all readers' and writers' desks and in their minds. -- Maya Angelou [Toomer avoided] the pitfalls of propaganda and moralizing on the one hand and the snares of a false and hollow race pride on the other hand. -- Montgomery Gregory