Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo Audiobook By Ntozake Shange cover art

Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo

A Novel

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Ntozake Shange’s most beloved novel, Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo, is the story of three “colored girls,” three sisters and their mama from Charleston, South Carolina. Sassafrass, the oldest, is a poet and a weaver like her mother, gone north to college and living with other artists in Los Angeles, trying to weave a life out of her work, her man, her memories, and her dreams. Cypress, the dancer, leaves home to find new ways of moving and easing the contractions of her soul. Indigo, the youngest, is still a child of Charleston - with “too much of the South in her” - who lives in poetry, can talk to her dolls, and has a great gift of seeing the obvious magic of the world.

©1982 Ntozake Shange (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc., and Buck 50 Productions, LLC African American African American Literature Fiction

Critic reviews

“Miss Shange writes with such exquisite care and beauty that anybody can relate to her message.” ( New York Times)
“A marvel…Languages—colloquial, established, lyric—play together like the most lush chamber music, the coolest jazz, the brassiest marches, the hippest jug band…[It] leaves us filled with joy and yearning for more.” ( Philadelphia Inquirer)
“Possessed of poetry, motion, and light…Shange’s tale is poignant, surprising, and deep as she looks at the different worlds of women and their special places therein.” ( Publishers Weekly)
Beautiful Storytelling • Vivid Descriptions • Excellent Narration • Cultural Richness • Spiritual Depth

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love the book, one of my favorites. It was great to have it read aloud.

Black authers I love.

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One of my new favorites!!! My favorite line is "Do you want me to have me or to love me?" Powerful.

Loved it!!!

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I love Shange’s work & wanted to revisit the world of these 3 women & their mother. Allyson Johnson’s easing nailed it! 30 years after I read it in college, the work still resonates.

Iconic novel is one of my favorites

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what a wonderful arrangement and reading Sassafras, Cypress & Indigo. This brought more life to an incredible novel

beautiful!

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This is one of my favorite books. I re-read it for nostalgic reasons. Upon buying the audible I had hoped to hear the rich voices of the black people in Charleston SC. Having lived there for 4 years. I was so disappointed in the narration. It was a southern accent. Not the rich, deep melody of Gullah (Geechee) native tongue. A tonal language that reminds you of low country boils, windswept beaches, and sweet grass baskets.

This is a beautiful story, told by people that speak a beautiful dialect

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