The book is written in a really interesting manner. First of all it is a play, and second of all it is a poem, a poem with several voices and stories. It is very abstract--doesn't have a definite storyline, except for the few mini-narratives within the book that make up the meat of the play. Its like a bunch of ladies got together to talk about their lives, but in a poetic presentation.
I think the reason Shange did this was because she wanted to. She could have written a linear storyline with prose, but she chose poetry instead--free verse, in fact. It makes the work more artistic and perhaps enables the emotions within the work to be portrayed with more accuracy. Instead of simply stating that "such and such a woman felt such and such an emotion," she assigns them colors and has them tell the story in their own, messy way.
i think the orginality is what truly makes this book stand out from the others. you have books like this all the time that talk about the effects that women have gone through, maybe not black women but all types of women and yet this poem captured something i dont think a regular novel actually could. it captured the artistic ache that feels women and made it easy to read so that it wouldnt take a 500 page book to get everything she wanted to say out.
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