Article: THE BIG READ/TALKING VOLUMES; The mark of ZORA; Edwidge Danticat, a Haitian-born writer who lives in Miami, talks about the powerful reach of Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God," and how it helped her find her own voice.(ENTERTAINMENT)(TALKING VOLUMES)

Byline: Sarah T. Williams; Staff Writer

As Edwidge Danticat watched TV news reports in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, she was hit by wave after wave of tragic irony. She seethed as news commentators and others characterized the desperation and chaos on display as something to be expected elsewhere - in "Third World" Thailand or Haiti - but not in the United States.

Then she reached for a book that she knew would validate her grief and horror: "Their Eyes Were Watching God," the now-classic 1937 novel by Zora Neale Hurston. She reread the scene in which a deadly hurricane is approaching the Florida Everglades, and some migrant workers have gambled ...

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