The Color Purple
Ratings414
Average rating4.2
Short Review: This is a rough book, especially the beginning. Not the writing. The writing is evocative, poetic and engaging. But the content is difficult. It is way to much to easily describe. But the story starts with a Celie as a child writing letters to God describing in her limited capacity being repeatedly raped by her father as her mother slowly dies. After her mother dies the rape continues and she gives birth to two children before being essentially sold off by her father to be the wife to a widower (sex slave, domestic servant and step mother to children that are not much younger than she is.)
The story is dark although it does lighten up after about 20-30 percent of the way through the book.
My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/color-purple/
Gorgeous. Masterfully told - a perfect novel. Spiritual and profound and GORGEOUS.
Briefly: told through a series of letters from the protagonist, Celie, it begins as something atmospheric and shimmering and vague. She's young, terribly ignorant, afraid, and living in a very small, limited world. I had trouble placing the context and understanding what was going on, and so I cheated and looked it up on wiki: oh, it's 1930s Georgia, okay. Which I guess is one of the first big points of the book: the multi-generational nature of racism and oppression in the US. In other words, I could tell it was the South, but I couldn't tell which century. :/
The oppression is, indeed, very very oppressive, but the book is a touching and beautiful portrait of Celie's eventual emancipation and empowerment. It feels completely cliche to even write it like that, but that's what it is, and it's very special and very touching. It's uplifting in such a deep way. I don't want to give away the latter half of the book, but there's an extended sequence of letters from another (unexpectedly returned) character that was also eye-opening, mind-expanding. There's also a scene where the title is explained - okay, that is usually something I am always skeptical about (explaining book titles in books themselves, like “Now we must await... THE RETURN OF THE KING.” sigh) - but here it was such a surprising, perfect moment. The color purple indeed! THE COLOR PURPLE. Like all good art, it made me see my own world in a new, fresh way.
I also felt like this touched on such important, deep aspects of the black experience in America. Really, REALLY good. Can't recommend it enough.
It was kind of slow and boring at some parts, but quite good overall.
Definitely not a fuzzy-feelings kind of book and I still have many questions left after reading it.
I knew before I started this would be a good book. I had read two of Walker's short story collections in college, and they were some of my favorite discussions in class. So, as per usual, I just waited about 15 years before picking up her most famous work of fiction. :)
This book is an excellent work. I found the epistolary format to be especially effective at telling Celie's story in her own words. Celie's words were not easy to read - often they were devastating. Her story is sometimes brutal, but often beautiful. Despite the difficult subject matter, I flew through the pages, laughing and shaking my fist and crying and rejoicing in turn.
While I understand why this book has been frequently challenged, I wouldn't stop a teen from reading it. I think it's an honest and forthright depiction of the way in which women were treated in our country, and it's not something we can pretend or ignore away. I would hope this novel would open up conversations about racism and sexism that are important.
I think this will be a novel that will remain with me for a very long time. I'm so glad I finally decided to read it. Highly, highly recommended.
I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book when I first started reading it, partly because of the grim situation she was in but also because of the unique way it was told. Thankfully that feeling didn't last long and I soon loved the book and really cared what happened to the main characters. Looking forward to see how the film stacks up now.
When I have a ho-hum attitude about a well-received book that I expected to like, I have to wonder what I missed. The Color Purple was supposed to be great. Many reviewers I tend to agree with gave the novel their highest accolades. Typically, I agree with these sorts of books–[b:Beloved|6149|Beloved|Toni Morrison|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347984578s/6149.jpg|736076] and [b:Ruby|24902492|Ruby|Cynthia Bond|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1423586473s/24902492.jpg|25756743] are two books with similar themes that also tackle issues both horrific and relevant. So what did I miss with The Color Purple?
I wonder if much of the praise centers around the original publication of the novel. Was The Color Purple the most honest novel regarding the post-Civil War life of the southern black? Was it the first to focus on primarily women characters? One would have to ignore the four Toni Morrison novels that had already been published by 1982 to assume this fact, not to mention novels that had been published during the Harlem Renaissance and in the subsequent years.
Perhaps the likability is the result of the philosophical musings the story captures. Questions of theology and the African woman's relationship with God abound. Yet, this doesn't seem to be enough to sustain the average reader. What else could it be? The bond between the sisters? The misandry? The happy ending? Frankly, all I can do is guess.
Personally, I didn't hate the novel, by any means, but I did find it rather uneventful. Perhaps the hype had crushed it for me. Perhaps the warnings of “graphic content” seemed excessive when compared to the likes of Ruby—a novel with truly excessive graphic content. In the end, however, what left me least impressed was the story itself and its delivery: two sisters, divided, telling two different stories through unreceived letters.
The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that what draws people to this story are the joys. Yes, it's a sad story with all kinds of horrors, but the focus is the color purple, the pleasure of the world. It's about a love between sisters that conquers all. Through my many years of reading, I've seen that many readers like to feel a range of emotions throughout a book, but that the feeling they want to be bowled over by in the end is joy. I cannot be counted as one of these readers and that is perhaps why I was underwhelmed by The Color Purple. I felt for Sethe in Beloved. I felt very strongly for Ruby, Ephram, and many characters in Ruby. Yet, for Celie and Nettie, I felt little. They seemed strong enough to not need my pity. They found beauty in the world around them and strength within their selves, and there was nothing anyone could do to completely crush them. As a weak and frail human, I cannot relate; therefore, I surmise, that it is because of my own weakness I could not identify with this story. What a humbling experience.
I was very young the first time I read this so I thought I'd give it another shot. I enjoyed it as much as I did the first time around, however, the changes that happen to Nettie during her last year or so before she reunites with Celie are not as believable as the other events that take place throughout the story. And though her letters to Celie remain about the same length throughout, the last few somehow feel rushed and not as detailed. With that said, whether in the book or on the big screen, I find it oh so touching when the sisters finally reunite. And I was very pleased with how all of the characters find some inner peace that provides them with the strength to be more accepting of one another and appreciate the small things in life. I can't ever pass by purple flowers or a purple field and not think of Shug, Celie, and Sofia!
Working at a library has helped me rediscover old friends - this classic was one of them. I read this novel years ago. It is a beautiful story of Celie who goes through horrific treatment before she discovers her own true beauty.
Siempre me han llamado la atención los libros que son escritos de manera epistolar, prueba de ello es la Silla del Águila, de Carlos Fuentes, otro de mis favoritos. Éste no se ha quedado atrás. Ya sé que es una película, la cual no he visto todavía, porque quería leer primero el libro.
A veces la felicidad está en las cosas más simples, como el color púrpura...
This was certainly a different kind of book. The whole book is written in letters... by the main character Celie who learned what hurt was at a very young age. At first she wrote letter's to God.... and then later when she felt God forgot about her and she had found out her sister was alive and had been writing to her all along she began writing to her sister Nettie. She found out that the man she was forced to marry that she referred to only as “mr _____” had been hiding her sister's letters. She found out through reading her sister's letters that her two babies who had been taken from her were alive and her sister was helping to take care of them. Celie had a very hard life and had never known love until she met Shug Avery. She learned to love and to be loved and then the hurt of losing love....
