The Color Purple

I bought this copy to replace my well worn copy from decades ago. Great heartbreaking story filled with engaging characters, violence, racism, classism and bigotry from the eyes of a black woman in the south. A must read for everyone.

The character’s grow and change and reflect on themselves and life in general. A wonderful story, sad, terrifying, yet eventually uplifting ❤️

The Color Purple by Alice Walker captures the journey of Celie, a poor black girl, from age fourteen well into adulthood. Rather than chapters, the novel is broken up and written as multiple letters to God. Celie, the main character, writes about her life this way because after her Pa sexually abused her, he said, “You better not tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy,” (1). After two pregnancies at the hand of her father, Celie is married off to a man who degrades and beats her. The novel transitions from letters to God to letters to Celie’s sister Nettie, who joined a family on a missionary in Africa. This shift also reveals a shift in Celie’s mindset, who throughout the novel discovers herself and her religious beliefs. Celie’s life improves as she finds examples in other black women, such as learning to stand up for herself and seeing her own self worth. When I first started reading, I found it difficult, both stylistically and morally. Since the first letters are written when Celie is very young, the sentence fragments are hard to piece together, as seen on page 2 when Celie says, “She ast me bout the first one Whose is it?” However as the novel progresses and Celie ages, the letters are easier to understand and become deeper content wise. Within the first page, there is blunt description of sexual abuse, which reoccurred many times throughout the book. The casual discussion of abuse was hard to get used to, however it succeeded in getting the point across that life for black women in the early 1900s was anything but easy. I liked being able to read a story from a perspective that I have never encountered before. Celie’s progression from hardships to independence and strength was inspiring. I felt that the ending was satisfying, and that I could be happy knowing that Celie found peace in her later life. Alice Walker achieved her goal in inspiring others to carve their own path in life. For example, the novel has two strong female characters who helped teach Celie to be independent. A character named Sophia hit back whenever her husband Harpo hit her. She refused to take a beating from a man, and inspired Celie to stand up for herself. Another character named Shug protected Celie from her abusive husband, which gave Celie the courage to speak up in front of him. At one point Celie describes these women by saying, “You know Shug will fight...She live her life and be herself no matter what,” (253). At the end of the novel, Celie is last seen happy and not being abused by any men. This shows that she took her life into her own hands and made the changes necessary to live a happy life. Although she was born into a poor home and was married off to an abusive man without consent, Celie in the end carved her own path and found strength in others. The novel also shows Celie’s intellectual progression by the syntax becoming more complex towards the end. The reader find Celie contemplating deeper topics rather than just stating the events of her day through fragmented sentences.

I had only ever seen the movie before I read this, but I absolutely love the movie. I watch it several times a year, and even sometimes just while I'm working on homework or even for no reason at all. Still, I was wary about reading the book because I was afraid it would destroy my perception of the movie. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised, and now I am in love with both the movie and the book. I would like to say that if anyone is reading this and expecting it to be word for word like the movie, or visa versa, you will be a little disappointed. Both are wonderful works, and they should be appreciated as such. Neither one should be compared to the other while reading/watching them because they were not approached the same way. I'd say the movie is toned down more language wise, but the book is more forthcoming. There is a lot that was left out, and after reading the book a lot more of what happened in the movie makes sense. ***Spoilers ahead*** - Shug and Celie's relationship is explored in depth. You get a sense of it in the movie, but the book definitely clarifies that Celie and Shug are lovers. - Albert isn't quite as cruel to Celie as he is in the movie. There's abuse, but eventually he becomes remorseful and the two of them end up becoming close friends. - All of the characters lives are discussed while the book just kind of left you wondering what happened to Squeak, Celie's other siblings, Celie's real father, Harpo and Sofia's kids, etc. - The mayor's wife is far more sinister in the book than she is in the movie, which makes much more sense. - A lot of the conversations are taken out of context in the movie, and after reading the books they made more sense. For instance, the "This life be over soon, heaven last always" conversation between Celie and Sofia. Celie explains she told Harpo to beat Sofia because she was jealous at how strong she was. Another is the conversation between Celie and Shug about sleeping with Albert. In the movie Shug just asks if Celie minded that she slept with him (assumingly in the past) but in the book it's made clear that Shug wanted to sleep with Albert during the present time. She also slept with Celie, as mentioned before, and Celie explained how jealous her sleeping with Albert made her. All in all it's a great read, and I recommend anyone who is a fan of the movie to read the book. Yes, there are some "language choices" that make the book seem more sexual, but in all fairness that makes the story more realistic. If that sort of thing bothers you then just stick to the movie. However, if you're looking for answers like I was, and you don't mind the honesty, this is something you need to read.

I don't know where to begin with my feelings about this book. I think it would be fair to say that this is one of the few works of literature that will forever change my point of view of the world. I have never thought of myself as being anywhere close to being a feminist. Growing up in a Southern California beach community, what care did I have about all the women who came before me fighting for the right to be counted as a whole human being with thoughts, feelings, and ideas that are just as valid as any mans. As I delved deeper into this book, spanning across several continents, the reality of being "just" a woman and nothing more than whatever the men around us want or demand of us to be, is all we are. I knew before starting The Color Purple, a major theme would be inequality, but other than having sorrow, pity, and disgust toward events that happened well before I was born, how close to home could this book possibly hit? Turns out as close as my own body. I never thought of myself in terms of being a member of society that is oppressed, but as a women, you are born into a group that through out history around the globe has been traded, sold, used, beaten, raped, mutilated, held down, and murdered for no other good reason than what it between your legs. Major religions count women as nothing unless they are married and producing babes. In these same religions, claimed to be given from a loving and all knowing god, we are expendable once the men who think they know god's will can deem us as no longer valuable, clean, or worthy. Whole societies feel that women are good for nothing other than menial and tedious labor. In America things are better than in other parts of the world, but all you have to do is watch the news and see the seething rage that is invoked over women's reproductive rights to see that there is still a long way to go. I would dare any women to read this novel and not be changed. Then there is the other "part" of this book that really spoke to me. At first I wasn't a fan of how shallow and matter of fact the people and events seemed to unfold. But as the chapters progress you being to see the characters aren't shallow and the events did impact them deeper than you saw on the surface. I believe that Alice Walker was trying to show that people are a very deep well that takes time to really draw from. We look at people and something reprehensible or noble that they have done, then we come to conclusions and usually hold that judgement to sum up he or she's whole existence. But the truth is good men can do bad things, bad men can do good things, and everyone if they are willing can learn, change, and grow. I would hope that one day instead of trying to ban this book, high schools would embrace this as work of fiction that can actually improve society...

The Color Purple is an unforgettable read. The storytelling is raw, emotional, and incredibly powerful, and the characters feel so real that they stay with you long after you finish. Alice Walker’s writing is both heartbreaking and hopeful, capturing resilience, love, and transformation in a way few novels do. A timeless classic that absolutely deserves its praise.

The book discussion group met in March 2017 to enthusiastically discuss this. Wow, we loved this book. Most of us had seen the movie at some point in the past (and a few of us had seen the Oprah-produced Broadway musical), but it turns out this is a favorite book of a few members of the group and everybody liked it lot. We rarely get this kind of universal praise for a book, so you know that if you didn't read it for group, you should still definitely put it on your list of books to read. Most of us agreed that the language is tough and off-putting for the first few letters, but you both get used to the odd spellings and grammar and also the writing gets better at Celie writes more. After eight or ten letters, it all seems pretty normal. The violence and cruelty is also tough and off-putting in the first part of the book but again, it gets less violent and you get used to it (what a horrifying thought!) as the novel continues. The words that readers used to describe the events and language in the novel are "epic," "biblical," "powerful," and finally "beautiful." The story seems huge and the family tree is complicated with parents, step-parents, unacknowledged parents, forced marriages, lovers and mistresses, as well as two dead unnamed mothers. But the major characters are clearly defined and change during the novel and, unlike many novels, the changes are clearly explained and well motivated by events in the novel. Celie is so desperate to be loved that she loves everyone else without thinking of herself. The men are largely evil (this is probably a valid criticism of the novel) who are forced to learn and change by the strong and far more admirable women who shape them. We enjoyed discussing butch and femme women (as well as the stupidly masculine men as compared to the loving and generous men), the open lesbianism, and the alternate Christian theology presented largely by the openly sexual Shug. I thought that the African letters from Nettie were a bit dry and anthropological compared to Celie's personal and emotive letters. And a few of the readers thought that the ending was perhaps too happy with everyone turning out to be a better, more evolved character. But these are quibbles compared to the well-drawn characters, the wide scope, the emotional fulfillment, and the positive changes that most of the characters undergo.

Everyone has a story to share- this is the purpose of the story The Color Purple by Alice Walker. One aspect that makes this novel interesting is the aspects shared by characters in the book and people in Alice Walker’s life. These similarities are seen by Celie’s sister Nettie, Pa and the main character Celie. The purpose of this novel is seen in the backstories of the characters in the The Color Purple. The story begins with the backstory of Celie. It tells about her physical abuse by her Pa, leading to a future dislike for men, and her unfailing love for her sister Nettie. The book then proceeds to tell the stories of Celie and her sister Nettie and show the effect their past has had on their presents. An example would be the abuse to Pa and her husband Albert leading to her hate for men and “passion” for women. Throughout the story God is show as Celie’s salvation and a safe haven for her. We learn that Celie sees God as a white man with a beard and since Celie is having some trouble with men she starts to have some problems with God as well. This is until Shug tells Celie that “God is whatever you see it as.” God is neither man nor woman, white nor black. God is everything and everything is God. The idea of God being a salvation is also shown in the life of Nettie, Celie’s sister, as she becomes a missionary in Africa. After leaving home, Nettie’s life takes a completely different turn than Celie’s. While Celie is stuck is an loop of never ending abuse, her sister Nettie lives a fruitful life while in Africa. Although Celie and Nettie grew up in the same household, their personalities differed which could have been what led to their differing lifestyles later in life. Another way the author shows how different people’s lives can be is the shift in point of view throughout the novel. The story switches between the point of views of Celie and Nettie in the form of letters. The entrance of the novel is a letter Celie writes to God. However, Celie loses her faith from all the terrible things that happen to her and she stops writing the letters. Later on, Nettie writes to Celie in order to tell Celie of the wonderful adventures she is experiencing while in Africa. The letters are first kept from Celie by her abusive husband Albert, but after Celie discovers the letters exist, she begins to read them and write responses to Nettie. In these letters, Celie tells Nettie all about her life and the people she meets. In these letters they are essentially telling each other their life’s stories. The author wrote this novel to elaborate on the fact that everyone has a different life story and that everyone’s stories are different. This is important because life stories shape who we are and how we act. Everyone is has a different story which leads to the diversity of people and their behaviors. Overall, the author did a good job in achieving her purpose and it made this novel a good read.

Funny at times. Sad at times. Enlightening all the way through. Written as a series of chats with God and letters to and from Celie and her sister, Nettie, this book takes place over 40 year in Georgia. It highlights the terrible prejudice toward Celie by her own kind. Her life is so bad, being abused, sexually, physically and emotionally by the man she thinks is her father, and having given birth to his two children, she is married off to an equally abusive womanising husband. She is separated from her sister, Nettie, who eventually goes to Africa as a help to a black missionary and his wife. This couple have adopted Celie’s children, unbeknown to her, whose parentage is not known to the missionary couple. Nettie experiences the terrible greed and lust for land and money of the rubber planters, and also the appalling culture of scarification and FGM within the tribe with whom they live. Celie’s life only turns a corner when she meets one of the women her husband is involved with. This lady, Shug, is a strong character who encourages Celie (eventually) to take a stand and be her own person; to fight for what she has a right to – Freedom and equality within the marriage; the right to say ‘No’ and the right to have the letters her sister has been writing to her for years but she has never received. Celie has never had such love and compassion from anyone before Shug and they become intimate. This intimacy is spoken of with sincerity and compassion in the book. Eventually, all things work out okay for Celie, Nettie and Celie’s children but not before they all learn some very important lessons about bigotry, discrimination, sexual and racial relations, their history and our relationship with God.

Me gusta mucho el libro. Llegó en buen estado.

Subtil, moderne, éclairant et plein d'espoir.

I’m so glad I read this. The character arcs were incredible, the premise and the plot was incredible it’s a truly amazing book. It also changed the way I think about a lot of things.