The Color Purple: Tenth Anniversary Edition Hardcover – May 22, 1992

If you, like myself, have seen the movie and think, " I don't need to read the story," you're wrong.While there are, naturally, many similarities between the two...there are by far MANY more differences and they're great.While both the novel and the movie can, and do, stand alone, I highly recommend you give both a chance. I combined them in my head as I read and I think it just heightened them both for me.Please don't pass on the novel or the movie if you've read or seen one but not the other.SO well written.And I'm still irritated that The movie was completely ignored during the Academy Awards that year. A combination of racism spread out against 2 different entities. Those of African heritage and those of Jewish heritage.Read this and watch the movie.You'll regret neither.

Sophie has 5 children with Harpo. No one knows who is the father of the 6th. Shug has two children by Mr.--- but I'm not sure where they are or how many other children she has by who knows how many men. Squeak has children by Harpo who is still married to Sophie. No one has any respect for anyone. Everyone is dissatisfied with everything. Dysfunction. Dissatisfaction. Disrespect. The one story that was of interest was of Celie and Nettie's parents who tried to make something of themselves but we're brutalized by jealous, mean white men. I'm not sure why this is such a highly acclaimed book. To me it's a bunch of children having children and disrespecting everything.

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.

When I first began to read this book, the language and the pacing drew me into Celie’s mind quickly. I felt her frustration and sense of hopelessness — like a log caught in a quick current, hurtling towards who knows where and unable to see the world around it. It seemed like the novel’s theme was survival and perseverance. The loss of her babies. Her forced marriage to a man she calls Mr —- The loss of her beloved sister.But then Celie meets love in the form of a wild woman named Shug and slowly the pieces of her life come back together until she is finally whole. The end of the book is very optimistic. I wouldn’t have predicted that.While we accompany Celie on her journey, we see the problems of poverty, the legacy of slavery and its twin children hurt and abuse. We see Black and White. We see strong women, weak women, abusive men, kind men. Alice Walker rips open Celie’s world underneath the scabs and lets the sun in. It’s a book well deserving of all the prizes and distinction it’s brought to its author.

Trigger warnings for graphic sexual content and situations of violence and abuse.I struggled with this book at the start because our main protagonist is very uneducated so her use of language and punctuation in the letters she writes wasn’t the easiest to read, however I got used to it pretty quickly.This is a very heavy read, with very hard hitting topics that may leave you feeling uncomfortable, but it’s these types of topics that always needs to be addressed. However, besides from this it’s also about strong badass women, who stand up for themselves through the hard times they are put through, which I enjoyed reading.This book mainly follows Celie; but you also hear from her sister Nettie. I loved hearing from Nettie and her stories from Africa. You get to hear what it was like for people living in Olinka, in the slumps, and their native families traditions. Celie life is a whole lot different.Celie is a young black girl growing up in poverty, in the early 1900s. At the age of 14 she was raped and impregnated by her stepfather. This book follows her life throughout the next 30 years of living in a horrible forced marriage to finding love with Shug Avery, who is a bi-sexual character; and becoming a badass woman and learning to use her voice to stand up for herself.‘… I should have lock you up. Just let you out to work.The jail you plan for me is the one in which you will rot, I say.’‘…I’m pore, I’m black, I may be ugly and can’t cook, a voice say to everything listening. But I’m here.’The Color purple addresses a lot of sensitive topics that Walker definitely does not shy away from. You will learn this just from the first page. However, its also about strong Black women and I immediately was like, this is a brilliant book for feminists. It vividly showed you how women were treated, but how when they find their voices they will stand up for themselves and be a boss while doing so. When Celie stuck up for herself against Mr. I was so proud. The ending plastered a beaming smile onto my face, because I was so happy for the way things turned out for Celie.I also didn’t realise that this book is actually banned from many countries and schools. I can see why, but I feel this book would be fine to read for University students but too heavy for High School students. For it to be banned from schools I understand but for university students and up I think this book is great for them. I did do some research on this book, and apparently there have been different reasons for the book being banned; these include religious objections, homosexuality, violence, African history, rape, incest, drug abuse, explicit language, and sexual scenes. However, everything addressed in this book is true. These things happen, and need to be taught and discussed with many.Was this an enjoyable read? In some aspects, no! Can people learn from this? Yes! So, I would highly recommend.

Alice Walker’s epistolary novel first published in 1982 went on to win the National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize. Not bad for a book that is just a series of letters. But once you start to read it you realise why it won prizes and has been so popular with many people over the years. Rather ironically though in this country this seems to have had no real problems, but over the years in the US there have been attempts to have this banned from schools and libraries.Here then we meet Celia who initially writes letters to God as she tries to get things off her chest, but throughout the novel we find that she starts instead to write to her sister Nettie, who has gone to Africa with a family who are missionaries, and thus we have letters from her as well. Celie and her family come from the Deep South, and thus her letters, unlike those of her sister are in the vernacular, whereas Nettie shows a higher education with her letters written as you would normally expect.Why this novel works so well is because we read of real human characters, that despite this being in the epistolary style do seem to come fully alive. Taking in so many subjects and themes, so we read of family secrets and murder, along with sexual and physical abuse, as well as racism and many other subjects. The thing that really comes through though is arguably the determination and resilience of Celie as we see how she progresses through the ups and downs of life, thus bringing up a string of emotions in us all. What also really makes this such a great book to read is that the characters grow up, becoming more mature, recognising their faults as well as trying to improve themselves.

The Color Purple introduced me to Celie, Nettie, Shuga, and Sofia—four women with four different personalities and four different experiences. The only thing in common was that these women had been victims of racism, sexism and abuse, albeit in different ways. It is true that the raw narrative of rape and violence in The Color Purple may not perturb the contemporary reader; we live in a world where we've seen far worse. But this book is about much more than that. If you read The Color Purple, you'll find that it is full of infinite hope. You'll learn that going through adversities doesn't have to make you bitter or unkind. I was surprised to know that some literary stalwarts don't appreciate this book because of its very simple language. This simple language conveyed the raw reality of life with more clarity than any Virginia Woolf-esque prose ever could. Read it with an open mind, and I promise that you'll learn something.

This book covers many themes, racism, sexism, some parentilism and oppression.“Look at you! You’re Black, You’re Poor, You’re Ugly, You’re a Woman, you’re nothing at all”.Celie is the main character of the book, she is invisible and silent to begin with, having a downtrodden and hard life, being abused and raped by her father and given to the evil but yet weak, Mr__________ , who also rapes her, abuses her. Celie is a slave to Mr____________’s and his children’s needs.Shug Avery is a singer with dubious morals, a confident woman oozing sexuality. When Mr________ brings her into the household, it is his ultimate downfall as Shug helps Celie to gain confidence and independence, after hearing how Mr___________ treats her.Nettie is Celie’s sister, she was sent away at a young age after avoiding the sexual advances of her own father and then Mr________. She joins the household of Reverand Samuel and his wife Corrine and becomes a Missionary in Africa. She finally returns to Nettie many years later with a surprise for Celie.A lovely story, made up of letters sent from Celie to God and towards the end letters to her sister Nettie.A powerful and thought pro-voking book, detailing the strong bonds made between the black women of that time, standing strong against male domination, and the close bonds of true family.

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.