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4.0 out of 5 stars
Poignant but perhaps over my head., March 31, 2008
In Alice Walkers You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down the emotions and ideas conveyed are far more important and poignant then the stories themselves. Each story is told to teach us about an idea or at least educate us on the emotion involved. The stories are a tool and not primarily an entertainment construct.
From the first story Nineteen Fifty-Five to the last story A Sudden Trip Home in spring we are given a number of concepts and emotions to experience. These emotions run from despair to triumph and the ideas we are taught deal with porn, inequality, gender relationships and far more. At initial glance there does not seem to be a common theme until you look at the obvious. The obvious of course is the female perspective and perhaps as important the African American Woman perspective.
Each story told is from the perspective of African American woman. We are told a story of trauma and trial through the eyes of each of these women. The trials are not always unique. We all deal with trials and we are all human. This is nothing new. What is new, especially for readers other then African American woman, is the viewpoint. The viewpoint of common and uncommon situations from a unique and often unobserved vantage point is striking and piercing.
The woman who wrote the novel wrote it in a raw and biting manner. A man reading this or more concisely a white man reading this is given the opportunity to experience emotions and trials that otherwise would never be possible. Does this mean a white man would understand some of the issues dealt with by the author after reading this book? I do not believe this is the case or even the point of the book. Understanding is not asked for merely awareness. You can ignore what is unknown but once awareness is involved a step has been taken.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Poignant but perhaps over my head., March 31, 2008
In Alice Walkers You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down the emotions and ideas conveyed are far more important and poignant then the stories themselves. Each story is told to teach us about an idea or at least educate us on the emotion involved. The stories are a tool and not primarily an entertainment construct.
From the first story Nineteen Fifty-Five to the last story A Sudden Trip Home in spring we are given a number of concepts and emotions to experience. These emotions run from despair to triumph and the ideas we are taught deal with porn, inequality, gender relationships and far more. At initial glance there does not seem to be a common theme until you look at the obvious. The obvious of course is the female perspective and perhaps as important the African American Woman perspective.
Each story told is from the perspective of African American woman. We are told a story of trauma and trial through the eyes of each of these women. The trials are not always unique. We all deal with trials and we are all human. This is nothing new. What is new, especially for readers other then African American woman, is the viewpoint. The viewpoint of common and uncommon situations from a unique and often unobserved vantage point is striking and piercing.
The woman who wrote the novel wrote it in a raw and biting manner. A man reading this or more concisely a white man reading this is given the opportunity to experience emotions and trials that otherwise would never be possible. Does this mean a white man would understand some of the issues dealt with by the author after reading this book? I do not believe this is the case or even the point of the book. Understanding is not asked for merely awareness. You can ignore what is unknown but once awareness is involved a step has been taken.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Poignant but perhaps over my head., March 31, 2008
In Alice Walkers You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down the emotions and ideas conveyed are far more important and poignant then the stories themselves. Each story is told to teach us about an idea or at least educate us on the emotion involved. The stories are a tool and not primarily an entertainment construct.
From the first story Nineteen Fifty-Five to the last story A Sudden Trip Home in spring we are given a number of concepts and emotions to experience. These emotions run from despair to triumph and the ideas we are taught deal with porn, inequality, gender relationships and far more. At initial glance there does not seem to be a common theme until you look at the obvious. The obvious of course is the female perspective and perhaps as important the African American Woman perspective.
Each story told is from the perspective of African American woman. We are told a story of trauma and trial through the eyes of each of these women. The trials are not always unique. We all deal with trials and we are all human. This is nothing new. What is new, especially for readers other then African American woman, is the viewpoint. The viewpoint of common and uncommon situations from a unique and often unobserved vantage point is striking and piercing.
The woman who wrote the novel wrote it in a raw and biting manner. A man reading this or more concisely a white man reading this is given the opportunity to experience emotions and trials that otherwise would never be possible. Does this mean a white man would understand some of the issues dealt with by the author after reading this book? I do not believe this is the case or even the point of the book. Understanding is not asked for merely awareness. You can ignore what is unknown but once awareness is involved a step has been taken.
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