Customer Reviews

The Color Purple

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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Honestly, I picked up the book because of the movie and wish I would have read it beforehand. It's an excellent story and filled with a poignancy that strikes at the heart. Cely's growth, from a childhood filled with incest and abuse to a young adult hood filled with spousal abuse and her eventual growth into a strong and determined woman at the hands of a most unlikely of individuals, is brilliantly written.

Described as "intense emotional impact...indelibly affecting" by the NY Times Book Review. I agree. This is a book about incest and its impacts--the opening chapter off-putting for that reason. We travel with a scarred survivor--Celia--from the time the sexual abuse begins for her at 14, until she is liberated probably in her 50s. The book is set up as letters to God from Celie and written in ebonics. Her sister Nettie is a fighter and runs away before she can be abused. Nettie becomes a missionary and writes letters in good English to her sister for 30 years before one is ever received by Celie. She comes into possession of these letters through the intervention of a scarlet woman, Avery Shug. Shug is bisexual, and teaches Celie how to enjoy sex and how to find meaning in her life by sewing pants for everyone. Walker herself says the book "remains her theological work examining the journey from the religious back to the spiritual that I spent much of my adult life, prior to writing it, seeking to avoid."
The name of the book comes from Celie's favorite color, purple. She painted everything in her bedroom purple and red. VERY GOOD BOOK.

When reading and done with The Color Purple, you'll know you've become a part of something extraordinarily valuable. Basically, this is the story of Celie's life from her teenage years to her approaching retirement age, with her as the first person teller via her diaries and letters. It chronicles the changes, metamorphoses, of her growth. Once the reader is comfortable with Celie's dialect, the story of Celie and the people around her blossoms. It's very easy to care deeply about Celie. She, Shug, her sister Nellie, Sofia and others are drawn with pinpoint clarity, although it seems to me that with a couple of modest exceptions, the men are not as well drawn, perhaps reflecting Celie's perspectives and telling. The range of emotions is dazzling and the story draws one in thoroughly. The first time I tried to read it, I found the beginning too upsetting to continue, but upon this second, determined reading, I came to regret not getting past that beginning before. Simply said: the Puliter committee was right. If the next step up from great writing is great writing that affects your life, this surely is. Amazing!

I first read this book many years ago when I was in my mid-teens. No matter how many times I've read this book, it's still as intense as ever. Parts of the book were a litte predictable, but I could still enjoy reading them. Alice Walker is probably one of the best authors I had ever had a chance to read from.

I felt deeply for Celia because of how abused she was and how she got out of that situation. Her growth as a character was very powerful and deep impacting to the overall plot.

The Color Purple is an excellent book. Although the ending is predictable, I became so invested in the characters that I felt overwhelming joy as I finished the book. I knew what was coming but I didn't expect the impact when it arrived.

When i read the Color Purple, it moved me like few books have done. Poignant, honest and so real. I cried, I laughed and cried again, a lot. The story of a tortured ugly woman who grows with time until she finds who she is and acts on it. A wonderfully executed novel with posted letters. Amazing! The whole story was told through the letters between the two sisters.

a very well written book. the things this woman haas to go through is horryfying and sick but she makes it and makes herself a better person and finally sticks up for herself. very powering.

This item was received on time in Great condition. This is a great book and a poplar title. Thank you.