By the Light of My Father's Smile [Import] [Paperback]

ALICE WALKER (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: WOMEN'S PRESS LTD,THE; New Ed edition (1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0704346214
• ISBN-13: 978-0704346215
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,746,292 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alice Walker is one of the most prolific writers of our time, known for her literary fiction, including the Pultizer Prize-winning The Color Purple, her many volumes of poetry, and her powerful nonfiction collections. Walker's most recent book is The Chicken Chronicles, a memoir. Her advocacy for the dispossessed has spanned the globe. She lives in Northern California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for everyone!, December 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: By the Light of My Fathers Smile (Paperback)

Alice Walker is one of those writers whose work has the power to reach out and touch you when you need it most. This and I believe many of her other works are meant to be read at certain critical points in a specific persons life. Points when it is necessary to come to terms with a particular complex of issues. I thought it was telling when one reviewer said that the pre-occupation by some of the characters in this book with their personal traumas was unrealistic. Trauma is by its very nature pre-occupying. And what becomes lodged in an individual persons psyche as a result of the trauma they have experienced is typically unique to that individual (no one can judge the magnitude of pain in anothers heart). As a person who has been hurt reading the words of Alice Walker not only lets me know that another is serving as a witness to my pain it also shows me that there is joy waiting behind a door that I hadn't even realized existed. And it is in those moments that I feel truly blessed my her writing. Perhaps this and her other works are not perfect, in truth they are not. But in that moment when she has captured the pain in ones heart and soul, given it voice and a means to move forward who cares if it isn't the perfect novel? I guess those who haven't felt the coldness of a heart alone and bereft. For my part I say thank you Alice and keep writing, at least for me!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Captivating!, August 16, 2000

By 

Maurice Williams "mauricewms" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: By the Light of My Father's Smile: A Novel (Hardcover)

By The Light of My Father's Smile explores the past, present, and future connection of the female characters in the novel to their father. Walker uses a multi-voiced approach in revealing the complexities of relationships both parental and romantic. The characters' speak from both life and deaths experiences revealing to the reader that issues not resolved in life must certainly be reconciled in death. Walker delivers insight and wisdom through the use of folklore, and the spiritual philosophy of an ancient Mexican/African tribe. She is able to demonstrate with clarity how male oppression of women, specifically a father's oppression of his daughter, effects a woman emotionally, sexually, and spiritually. A definite must read for the masses.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a stunning creation, October 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: By the Light of My Father's Smile: A Novel (Hardcover)

I knew Alice Walker's name, but had never read her, and thus it was on a whim that I plucked this book from the library shelf.

By the Light of My Father's Smile is easily the best reading I have ever enjoyed. Walker's words are beautiful, grotesque, gentle, raw, passionate,honest. Her lovemaking scenes are intensely physical and emotional; metaphors about life itself and not the characters individually, and deliciously loving. It was refreshing to see a male point of view from a female writer, a male point of view on sexuality, a deceased male point of view on his daughter's intimate lives and his impact therein.

I read this book with no preconceived notions about Walker's writing style, no idea what the context of the book would hold, no expectations of character development, description, or prose--and I'll repeat, this is the best book that I have ever enjoyed. I have returned it to the library, but plan to purchase it to add to my small collection of books that make me feel so good I read them over and over.