The Third Life of Grange Copeland [Paperback]

Alice Walker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1991

Despondent over the futility of life in the South, black tenant farmer Grange Copeland leaves his wife and son in Georgia to head North. After meeting an equally humiliating existence there, he returns to Georgia, years later, to find his son, Brownfield, imprisoned for the murder of his wife. As the guardian of the couple's youngest daughter, Grange Copeland is looking at his third -- and final -- chance to free himself from spiritual and social enslavement.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Alice Walker is a lavishly gifted writer."--The New York Times Book Review

"Almost no one has tried to tell us about the early lives, the INNER early lives of Black people.... Alice Walker is a storyteller." -- Robert Coles, The New Yorker

"Alice Walker is exceptionally brave, and takes on subjects at which most writers would flinch and quail..." -- Alice Adams, The San Francisco Chronicle

"Walker dares to reveal truths about men and women, about blacks and whites, about God and love.... And we, like Alice Walker's marvelous characters, come away transformed by knowledge and love but most of all by wonder." --Essence

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Best-selling novelist ALICE WALKER is the author of five other novels, five collections of short stories, six collections of essays, seven volumes of poetry, including the most recent Hard Times Require Furious Dancing, and several children’s books. Her books have been translated into more than two dozen languages.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Pocket Books (Mm) (March 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671745883
• ISBN-13: 978-0671745882
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,094,001 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

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Well Done!, December 6, 2001

By 

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

This review is from: The Third Life of Grange Copeland (Paperback)

Walker sets the tone in this first novel for what has become a career of writing that liberates and educates. In "The Third Life of Grange Copeland", the author details an American tragedy, perhaps the great American tragedy, of a family destroyed by the effects of racial oppression in rural 1920's Georgia. We are introduced to father and son (Grange and Brownfield respectively) who collapse emotionally, mentally, and spiritually under the weight of what it is to be a Black man in this country. Although the majority of the story takes place pre Civil Rights Era, the effects of racial oppression portrayed in the novel are visible to the alert reader today.

We are first introduced to Grange who has worked on a plantation enduring the hatred and cruelty from his white boss for so long he does not know what it is to be a man. Dismissed, disrespected and dejected, Grange's disdain for the oppressor implodes creating a hollow, spiritless shell of a man. In an effort to exert a misdirected sense of manhood, or perhaps feel what it's like to have the upper hand in something, Grange attempts to liberate himself by drinking, gambling and womanizing, further separating himself from a wife and son he feels unable to love, honor or protect. Grange endures the final insult at the hands of his tormentor when the plantation owner impregnates his wife. He heads North with hopes of finding something better, something new. It is up North that his metamorphosis begins allowing him to return to the South with a newfound sense of self and responsibility.

Brownfield, Grange's son, is orphaned when his father leaves and his mother kills herself and her mulatto infant. Father and son meet again when Grange returns home and Brownfield has married. The dynamics of their relationship during this time is the true jewel of this novel. Brownfield finds himself in the same situation as his father - working a plantation, barley able to provide for his family, and eventually stripped of all self-respect. Having married an educated woman, he felt further minimized by his lack of schooling. Repeating the pattern of his father, Brownfield turns to a life of free spirits, using whatever force he can muster within him to reduce his wife ("knock her down a notch") to his standard of existence.

Walker is relentless in her assertion that resistance, at any cost, is the secret of joy, the road to liberation. She is steadfast in her rejection of the subjugation of women by the patriarchy; unwavering in her denunciation of racial oppression. "The Third Life of Grange Copeland" is a very well done first novel. Definitely representative of the acclaim Walker's later work has achieved. Highly recommended.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent early Walker, April 23, 2004

By 

Edward Aycock (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Third Life of Grange Copeland (Paperback)

Often, if an author writes a book that becomes immensely popular and a mainstay in modern literature, their career is then divided up between before and after. For the majority, I'd say their entry point to an author's canon usually is the well-received work, so it's fun to browse an author's "backlog" and experience their earliest achievements. Having been a fan of Alice Walker for many years but only having read two novels (plus a great deal of short stories and non-fiction), I figured it was time to give her first published novel, "The Third Life of Grange Copeland," a try.

Had this been written by anybody but Alice Walker, I'd say this was one of the most impressive debut novels I've read. Since it *is* written by Walker, I should have known to not be surprised by the eloquence, the poetry and the grittiness of this book. Alice Walker is a storyteller with gifts bordering on the supernatural; if the Southern U.S. landscape could talk, it would sound a lot like Alice Walker. This is the story, told in razor sharp prose, of a man and the effect his actions have on his family over a period of many years. It's not an easy novel to read as there are hard truths in the story of Grange and Brownfield but there are lessons that will stay with the reader. This is also an interesting study on the actions of an individual, and who is to blame; society or the man/woman? There are no such easy answers in this book and I found myself wavering between sympathy and outright hatred for some of the characters, but it's the mark of a great read when I can feel so much for a story.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finding strength from within to make the future better., October 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Third Life of Grange Copeland (Paperback)

I enjoyed reading The Third Life of Grange Copeland because it left me, at the end of each chapter, wanting to know what would happen next. This novel was easy to read and understand. I recommend it to any age group from middle school or higher.