Customer Reviews

The Third Life of Grange Copeland

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
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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.

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.

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.

Is the perpetual question that comes up through successive parts of the novel.

Is it the younger Grange Copeland when you see his behavior toward his wife and child?

Is it his son Brownfield, the eventual killer of his wife?

Is it the Jim Crow South that created the poisoned conditions under which such destrction could be wrought on a family?

Is it the Northerners who brought deluded dreams that the black Southerners had of a free and better life in the North?

As expected, this is one of Walker's novels that was written when she was "young and hungry," and the care that she takes to lead the reader in sundry directions is painstaking and evident.

A must read or anyone who is sufficiently cerebral to look for latent meanings.

This is a beautifully written, eye-opening tale of life for poor blacks in the mid-twentieth-century South. I highly recommend it for lending perspective to the lives of oppressed people. However, it is an EXTREMELY DEPRESSING book, particularly for a white person who wishes her own race to be less horrible to others.

Exceptional writer! Vivid easy flowing language. Not only adresses pregidous, but addresses how humans of any color can sometimes be their own worst enemy.

I have only read one other of Alice Walker's books (the impressive, involving, passionate ''Meridian''). But I can tell from her works, she is both a good, and consistant writer. I found this book less involving than ''Meridian'', because it tells of the life of a black family, not a black woman. Alice Walker writes of the lives of a once-handsome, happy black man, named Brownfield Copeland, who grew up the son of a sharecropper named Grange Copeland, living in despair. When his father abandons them he runs from the sharecropper's home and builds a family with a beautiful woman Mem. Soon enough the reality of his trapped despair hits him, and he takes out his anger, and frustration at being a black man in a country where blacks (and other minorities), are treated as less than human. He beats and abuses his wife, and children. After a dramatic, life-changing event, one of his daughter's ,Ruth , goes to live with her grandfather, and Brownfield's father Grange. Being raised with Grange, Ruth lives in a happy and protected world, but is not without her share of pain. She reaches sixteen with her grandfather, but then Brownfield comes back to claim his child. Can Grange protect his beloved granddaughter, from having to live with her father, the monster?

I suggest that before reading this book, you read '' Black Like Me'', by John Howard Griffin. This book helps to paint a better picture of the despair of African-Americans and the system of white injustice, which this book, despite all its strengths, does not do vividly.

One thing I am exceedingly impressed with in this book, is that, although it is clearly shown that Brownfield's abusive behavior was caused by the trapped reality of his exsistence as a black man, Alice Walker refuses to excuse Brownfield's behavior with the injustices imposed by whites. She points out that there is a solace inside of all human beings, which can resist domination- an inner strength that refuses to allow the opresser to turn him to hatred. Not being a black person, but being a member of a minority group, I highly empathize with Brownfield- who for all his viciousness is still shown to have a side of humanity. But it's Grange who is the true main character in this book- and he is brought to life with honesty, clarity, and a goodness, although he is by no means a saint, or even meant as an example. I would highly recommend this poignant, and sensitive book.

I loved this book. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down.

Had to order this book for my English class in college for my end of term paper, pretty good story, I've noticed Alice Walker makes very interesting novels about AA struggle and life stories. But very good plot, makes you think a little.

An unflinching exploration of the effect of oppression on the family, and of the opportunity of liberation through responsibility and agency. Walker's compassion for her characters, no matter how hurtful and destructive their choices, opens the heart and mind of the reader. I doubt there's a more important American writer than she. Thank you, wise woman.