Reviews with content warning for Drug use - The Color Purple

I went into this book not knowing much other than that it has a queer woman's storyline and that it was turned into a movie and a musical, with a movie of the musical coming next year. I didn't expect the story to hit this hard with the layers of trauma, racism, sexism, domestic violence, and sexual assault that the main character Celie goes through. It took me longer to read this book than others of the same length just because of the dark topics and way Celie candidly recounts the abuse she's faced, but it was a very rewarding read because of the themes of perseverance, never losing hope, and staying true to yourself. It is very touching to see how Celie first writes her letters to God because her faith is placed all on religion to end her suffering or at least hear her story, but once she is separated from her sister Nettie she begins to write to her instead and places all her hopes in seeing her again some day. The language Alice Walker uses really gives a strong identity to the characters and helps to show the differences in the way each person carries themselves, particularly giving strong characterization to the women in both the main and supporting casts. I loved that this story gave so much nuance and complexity to the Black women, in a time period where they were historically undermined, taken for granted, and directly harmed. I loved seeing them have a voice and show resistance to the ways they were treated both to the men and the white people in their lives, and I thought the portrayal of Celie's sexuality and self-discovery was done with so much care and respect. This book is such an important one and I'm glad it has all the massive recognition, awards, and adaptations it does to appreciate its cultural relevancy and literary significance.

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_ao_'s review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Shocking. Sweet. Sad. Heartwarming. Bitter. Beautiful complete reflection on life.

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sarah984's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I can see why people like this book and I did enjoy the community formed by the various women for survival even when they didn't like one another very much. However I felt that most of the characters weren't very deep and a lot of things seemed to be forgiven way too easily. There is a sort of "plot twist" in the mid point which seemed to have no purpose aside from making another character seem more "valuable" to Celie.

Additionally, while looking up information about the book while reading I discovered very recent and bizarre antisemitic comments that Alice Walker has made and I can't recommend reading a book by a living author who is out there recommending David Icke and Alex Jones.

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