Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

110 reviews

catmac91's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Racial slurs

Minor: Slavery

znvisser's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

The Color Purple has been one of my mom’s favourite movies for years, so it’s about time I watch it (and then the upcoming release too of course); but then I couldn’t without first reading the book. So I sourced a pretty Penguin edition and finally got started. 

This story does a lot of things and it does all of them really well. It’s full of complicated people, relationships and lives; of women gaining strength and wisdom with their years and some men trying (and some not); of exploration of faith and building community; and of (post-)colonial criticism slicing through it all. 

In advance, I was wary of its form - through letters, but it worked out surprisingly well. And I'm also becoming more and more of a sucker for stories in which the real love story is platonic. This is such a rich story, and I can’t wait to see how it translates into films. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, and Colonisation

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

katierobertsonshaddix's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Pregnancy

caitlaird's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Beautifully told, made me cry multiple times. An incredible story of a woman’s strength and resilience while also learning how to love herself, as well as learn how to trust and lean on  her community of women.
 A beautiful exploration of queer identity and love in a time where one might not have the knowledge or words for who they are. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Slavery

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Incest, and Colonisation

mrscorytee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Rape, and Slavery

gaycree's review against another edition

dark hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

no words can describe the beauty and immense joy it was to read this. its very sad that no film adaptation has been able to handle the emotional queer lesbian love story at the heart of it all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Slavery

Minor: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy

allisonobrien's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Slavery

chelly07's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Sexual violence, and Slavery

bashsbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

5.0

I can see why this book is such a classic - and why it's so frequently banned. I was pleasantly surprised at how open Celie's letters were about her love and lust for Shug Avery, and how upfront all the black characters were about all the various ways racism manifested in their lives & white people made things that much harder for them. It felt like a manifesto for black queer women, in fiction form. I loved that the ending, after so much hardship was ultimately hopeful. I'm not usually a huge fan of epistolary novels in general, but the format worked well for this story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Slavery, Religious bigotry, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

annilikesbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Colonisation