Reviews tagging 'Classism'

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

33 reviews

neverlandpages4's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring 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

• From the very first page, I knew that this book would be a poignant, inspiring, and educational story. It explores racism, queer identity, friendship, family, and so much more.

• This is an epistolary book written in AAVE, the first half is written from Celie to God, and it explores Celie’s life and all the hardships she’s faced, the second half is Nettie’s letters to her older sister, Celie, and she describes what it was like becoming a missionary and traveling to Africa.

• It's also mainly literary historical fiction and it does focus on the characters more than the plot. I’m usually more of a plot person so I did find it a bit boring at the beginning but I’d say around the 30-40% mark it did get more interesting.

• Nettie’s letters made me really emotional, she talks about how due to her lack of education, she didn’t know anything about Africa and was surprised to meet other black people that were not enslaved and not working for a white family. It’s such a heartbreaking thing to read knowing that this was (and still is in some parts of the world) reality. That the color of someone’s skin determined whether or not they deserved to have basic human rights.

• I love how this book also explores misogyny and how some of the women stand up for themselves and question the “norm” that is misogyny and sexism during that time period, and fight to learn and get an education regardless of the horrible men that stand in their way.

• Celie made me laugh out loud many times, her character development was inspiring and I was so happy for her when she finally took charge of her life and started doing the things she loved.

• I’d highly recommend reading this!! Even if the genre isn’t something you usually read, it’s still an important book that explores so many difficult topics in such an honest way. There’s also a movie adaptation that I can’t wait to watch!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Sexism, Incest, Racism, Misogyny, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Abandonment, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Body shaming, Drug use, Classism, and Grief

Minor: Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, and Vomit

nadia's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I've finally read this classic, in time for the latest movie (which I was surprised to see massively simplified the book, in terms of plot points and themes explored).

I really liked the book! I liked the letter structure and appreciated all of the themes covered. I certainly did not expect to laugh out loud at parts, especially so early on. Those who've read the book or seen one of the film adaptations might guess at what was the cause of this!

Didn't have as much of an emotional pull as I thought it would have though!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Police brutality, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Racism, Domestic abuse, Rape, Colonisation, Violence, Grief, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Incest, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Classism and Injury/Injury detail

melist6's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Classism, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Racism

Moderate: Death, Incest, Grief, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Terminal illness

eekke's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Drug use, Genocide, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Incest, Violence, Murder, Hate crime, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Abandonment, Racism, Death, Cursing, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Infidelity

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

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

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

dragon_s_hoard's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Amazing character writing, this book is hard hitting and poignant. 
The epistolary style works well, but the fact that the plot is a “slice-of-life-over-a-lifetime” made it a little bit meandering for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Abandonment, Racism, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Classism, Grief, Colonisation, Death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Minor: Gaslighting, Drug use, Alcoholism, and Addiction

alicelucygranger's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-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

3.75

I understand the purpose of the way it was written but I found that it made it difficult to read and that distracted me from the book. Even though quite a lot happens it’s really slow in parts. However interesting insight into the life of someone from that background and time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Rape

Moderate: Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, and Sexism

hstcrow's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective tense medium-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: Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Incest, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Racism, Classism, Slavery, Mental illness, Cursing, Death of parent, and Colonisation

staceys_adventure's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Rape, Child abuse, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Death, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Child death, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Colonisation, Cursing, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Body shaming, Drug use, Grief, Sexism, Incest, Slavery, Infertility, Physical abuse, and Racism

thoseoldcrows23's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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

3.0

Thematically this is a really good book; however, narratively, it's not as strong as I expected it to be. The way Walker has chosen to frame the story creates both a slight emotional distance from the characters and a very narrow window through which the reader can view the events taking place. The timeline is a little hard to follow because the story dips in and out without any acknowledgement from Celie of how much time has passed, and any events which primarily center the side characters are glossed over because she’s not directly involved. I also had some smaller issues with Walker’s style (For example, I find her approach to sex to be really unpleasant to read), and all these issues combined detracted from my enjoyment of the book a bit. That being said, the ideas and emotions at the heart of this are excellent, and that rock solid core carried this book through some of the rougher patches. All in all, it wasn’t quite as good as I wanted it to be, but I do understand why it’s a modern classic and would recommend it to anyone interested. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Incest, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, Violence, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Classism, Cursing, Bullying, and Death

Minor: Drug use, Alcohol, and Child death