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criticalgayze's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I have had a hard time sitting down to write this review, which is partially why I'm sitting down to it six days after having finished.
This novel was really powerful, especially the first half. It does that thing that all marginalized people's fiction feels like it has to do where it is simultaneously a history/anthropology lesson while being a deeply felt character study. Walker does some truly interesting things with language here, and I really appreciate the form, which is justified from the novel's start. I also am thankful for a modern classic that is so unabashedly Queer, and I don't think that aspect of the story is talked about enough. You can feel the authors that Walker is in conversation with here, most notably Hurston, and you can tell the authors who have been in conversation with her since, Whitehead is springing most quickly to mind.
But about halfway through the novel I took a trip over to Walker's Wikipedia page where I read some truly troubling things she's said in support of antisemitic creators. While she has tried to underplay the antisemitism in these works she supports, it does not come across as being very absolving of what one has to make the leap to assume are her own personal beliefs to some extent.
About the same time, the book dipped in interest for me. While we may try to push the separation of art from artist, I don't know that this is an achievable feat for me as a person, especially when Walker is a living author who has made these comments at least as recently as 2017. I don't know if the dip in my personal connection to the story can truly be said to be on the story's merit or on this disagreement with Walker's personal beliefs.
I do feel like I can say confidently that there is some extent to which the novel doesn't quite stick the landing to me as the novel's fade to black ending does feel a little overly sentimental and rosy in what up to that point has been a fairly searing tough hang of a novel.
Maybe one day I'll come back to try to review this more objectively, or maybe I'll just stick with the people who are having similar conversation in their works that don't come loaded with public baggage. Only time will tell.
Quotes:
She got my eyes just like they is today. Like everything I seen, she seen, and she pondering it. (pg. 13)
He try to give her a compliment, she pass it on to me. After while I git to feeling pretty cute. (pg. 17)
Oh Celie, unbelief is a terrible thing. And so is the hurt we cause others unknowingly. (pg. 184)
Let 'im hear me, I say. If he ever listened to poor colored women the world would be a different place, I can tell you. (pg. 191)
But it ain't easy, trying to do without God. Even if you know he ain't there, trying to do without him is a strain. (p. 192)
It hard enough to get by without being a fool. (pg. 219)
This novel was really powerful, especially the first half. It does that thing that all marginalized people's fiction feels like it has to do where it is simultaneously a history/anthropology lesson while being a deeply felt character study. Walker does some truly interesting things with language here, and I really appreciate the form, which is justified from the novel's start. I also am thankful for a modern classic that is so unabashedly Queer, and I don't think that aspect of the story is talked about enough. You can feel the authors that Walker is in conversation with here, most notably Hurston, and you can tell the authors who have been in conversation with her since, Whitehead is springing most quickly to mind.
But about halfway through the novel I took a trip over to Walker's Wikipedia page where I read some truly troubling things she's said in support of antisemitic creators. While she has tried to underplay the antisemitism in these works she supports, it does not come across as being very absolving of what one has to make the leap to assume are her own personal beliefs to some extent.
About the same time, the book dipped in interest for me. While we may try to push the separation of art from artist, I don't know that this is an achievable feat for me as a person, especially when Walker is a living author who has made these comments at least as recently as 2017. I don't know if the dip in my personal connection to the story can truly be said to be on the story's merit or on this disagreement with Walker's personal beliefs.
I do feel like I can say confidently that there is some extent to which the novel doesn't quite stick the landing to me as the novel's fade to black ending does feel a little overly sentimental and rosy in what up to that point has been a fairly searing tough hang of a novel.
Maybe one day I'll come back to try to review this more objectively, or maybe I'll just stick with the people who are having similar conversation in their works that don't come loaded with public baggage. Only time will tell.
Quotes:
She got my eyes just like they is today. Like everything I seen, she seen, and she pondering it. (pg. 13)
He try to give her a compliment, she pass it on to me. After while I git to feeling pretty cute. (pg. 17)
Oh Celie, unbelief is a terrible thing. And so is the hurt we cause others unknowingly. (pg. 184)
Let 'im hear me, I say. If he ever listened to poor colored women the world would be a different place, I can tell you. (pg. 191)
But it ain't easy, trying to do without God. Even if you know he ain't there, trying to do without him is a strain. (p. 192)
It hard enough to get by without being a fool. (pg. 219)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Violence, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Misogyny, Death of parent, Child abuse, and Police brutality
ninascozydayreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
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
4.0
I’m always a bit afraid to dive into books that are canonically accepted as “classics”. We can talk for ages and ages about what it takes for a book to be a classic, and the status of classic books, but that doesn’t take away that some books are classics, and others aren’t. The Colour Purple, by all means, is a classic. An American classic to be exact.
The reason I’m always so afraid to read classics is that I’m afraid I won’t get it. Dense writing? I can do that. Slow moving plots? Not every book can be a Young Adult fast-paced fantasy, and once there’s no actual action in the traditional sense of the word (monsters, guns blazing, corrupt government), a book tends to be “slow moving” pretty quickly. How can the words run if the characters don’t? Plus, I’ve read Anna Karenina and NOTHING can ever bore me as much as that one did. But in classics, authors try to say something more, have striking commentary on the times or social movements. Think of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, about the wish of a black girl to be white. But these stories are so ridden with metaphors and references that I always feel like I’m falling short of understanding it. This fear has only been exacerbated by my own studies in English literature, where you simply HAD to analyse a book over and over again and pick out the tiniest meaning. Therefore, whenever I read a classic, I notice that I cannot review it in a “this is what I liked and this is what I didn’t like” sorta way; I can only analyse it. Which sucks, by the way.
Yet here I am, having read The Colour Purple, trying to write a sensible review and the only thing I can think of is how jarring the writing is and how well it (obviously) reflects Celie’s education; non-existent. I mean, it’s letters she writes herself, it would have been weird if she did have perfect grammar right? Even though the writing is so jarring, so inconsistent, and so hard to get into, it is exactly what makes this book a masterpiece. It is the perfect example of “show not tell”; we know Celie isn’t the brightest, and can’t write, not because she says so (well she does as well), but because it’s visible in her writing.
In terms of story; sure it moves slow, but we’re following Celie over years and years. The book isn’t actually as slow as it could have been. It was also surprisingly engaging, as we slowly witness Celie emancipate herself, stand up for herself. It was empowering to read it.
All-in-all, whether I understood it to the extent of which it needed to be understood or not, I really enjoyed reading this book, and definitely would recommend it to others if you’re looking for something thought provoking, or simply an easy classic to get into.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Alcoholism, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Child death, Infertility, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
leabhar_love's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, Child abuse, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexual content, Violence, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, and Slavery
ktrecs's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Slavery
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