Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

22 reviews

poirot's review

emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Racism, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Violence, Misogyny, Slavery, Sexual violence, Incest, Colonisation, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexism, Rape, Pedophilia, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, and War

laurajordensharris's review

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, and Abandonment

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Violence, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Classism, Cursing, Death, Incest, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Slavery

beccareadsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Rape, Racial slurs, Slavery, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Torture, Violence, Sexual violence, Colonisation, and Alcoholism

jessthanthree's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Racism, Child abuse, Classism, Incest, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Grief, Homophobia, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Infertility, Death, and Medical content

sarah984's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Child abuse, and Misogyny

Moderate: Chronic illness, Drug use, Infidelity, Rape, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Incest, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Medical content, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Racism, and Sexual content

Minor: Ableism, Grief, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Alcoholism, and Body shaming

cali's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Rape, and Violence

katievh's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Racism

Minor: Alcoholism

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Alcoholism, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Child death, Infertility, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

anushka_17's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

natalie_1127's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Chronic illness, and Death