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A review by amallard
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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
Perhaps the preface of my copy isn't common to all of versions of the book, but it totally defined my reading. In it, Walker describes the novel as reflecting her own exploration of spirituality. I carried this impression with me and I think it led me to deviate from the standard. Because others have called this book harrowing or dark, and it feels illicit to say, but to me it didn't scan to that.
The Colour Purple is hope, bottled. A celebration of womanhood, of spiritual queer Black womanhood - it radiates the love and energy of a woman. It is gorgeous. It offers female solidarity, insight into topics against which modern feminism all these decades later still rails (friendzoning, toxic masculinity). I read it, closed it, flipped it over in my hands, and read it again. It is agelessly beautiful.
The Colour Purple is hope, bottled. A celebration of womanhood, of spiritual queer Black womanhood - it radiates the love and energy of a woman. It is gorgeous. It offers female solidarity, insight into topics against which modern feminism all these decades later still rails (friendzoning, toxic masculinity). I read it, closed it, flipped it over in my hands, and read it again. It is agelessly beautiful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, and Violence