A review by ktrain3900
Meridian by Alice Walker

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective 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

3.75

The more things change, the more they stay the same. I chose this book to read as part of a challenge to read a book published the year you were born (for me, that's 1976). While certainly this book feels its age, in spots, occasionally, it's largely contemporary to everything that's happening in the US still. The title protagonist suffers, in what often feels like a passive way, as many of us do, sleepwalking through much. The suffering feels a bit Christlike in moments, the weight of the world (or at least a misguided, meandering, back-looking country) on her shoulders, as she is surrounded by Judases, by Pilots and Pharisees, by so many needy people craving a miracle or maybe just a handout/hand up. Yet she ultimateley chooses life and herself over death and others, without compromising to the system or those around her. My only criticism is that it was little hard for me to initally get into, and to follow in places.