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A review by dredadonx
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
This seminal work by Alice Walker has been a great inspiration for many black women and marginalized genders to embrace the art of storytelling and gather its themes on love, family, grief, and interpersonal relationships.
Walker has made this emblem that has inspired two adaptations, the one in the 90s that featured Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, and Laurence Fishburn, and the newest one that was released on Christmas of 2023, which featured Fantasia, Halle Bailey, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks. and more.
The book is set in 1900s, reconstruction America in the Jim Crow Era, so the historical narrative in regards to race, class, and gender are an important context into the book.
One of the things that really made me cry was reading through the trauma that Celie, who is our main protagonist and is a darkskinned black woman in the story, faces so many trials and tribulations due to the colorism she faces from her family and her subsequent forced marriage to Mister, who really wanted her lightskinned sister. Celie undergoes many abuses under Mister due to the patriarchy and male dominant society that pressures women into marriage and motherhood as if that is ALL they are good for. Patriarchy teaches men to see women as inferior, to dominate and subdue through SA, physical abuse, and neglect.
This book was very good and I am actually upset that it took me this long to read it smh. My goal is to try to read as much of the African American/African continental literary classics for 2024 because I am definitely, long overdue.
Walker has made this emblem that has inspired two adaptations, the one in the 90s that featured Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, and Laurence Fishburn, and the newest one that was released on Christmas of 2023, which featured Fantasia, Halle Bailey, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks. and more.
The book is set in 1900s, reconstruction America in the Jim Crow Era, so the historical narrative in regards to race, class, and gender are an important context into the book.
One of the things that really made me cry was reading through the trauma that Celie, who is our main protagonist and is a darkskinned black woman in the story, faces so many trials and tribulations due to the colorism she faces from her family and her subsequent forced marriage to Mister, who really wanted her lightskinned sister. Celie undergoes many abuses under Mister due to the patriarchy and male dominant society that pressures women into marriage and motherhood as if that is ALL they are good for. Patriarchy teaches men to see women as inferior, to dominate and subdue through SA, physical abuse, and neglect.
This book was very good and I am actually upset that it took me this long to read it smh. My goal is to try to read as much of the African American/African continental literary classics for 2024 because I am definitely, long overdue.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse and Violence