The Color Purple
by Alice Walker
Finished on 6 December 2007. Filed under Family, Friendship, Historical Setting, Romance, Women.
'Dear God: I am fourteen years old. I have always been a good girl. Maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what is happening to me...' So begins Alice Walker's touching, compelling, prize-winning novel set in the harsh, segregated world of the Deep South between the wars. Celie has been raped by the man she calls father; her two children have been taken away from her; she has been forced into an ugly marriage. She has no one to talk to but God.
Then she meets Shug Avery, singer and magic maker, and Celie discovers not the pain of female rivalry but the love and support of women.
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After-Thoughts
I thought it was interesting, extraordinary and touching. The use of deliberate poor language better depicts life in the harsh times of a segregated world.
It is a long story, spanning across around forty or fifty years of Celie's life and written from her perspective. Throughout this time, conditions changed and people changed, making it an incredibly "real" story with a great ending—though perhaps a little too perfect.
