#ThrowbackThursday. The Color Purple

 

Walker, Alice "The Color Purple" - 1982 

This is one of the best stories I have ever read. They story of a woman who seems to have no rights whatsoever and manages to get out of the hell she lives in with the help of others but mainly by being very strong herself. Alice Walker received the well-deserved Pulitzer price for this in 1983.

Read my original review here.

Walker, Alice "The Temple of My Familiar"

Walker, Alice "The Temple of My Familiar" - 1989

As anything written by Alice Walker, this novel is absolutely brilliant. A mix of magic realism, historical fiction, women's lib, just Alice Walker, I guess. ;-)

A story of a couple of people whose lives are interwoven. Several characters from "The Color Purple" appear, you could say it is a sort of sequel to it. Or - you could say it is a story of hundreds of people during the centuries. Any kind of people turn up, any colour, any state, slaves, slaveholders, rich and poor.

I love how the author, I love her ambition, her determination, her views, her style. This is just another brilliant piece of her.

I also really loved her comment "We must have a world language … before we can have world peace." I've been speaking Esperanto for 35 years and I know she is right. Only, we do have that language already.

Apparently, "Possessing the Secret of Joy" is a also a novel including characters from "The Color Purple". Certainly on my wish list.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"An ambitious and multi-narrative novel containing the interleaved stories of Arveyda, a musician in search of his past; Carlotta, his Latin American wife who lives in exile from hers; Suwelo, a black professor of American History who realizes that his generation of men have failed women; Fanny, his ex-wife about to meet her father for the first time; and Lissie, a vibrant creature with a thousand pasts."

Walker, Alice "The Way Forward is with a Broken Heart"

Walker, Alice "The Way Forward is with a Broken Heart" - 2000

Who hasn't read Alice Walker's most famous Novel "The Color Purple". This is more a collection of short stories based on her life. A truly heart-rendering book, an eye opener, especially the story about her mixed-race marriage in the Southern US in the sixties, intriguing. Alice Walker is a fantastic author and I am looking forward to reading more of her books.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"'These are the stories that came to me to be told after the close of a magical marriage to an extraordinary man that ended in a less-than-magical divorce. I found myself unmoored, unmated, ungrounded in a way that challenged everything I'd ever thought about human relationships. Situated squarely in that terrifying paradise called freedom, precipitously out on so many emotional limbs, it was as if I had been born; and in fact I was being reborn as the woman I was to become.'

So says Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker about her beautiful new book, in which 'one of the best American writers today' (The Washington Post) gives us superb stories based on rich truths from her own experience. Imbued with Walker's wise philosophy and understanding of people, the spirit, sex and love, The Way Forward Is with a Broken Heart begins with a lyrical, autobiographical story of a marriage set in the violent and volatile Deep South during the early years of the civil rights movement. Walker goes on to imagine stories that grew out of the life following that marriage - life, she writes, that was 'marked by deep sea-changes and transitions.' These provocative stories showcase Walker's hard-won knowledge of love of many kinds and of the relationships that shape our lives, as well as her infectious sense of humor and joy. Filled with wonder at the power of the life force and of the capacity of human beings to move through love and loss and healing to love again, The Way Forward Is with a Broken Heart is an enriching, passionate book by 'a lavishly gifted writer' (The New York Times Book Review)."

Alice Walker received the Pulitzer Prize for "The Color Purple" in 1983.

Walker, Alice "The Color Purple"

Walker, Alice "The Color Purple" - 1982 

This is one of the best stories I have ever read. They story of a woman who seems to have no rights whatsoever and manages to get out of the hell she lives in with the help of others but mainly by being very strong herself. Alice Walker received the well-deserved Pulitzer price for this in 1983.

If you haven't read this book you certainly have heard about it or watched the movie (which is also very good, by the way). The story includes everything, joy and pain, family, religion, violence, rape, destruction, resurrection, racism, poverty.

The book starts when the main character, Celie, is fourteen. She lives with her mother, sister and stepfather. She is treated badly, ends in a bad marriage where she is treated even worse and nothing seems to be good for her, ever.

I liked the way Celie developed from a little girl into a strong, independent woman, the love for her sister, her search for her children. She seems a very likeable person who has to endure so much and always stands up again.

Apparently, Alice Walker used a lot of her own life in this novel, described personal experience. Maybe that's the reason it seems so true. She also wrote sort of a sequel "The Temple of My Familiar", if you liked "The Color Purple", you will love this one, as well.

A very interesting read about Alice Walker's life: "The Way Forward is with a Broken Heart".

Alice Walker received the Pulitzer Prize for "The Color Purple" in 1983.

From the back cover:

"Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to "Mister," a brutal man who terrorizes her. Celie eventually learns that her abusive husband has been keeping her sister's letters from her and the rage she feels, combined with an example of love and independence provided by her close friend Shug, pushes her finally toward an awakening of her creative and loving self."

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2022.