Customer Reviews
Beautiful and true - By: Andrew Blackman, 01 Jan 2009 
This is a deeply religious book,in a couple of different senses. First of all, the main character, Celie, narrates the book through letters she writes to God. She is trappedin abusive relationships, first with Pa & then with her husband Albert, referred to by her as Mr ______. She writes to God because she has nobody else to talk to after her sister Nettie disappears, believed dead. Gradually, through her relationship with Shug Avery & piecing together the truth about her past, she rids herself of the traditional view of God as an old white man & comes to view God as a more creative, loving, playful entity, symbolised by the colour purple, putin a field just for the fun of it. Celie finds her sexuality, her ability to stand up for herself, begins to make a living doing something she loves & starts to like life.
It's religiousin another sense because Alice Walker has tapped into something deep & richin creating this book. She starts by dedicating it to "The Spirit, without whose assistance neither this book nor I would have been written" & ends it by writing "I thank everyonein this book for coming. A.W., author & medium." This sets up quite an expectation, but the book delivers. The style is not literary - it can't be, because it's narrated mostly by Celie, who is uneducated & admits herself she can't write well. But still there is a beautyin its simplicity. Normally any kind of dialect begins to irritate me after a while, but this doesn't. It is powerful. The horrific events at the beginning of the book, particularly, when 14-year-old Celie is raped by her father & has two children by him, then sacrifices herself to save her younger sister Nettie from the same fate, are incredibly powerful, & the power is heightened by the simple, childish language.
It's also a political book,in the best sense. It evokes the injustices of the Jim Crow South & of colonial Africa beautifully, & they always feel like part of the story, not like a political sermon. It works well because character always comes first. Everybodyin the book has a character - there are no purely symbolic characters or representatives of political positions. They're all introduced & drawn carefully so that I believed they were real & cared about them. And while the book speaks some harsh truths about men, & white menin particular, nobody is a stereotype of evil - most of the characters have some redeeming features, & the "good" characters have flaws too.
A beautiful, insightful book.
Beautiful and Enlightening... - By: V. Appleton, 01 Apr 2008 This was actually the first 'adult' book I read as a child - much to the shock of my grandparents!! I loved it & reading it again as an adult (understanding it that much more)has assured it as a favourite. I would recommend anyone to read this. It covers issues of race, sexuality, family, friendships & gender fantastically. The film version is very good & the book is a must to read.
Genius, a wonderful read - By: I. Thomson, 16 Sep 2007 Winner of the Pultizer Prize of Literature for 1983, the colour purple delves into the early plight of the struggle of African-Americans livingin the segmented land of America who are still treated like slaves & slurred upon.
Celie, a young girl uncertain of her identify has her self confidence boosted by her own sister, Nettie. Both girls are forced to seperate & Celie has to learn on her own how to stand on her own two feet-with Nettie's encouragement......
Walker uses a diary format for this novel which pushes Celie's frustation against the world. For example, Walker emphasises authority of woman being treated like second class citizens having to address to men as Mr, whom she ends up having arranged marriage with. Walker makes Celie powerless-how she can't let her master down, but nevertheless growing to resent the harsh restriction of her life being barred down like this. Celie's growsin strength when her good nature & willingness to please pay off with his children, how she looks out for them as well as a strong determination growing inside herself for love.
The characters are quite seriousin their own little ways especially the men who as time goes on, learn to ditch their selfishness, grow up & learn to adapt. For example, Mr feels he has right to hit Celie whenever she questions him or goes against his thinking, but Mr doesn't want to fierce & is quite happy for her to play the nanny role. Harpo seeks his advantage to be violent with Sofia whom he later betrays, leaving her to lose her own children after a bigamist fight & firmly grows to resent his decision. Sugar Avery is Mr's so-called girlfriend, whom takes a distaterous liking to the man, despite showing affection. A notourious drunk & nightclub singer, she wants her faith to be appreciatedin her music & has an estrangement with her preacher father.
Nettie is a strong, brave & tough. She is described as the most radical & thoughtful personin the book who goes to Africa as part of the missionary accompying Reverend Samuel. She learns to live, although the horror of the situation that man has created, never dampens her spirit. A large preportion of the book is dedicated to her strugglein Africa to which relates to Celie's human struggle.
The Color Purple really is a wonderful read of hope, passion & love with the conclusion where they all rely on each other to keep going is vastly different to the climax of the film-the feeling i can see their aligned faces as they look over, proud & grateful to be alive. That's the best scene of them all!
wonderful - By: Book Addicts Book Group, 05 Aug 2007 I saw the film a long time ago. I bought the book around the same time but as often happens with me, I didnt read it because I had just seen the movie & I 'knew what happened'. Then when it made it to our book group short list, & black history month was coming up, I went to look for my book, & I couldnt find it. So off I went into town to hopefully find one. I found one copyin the bookshop.
I started reading it a little half-heartedly since I wanted to read something cheerful & I really didnt remember the film being that cheerful. Anyway, I persevered, & found myself really involvedin the story. I put the dvd on expecting it to be really depressing (from memory) & it was really really good. I picked the book up again, waiting for bitsin the movie to take placein the book, but the book is slightly different. The general story & the outcome is the same but inbetween is fuller somehow. When I saw the film the first time, I focused on the abuse & the beatings & the miserable existence that Celie has, but that really is a small part of it compared to all the good things that happen to herin the end.
She says to her rotten wife-beating husband:
'Until you do right by me, everything you touch will crumble. Everything you even dream about will fail'
I guess that's a case of what goes around comes around because that's what happens. Treat people mean & expect to be treated the same way. Celie is nice to everyone, even the rotten husband, butin the end things do go right for her. Reading this book made me feel better about lifein general. There is hope, people say nice guys finish last, but maybe they run a better race.
The Color Purple is setin 1909+in the South, the story of a poor, ill-educated, abused, 'ugly*' black woman, writing letters to God & her sister & her sister writing back. The whole book is a series of letters. I would recommend to everyone & has become one of my favourite books.
(*ugly because she is told so many timesin the book, until finally someone loves her & tells her she is beautiful)
over rated - By: C. Barker, 07 Jul 2007 
Despite my interestin this era & subject area I felt the book was disappointing. The writing style was different & made the book somewhat unique however the plot & characters were poorly described leading to a somewhat dull read.
