Rating: 
Summary: SMILE HAS SOUL.
Review: I had never been a fan of Alice Walker's novels till a Native American friend told me about this one. With reservation, I began reading SMILE and was soon transported by the spirituality of the Mundos. They awakened something deep in my soul that was akin to what I felt when I read WALKING THE TRAIL/ONE MAN'S JOURNEY ALONG THE CHEROKEE TRAIL OF TEARS. Keep it up, Ms. Walker. You're a feast for those of us who hunger for what WalMart doesn't have on its shelves..
Rating:
Summary: Not for everyone!
Review: I just finished reading this book. I enjoyed reading
it. The writing style was not like The Color Purple.
I think Alice Walker stretched her creativity by leaping
into creating a somewhat existentialist and poetic work of art.
Tapesty comes to mind when I think of this book. An
intersting, well written read.
Rating: 
Summary: Alice challenged her style and won!
Review: I just finished reading this book. I enjoyed reading
it. The writing style was not like The Color Purple.
I think Alice Walker stretched her creativity by leaping
into creating a somewhat existentialist and poetic work of art.
Tapesty comes to mind when I think of this book. An
intersting, well written read.
Rating:
Summary: a stunning creation
Review: I knew Alice Walker's name, but had never read her, and thus it was on a whim that I plucked this book from the library shelf. By the Light of My Father's Smile is easily the best reading I have ever enjoyed. Walker's words are beautiful, grotesque, gentle, raw, passionate,honest. Her lovemaking scenes are intensely physical and emotional; metaphors about life itself and not the characters individually, and deliciously loving. It was refreshing to see a male point of view from a female writer, a male point of view on sexuality, a deceased male point of view on his daughter's intimate lives and his impact therein. I read this book with no preconceived notions about Walker's writing style, no idea what the context of the book would hold, no expectations of character development, description, or prose--and I'll repeat, this is the best book that I have ever enjoyed. I have returned it to the library, but plan to purchase it to add to my small collection of books that make me feel so good I read them over and over.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful!
Review: I love Alice Walker. She is a goddess. This book is as easy to read as The Color Purple and as inspirational as The Temple of My Familiar. Her ideas about the spirituality of sexuality are so beautiful. As a survivor of sexual violence my attitudes toward sex have not always been healthy, this book has helped me in my healing process. Sex can be such a beautiful sacred thing. I hope that the world will someday open it's eyes and hearts to that idea. I think that a woman's no will be heard more clearly, when she has the freedom to also say yes.
Rating: 
Summary: Only women bleed
Review: I LOVED The Color Purple and In Search of our Mothers' Gardens. I love a number of off-beat books which include detailed love-making scenes (i.e. Love Invents Us). But this book did NOT speak to me. I found the female characters to be centered around their own eternal wounds while at the same time possessing near supernatural intuition and overly evolved spirituality. I admire characters who have survived physical abuse and not made it the core of their being (Before Women had Wings; Little Altars Everywhere). I can't speak from experience, and I know abuse of all kinds to be crippling to different degrees, but Walker's characters in By the Light seem to use their abuse as their defining moment. I love erotica as one part of a novel (Red Azalea), but the love-making scenes started so early on in this book that I had developed no feelings for the characters involved. What a waste. I like characters that I get to know more (Rain of Gold, In the Time of the Butterflies), characters who I get to see in so many situations its like they're almost real. Walker's people seem to drift down from above to impart wisdom to us who reside on the lower planes, and then disappear until the next defining moment. The scenes are so disjointed from each other that I end up with no grasp of who (Susannah, MacDoc, Pauline) is. Alice Walker is big enough to do whatever she pleases with her art; too bad for me it's not my kind of art.
Rating:
Summary: This was a highly interesting book!
Review: I loved the way Alice Walker jumped from past to present and one character to another and I was able to follow the story anyway. She is trully a gifted writer.
Rating:
Summary: It's a spiritual awakening to read this latest work by Alice
Review: I thouroughly enjoyed reading "By the Light of My Father's Smile." It reminded me a lot of the book "Family" by J. California Cooper. They both deal with spirits guiding and reflecting on the lives of their loved ones. A must-read for spiritual insight, because 'Spirit Rules.'
Rating:
Summary: One of Walkers best!
Review: I truely loved this book. The begining startled me a bit, but I soon became consumed. The more I read the harder is was to put down. I even found myself reading it at a party. This book has many worthwhile messages to think about. As I read, this book began to remind me of Paulo Colehoe(sp?), the author of the Alchemist (and many other awesome books). When I finished I had a very pleasant feeling. I would have to say there is a very definate tie between this book and The Color Purple, in relevance to the impact it had on me.
Rating:
Summary: Trust Walker's Spirit enough to see/walk thru' her Mind.
Review: I view Alice Walker's individual works as part of a continuing Life Conversation; one that I count myself lucky enough to be able to share. Therefore, when she takes-up another thread of feminine assertive thought, woven on this occasion thru' the colourful but necessarily complex tapestry of Mundo-life in her latest work: "By the Light of My Father's Smile" I am with her all the way in the essential comprehension of the tale. As with all great conversations (even the decidedly "one-sided" ones, as in this case!) every single idea that is thrown into the thought-pool does not necessarily float, but, secure in the knowledge that the orator is who She is, you either nod and smile in friendly indulgence, or draw your chair closer. With this book, as with every other Walker-work, the chair was constantly on the move.
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