Rating: 
Summary: WOW!
Review: i was completely engrossed into this book. i've read most of Walker's work and this is among the best. she captures you from the first page and you can't put it down. she has a way of telling a story! the end gets sappy, but the perspectives are incredible. i definitely recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: By the light of my father's voyeurism
Review: I'll confess my disappointment in Alice Walker's the Color Purple which I found to be a movie "treatment" to be shopped around Hollywood. So I was unwilling to go back to her works until a friend insisted that I read this book. Well, her male narrator's voice certainly sounded like a woman and probably the author. Its not an authentic male voice. Maybe dead men sound like this but I hope not. She has set forth an agenda that contains spiritualism and philosophy. From the sparseness of the CoP to the extra words of this piece. I have the impression that she had a Thesaurus in her PC working overtime to place an extra adjective in every sentence. She has confirmed my suspicion that she is a mediocre writer at the same time she has convinced me that she is not a good storyteller either. The novel has its moments but they are isolated oases amid a desert of a half baked spirtitualism. The three stars are for effort.
Rating:
Summary: By the light of my father's voyeurism
Review: I'll confess my disappointment in Alice Walker's the Color Purple which I found to be a movie "treatment" to be shopped around Hollywood. So I was unwilling to go back to her works until a friend insisted that I read this book. Well, her male narrator's voice certainly sounded like a woman and probably the author. Its not an authentic male voice. Maybe dead men sound like this but I hope not. She has set forth an agenda that contains spiritualism and philosophy. From the sparseness of the CoP to the extra words of this piece. I have the impression that she had a Thesaurus in her PC working overtime to place an extra adjective in every sentence. She has confirmed my suspicion that she is a mediocre writer at the same time she has convinced me that she is not a good storyteller either. The novel has its moments but they are isolated oases amid a desert of a half baked spirtitualism. The three stars are for effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Will put you to sleep better than a glass of warm milk.
Review: It is important to read a book like this every once in a while so that you have something to compare good literature against. Having never read any other books by the author this one certainly does nothing to encourage me to view her previous works. I found the writing amaturish at best, and irritating for the most part. I found it neither thought provoking nor interesting but mostly just boring. Spare me from writers who try so hard to instill an air of self importance that they forget to tell their story well or make their characters even a little bit believable.
Rating:
Summary: The book is wonderful
Review: It would be truly ashame for anyone to ignore to gift that Alice has given us through her vision. This book is exquisite to say the very least and the fact that is told from the point of view of a father looking down on his daughter is brilliant. Alice, girl, you are the bomb!
Rating: 
Summary: Pure Passion and Poetry
Review: My third Alice Walker book, and I was surprised by how much I loved it. Better than Temple of My Familiar and as engrossing as The Color Purple, I found myself on a sensual journey, guided by pained characters who became enlightened along the journey as well. Walker writes with poetic fluidity. Her talent is admirable, to say the least, and I finish the book with a desire to read more of her works.
Rating: 
Summary: For Die-hard Walker Fans Only
Review: One reviewer was correct in pointing out that BY THE LIGHT OF MY FATHER'S SMILE reads more like a parable that a story. While I enjoyed reading this book because of Walker's ability to weave sensuality and compassion into her storylines, I was ultimately disappointed by the lack of concrete character development and complexity especially where it concerns to two sisters in the book. This story, which is told from the different perspectives of the family, gives the reader only a superficial insight into how the characters developed as they did (with the exception of the younger sister). For example the older sister's life changes because of a certain "unforgiveable act" in her early teens, but the next time we encounter her in the book, she is an obsese and bitter college professor. I desperately wanted to know the how's/why's of her life in those missing twenty years. Walker is clearly more obsessed with New Age spirituality than good old fashioned story-telling. Hers is the genre of empowerment and while many readers respond positively to this, it doesn't move me personally.
Rating:
Summary: For Die-hard Walker Fans Only
Review: One reviewer was correct in pointing out that BY THE LIGHT OF MY FATHER'S SMILE reads more like a parable that a story. While I enjoyed reading this book because of Walker's ability to weave sensuality and compassion into her storylines, I was ultimately disappointed by the lack of concrete character development and complexity especially where it concerns to two sisters in the book. This story, which is told from the different perspectives of the family, gives the reader only a superficial insight into how the characters developed as they did (with the exception of the younger sister). For example the older sister's life changes because of a certain "unforgiveable act" in her early teens, but the next time we encounter her in the book, she is an obsese and bitter college professor. I desperately wanted to know the how's/why's of her life in those missing twenty years. Walker is clearly more obsessed with New Age spirituality than good old fashioned story-telling. Hers is the genre of empowerment and while many readers respond positively to this, it doesn't move me personally.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, deep poetry, mixing image, dream, and ritual.
Review: Thank you, again, Alice Walker. Your books lift the veils between storytelling, wisdom, history and soul. I will buy 12 copies of this book and give them to my friends. This book is a compassionate exploration of the lives of women - and men. It suggests why we are the way we are, and helps to heal the fractures and the deep divides. The author brings us back to the most basic realities of life/fear/joy/wonder. It is a work of poetry as well as soul-deepening fiction. I will read it again and again. AND give it to my daughters.
Rating:
Summary: Ms. Alice is a Muse for sure!
Review: The New York Times Review people (both male and female) must be jealous. Magical, storytelling at it's best! Can't wait for more.
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