The Color Purple

Rating:
Summary: Eye Opener
Review: This book was such an eye opener to me! It makes me realize how thankful I am for everything I have. Its amazing to see how women were treated back in the day. Its very upsetting to know that these men got away with everything they did. i dont think women these days know how lucky we really are. This is a book that I really enjoyed and would recommened it to anyone!

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Summary: A Review of "The Color Purple"
Review: Alice Walker's book The Color Purple, published in 1982, opened a gateway to an experience many woman faced but was ignored by the public, mainly consisting of the male population. This story expresses the harshness of reality and the pain inflicted against many woman of the black race during this time period. It gives the reader a harsh look into the life of a black woman growing up in the twentieth century. The Color Purple is set in the south and spans over a time period of thirty years in the life of the main character Celie, a poor southern black woman. In this story, Walker portrays the life of an innocent young girl who is faced with rape, physical and verbal abuse, child birth, and a teenage marriage. As a young girl, Celie was raised by her father and treated like a salve in her own household. Celie's life was dominated by men and she was a definite victim of sexism. The men in her life felt that to keep her in line and control her how they wanted was the only way a woman was to be treated. One of the things I enjoyed most about the book is the captivating chapters written in the form of letters to God and to and from Celie's sister Nettie. It not only makes the story read quicker, but also makes the reader feel they have a personal relationship with Celie because of the insight into her "journal of letters". This book genuinely makes you feel her suffering and hurt, but it also lets you feel her happiness and joy when she overcomes an obstacle. Even though this book is an oustanding read, I would only recommend the book to high school age students and above not only for the vocabulary, but also for the sex scenes which are described vividly and the mature language. This book is original and amazingly written.

Rating:
Summary: wonderful novel
Review: this was a really great book. it had such a powerful storyline, and i really enjoyed it.

Rating:
Summary: great book
Review: this was a very good read. i enjoyed this powerful novel a lot. everyone should read it.

Rating:
Summary: Timeless Literature
Review: The Color Purple is not only an important documentation of the lives of African American women, but an entertaining and mesmerising classic novel. Alice Walker eloquently describes the hardships for women through Celie, the antagonist. The struggle for happiness is struggled for throughout the book and is eventually reached at the end. The Color Purple does not sugar coat the truth, instead it depicts life the way it was for some with beautifully orcestrated writing.

Rating:
Summary: read this
Review: This is an excellent book for many to enjoy. It is perfect in compliance with how women were treated, especially African Americans, in the early 1900s. It's breath taking dramatic points are relieved with a small comical anectdote at Harpo's Jazz Club. Walker is a genious at capturing the sympathy from the reader in Celie's tribulations and a revolutionary writer for her book being written completely in letters to Nettie or God. Overall the reader will feel complte inside when they read this book.

Rating:
Summary: A Celebration of the Human Spirit?
Review: As an objective study of racism, feminism, and personal development, "The Color Purple" stretches the limits of fiction in an unlikely narrative. It is difficult to determine the literary value of this book, as there is indeed a fine line between genius and insanity. What the novel imparts to its reader is debatable as well. At first glance, it appears a poorly written hodge-podge collection of an abused woman's diary entries, a black sympathy story whose publication can be justified by the author's ethnic heritage. There must, however, be something more. There is a certain quality, charisma, ambiance that is difficult to positively identify: Could it be hope? The strength of the human spirit? The eventual triumph of its characters over their impoverished circumstances, motivated by personal ethos? If the color purple represents joie de vivre in strange places, the novel accomplishes its title mission. Perhaps I, the mystified reader, have missed the point entirely. An epic work of fiction this book is not; an exercise in reading between the R-rated lines seems more likely. Considering the minimal inspiration can be squeezed from pages dripping with violence, anger, confusion, bisexuality and despair, it is not for those reflective readers looking for the meaning of life on a Sunday afternoon. Finding some thematic value on an unlikely Wednesday is somehow satisfactory.

Rating:
Summary: A Celebration of the Human Spirit ?
Review: As an objective study of racism, feminism, and personal development, "The Color Purple" stretches fiction's limits. Difficult to determine the literary value of this book, there is a fine line between genius and insanity. What the novel imparts to its reader is debatable as well. At first glance, it appears a poorly written hodge-podge collection of an abused woman's diary entries, a black sympathy story whose publication can be justified by the author's ethnic heritage. There must, however, be something more. There is a certain quality, charisma, ambiance difficult to positively identify: Could it be hope? The strength of the human spirit? The eventual triumph of eclectic characters over their impoverished circumstances, motivated by personal ethos? If "The Color Purple" represents joie de vivre in strange places, the novel accomplishes its title mission. Perhaps I, the mystified reader, have missed the point entirely. An epic literary work this book is not; an exercise in reading between the R-rated lines seems more likely. Regarding the minimal inspiration squeezed from pages dripping with violence, anger, confusion, bisexuality and despair, "The Color Purple" is not for those reflective readers looking for the meaning of life on a Sunday afternoon. Finding some thematic value on an unlikely Wednesday is somehow satisfactory.

Rating:
Summary: A Happy Ending With a Depressing Middle
Review: Alice Walker's The Color Purple is an excellent novel. The story focuses on Celie, a young black woman of the southern United States who has been forced into an unhappy marriage by an abusive stepfather. Through letters to God and later her sister, Nettie, Celie tells the story of herself. The story is not a pleasant one: Celie is abused both mentally and physically throughout the majority of the the book. In the end, though, Celie becomes a person on her own terms with the help of Nettie and a friendly lounge singer named Shug Avery. The story of finding yourself after being traumatized is a common one, but Walker's novel is far from it. The Color Purple is a book that you won't be able to put down. The use of Ebonics and colloquial sentence structure throughtout makes the characters very realistic. I highly recommend this book to anyone, especially women, but beware: although the ending is happy, the same cannot be said for the rest of the novel.

Rating:
Summary: A very inspriational novel
Review: I must admit, I watched the movie before I read the novel. I liked them both the same. Maybe I liked the movie a bit more than the novel because of the ending but that was it. It's about an african american named Celie who was born into the world surrounded by egotistical, self-absorbed males. Her father abused her, as well as raped and impregnated her. He then hid his shame by taking her children away from her. She then was married off to a heartless, careless man she called Mr. This shows her disrespect for him and every other man. Day after day while Celie endures another beating from her husband, she thinks about the only person she's ever loved and has recieved love back from, her sister, Nettie. She fantasizes about Nettie living in Africa well and happy. Alice Walker describes the hardships black women suffered in earlier times when men hed the upper hand in everything. I definately recommend this book to both men and women. It truly is an inspiration to us all.