Tuesday, February 23, 2010

"The Color Purple" by Alice Walker

I have no idea what took me so long to read this novel. It's amazing. I don't even know what else to say. I've read short stories by Alice Walker and loved them, but this novel is by far the best I've read in a long time.

Walker tells the story of two sisters through their eyes, individually. There lives unfold through letters to God and to each other as one sister goes on a missionary trip to Africa. The lives of Celie in the southern United States and Nettie in Africa intertwine as both girls realize that there are cultural differences within the African people that separate them from African-Americans.

In the South, Celie deals with life as it comes to her, from her arranged marriage to an ungrateful man, to the arrival of love with Shug Avery, and the discovery that her children are still alive and well with Nettie in Africa. Celie knows no labels other than colored and white, and her view of God is touching, and probably right.

If you haven't read this novel, you better get to it! It's amazing and you won't want to go through life without it.

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