Review: The Color Purple

The Color Purple by Alice Walker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Walker writes of the struggles of gender, race, and class of the poor rural African American women in the early 20th century. The matter of fact writing style of the letters add to the reader's emotional understanding of the harsh existence of the characters. Walker also does excellent writing describing the culture of both the tragedy of life in the Jim Crow south and colonial Africa. The presentation of the various meanings of love, friendship, and God gives the reader an alternative view of human existence. The liberation of the self independent of the beliefs of society or men portrays the struggle for true freedom black women had to engage in that time period.

The value of the book is that it forces the reader to experience and confront the challenges of poor African American women who could be invisible and devalued by dismissive societal prejudices.

View all my reviews