Author: Alice Walker
Genre: Literary, LGBT, 1001 Books
My Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Source: Paperback from library
Amazon UK, GoodreadsWhat did I think?
Goodreads Summary:Set in the deep American South between the wars, it is the tale of Celie, a young black girl born into poverty and segregation. Raped repeatedly by the man she calls 'father', she has two children taken away from her, is separated from her beloved sister Nettie and is trapped into an ugly marriage. But then she meets the glamorous Shug Avery, singer and magic-maker - a woman who has taken charge of her own destiny. Gradually, Celie discovers the power and joy of her own spirit, freeing her from her past and reuniting her with those she loves.
The very first thing I noticed was the language. It is told from the POV of a young, semi-literate woman through a series of letters to God, and her sister. The letters are written in dialect, littered with unusual spellings, and were hard to follow at first for me as a non-native speaker. After a while, however it starts to flow.
Its a devastating book and at the same time it's a very important book. I didn't know much about it when I started reading it. I knew it has LGBT elements, POC characters and abuse, but knowing that did not prepare me for how devastating it would be to read this book.
The characters are incredibly well fleshed out and the relationships surprisingly touching.
It's a memorable book filled with despair, tragedy and injustice but also hope. It's a quick read and I'd recommend it to everyone because of how powerful it is and how much it has to say about this world.
The reason I picked this one up was Uma's fantastically diverse read-a-thon over at Books.Bags.Burgers.
Great review, Olivia :) This sounds like an incredible and heartbreaking book, and one that I'd definitely like to read sometime.
ReplyDeleteAmy @ A Magical World Of Words
After seeing the movie many years ago, I was mildly curious to read the book but ultimately decided not to. As upsetting as the elements of abuse were in the movie, I'm certain a lot was left out due to time constraints (or ratings issues) and knowing that it was surely to be even more graphic and disturbing in the book... I just couldn't. I specifically remember scenes with Sofia that just had me outraged and upset.
ReplyDeleteTanya @ Girl Plus Books
OH YAY I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKED IT! I've been eyeing this book for a while now. Now I know I'll definitely be picking it up! But I'm so scared about abuse :/ Like I'm kind of an emotional reader and I can see this book will make me a total mess. But I definitely want to read it! Great review Olivia...
ReplyDelete