The Color Purple

I've known of The Color Purple for so long but never read it. The new Folio Society edition finally pushed me into reading it, and I'm so glad I did. This is a beautiful novel about love and human connection and the wonder that is the heart of all true religion, as well as the immutable reality of suffering. Alice Walker describes herself as a “medium” for her characters, and indeed they seem so real that it's hard to think of this as fiction.

“I remember one time you said your life made you feel so ashamed you couldn't even talk about it to God, you had to write it, bad as you thought your writing was. Well, now I know what you meant. And whether God will read letters or no, I know you will go on writing them; which is guidance enough for me. Anyway, when I don't write to you I feel as bad as I do when I don't pray, locked up in myself and choking on my own heart.”

Am I the only one who wanted Celie and Shug to run away together? Live in a nice round cottage while Shug sang and Celie made pants? I cannot believe it took me this long to read the book. Only took me 2 days as I was sucked in.

I took off a star because I wasn't too interested in Nettie's life in Africa. I wanted more time dedicated to Celie coming into her own. I also wanted more justice done for her. The men in this book were all trash minus Samuel and Adam.

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POPSUGAR 2021 READING CHALLENGE - A book everyone seems to have read but you • This is a very popular book and even though I have seen the movie tons of times, I just now read the book.

I loved this book except the writing style was distracting - not Celie's style of writing/Georgia accent, but the letter format. The chapters were supposed to be letters from the sisters, but they'd be telling a story and switch to first person narrative for pages, but it would be a first person narrative from the perspective of someone else who had told them a story. It was confusing at times and their letters were not how people would actually write letters. If the author wants to tell a story in that way, then why do the letters at all?

Anyway, loved the story but was just distracted at times by the format and switching of narratives.

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book when I first started reading it, partly because of the grim situation she was in but also because of the unique way it was told. Thankfully that feeling didn't last long and I soon loved the book and really cared what happened to the main characters. Looking forward to see how the film stacks up now.

This was absolutely an amazing read, so many twists and turns and emotions wow. I think this was by far my favorite book that made me feel something in a WHILE. i highly highly recommend, but also before reading it just know there is a lot of talk that's traumatic & it's tragic but extremely beautiful. 10/10

I finished it in the span of a few hours cause It was easy to read and I've been meaning to read this forever. Now I would first want to say that the writing style specifically on Celia's narration seemed so natural and original, it was a delight to read this but after Celie discovered Nettie's hidden letters and started reading them continuously I kind of didn't enjoy it but I don't know in how another way Nettie would've described her situation (which spanned for so many years) to her sister, seems logical but I didn't enjoy it much. for the first portions I was so much delighted to see that Nettie and Celia's sibling bond was so strong even tho Celie didn't possibly get empathy from many people other than her sister and probably her former teacher. I don't even wanna mention the monster stepfather who tbh not only sexually assaulted the kids but also sold Celia to another horrible disgusting man. at one point Celie was talking about how men scare her so she likes to stare at women feels so heartbreaking and obvious for repeated sexual assault survivors. in her ‘husband' s house she was treated so badly and the freaking asshole also encouraged his son to treat Celie badly cause she's a woman, she's supposed to be lower, felt sot typical disgusting behaviour I liked how he was called Mr.dash for most of the book,

[11:31]

I dunno if it's my correct interpretation but he was nothing in Celia's eyes other than an abuser so his name has no importance, he's a generic piece of shit. tbh I hated Shug Avery too after she was so rude to Celia at first she only opened up cause Celie was so good to her also in the last portions she was jealous of Albert and Celie's reunion (which I had another opinion personally). Shug Avery can empower people who are hurt, who're helpless and determined altho I didn't like her platonic and sexual relations with random people when she was probably down with std? (also not confirmed) and kinda in unspoken relation with Celia but I don't think she gave Celia any signal of becoming her life partner or something. although she seemed very jealous of Albert's relations which is kind of felt weird to me, she wanted to be his wife because of her sextual compatibality with Albert or mr. dash was nice? but Her contribution to empowering and helping many people Squeak, Sofia and Celia were very crucial above all to make them complete people even though not all of them are protagonists. I like her interpretation of god to it proves she was not only open-minded in sexual nature but her philosophical thinking is out of the box too, and for the purple field metaphor, I think it's mentioned cause blue is generally the colour of sorrow and red as happiness, our life is mixed with both of them so it's the secondary colour purple.now onto something that bugged me- I didn't like Celie told to beat Sofia even tho I dunno why she did that jealousy perhaps because she has enough self-respect which Celia doesn't? also the fairytale-like ending meh I didn't like alpherd or Albert whatever and Celia got chummy bruh wtf I don't' think he was supposed to be forgiven cause he does housework by himself now smh, also that Nettie became stepmom of Celia's lost children, talk about destiny, Corrine died and Samuel well married the children's real aunt huh okay seems too perfect and unrealistic for me.
Now I liked the most was Celia's character growth of becoming a self-independent woman and her reunion with her kids and sister. my overall rating is 3.75

This was certainly a different kind of book. The whole book is written in letters... by the main character Celie who learned what hurt was at a very young age. At first she wrote letter's to God.... and then later when she felt God forgot about her and she had found out her sister was alive and had been writing to her all along she began writing to her sister Nettie. She found out that the man she was forced to marry that she referred to only as “mr _____” had been hiding her sister's letters. She found out through reading her sister's letters that her two babies who had been taken from her were alive and her sister was helping to take care of them. Celie had a very hard life and had never known love until she met Shug Avery. She learned to love and to be loved and then the hurt of losing love....

I absolutely love a good epistolary novel, and this one was one of the best I've ever read. It was brutally honest, heartbreaking, and endearing all at the same time. The characters felt real and alive on the page, and each had unique personalities, voices, and characteristics. I really enjoyed the style of writing, and found this such an incredible and important book to read.

A perfect book where the horrors finally beget beauty and love. The understanding and acceptance shown in this work is refreshing, it feels like it was written yesterday not 40 years ago.
It's difficult to read at times because of the terrible things the characters have to face. But in the end it is worth every painful page and tear.
One of the best books I've ever read and that's high praise indeed.

Short Review: This is a rough book, especially the beginning. Not the writing. The writing is evocative, poetic and engaging. But the content is difficult. It is way to much to easily describe. But the story starts with a Celie as a child writing letters to God describing in her limited capacity being repeatedly raped by her father as her mother slowly dies. After her mother dies the rape continues and she gives birth to two children before being essentially sold off by her father to be the wife to a widower (sex slave, domestic servant and step mother to children that are not much younger than she is.)

The story is dark although it does lighten up after about 20-30 percent of the way through the book.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/color-purple/

দা কালার পার্পল পড়তে শুরু করার আগে স্থির করেছিলাম, নারীবাদী সাহিত্য, কিংবা আফ্রিকান-আমেরিকান সাহিত্য, কিংবা সমকামী সাহিত্য— এইরকম কোনো বিশেষ লেবেলের কথা মাথায় রেখে এই উপন্যাসটা পড়বো না আমি। কালার পার্পল একটা অতি বিখ্যাত, বহুপঠিত এবং সম্মানিত উপন্যাস। পাঠক হিসেবে একে আমি “স্বাভাবিক” উপায়ে গ্রহণ করতে চেয়েছিলাম। আর পাঁচটা মহৎ সাহিত্য যেভাবে গ্রহণ করে থাকি, সেভাবে। কিন্তু পারলাম না। উপন্যাসের লেখিকা অত সহজে আমাকে রেহাই দিলেন না।

নারীবাদী দর্শন, কৃষ্ণাঙ্গদের জীবনসংগ্রাম এবং যৌনতা সম্পর্কিত যতরকম variation আছে, মাত্র ২৫০ পৃষ্ঠার এই উপন্যাসে লেখিকা প্রায় সবকিছু নিয়ে পরীক্ষা-নিরীক্ষা করার চেষ্টা করেছেন। কিচ্ছু বাদ দেননি। শুধু আমেরিকার কৃষ্ণাঙ্গদের জীবন নিয়ে আলোচনা করেই থেমে যাননি, আফ্রিকায় চলে গেছেন! সেখানকার আদিবাসী কৃষ্ণাঙ্গ মানুষদের জীবন, তাদের দুঃখ-দুর্দশা নিয়েও বিশদ বর্ণনা দিয়েছেন। নারীবাদের সঙ্গে ঈশ্বরচেতনার সংযোগ ঘটিয়েছেন। সমকামিতা, বাই-সেক্সুয়ালিটি, ইনসেস্ট, সবকিছু নিয়ে টানাটানি করেছেন। আরো কতো কিছু যে করেছেন!

গোটা উপন্যাসটা অনেকগুলো চিঠির সমাহারে নির্মাণ করা হয়েছে (“epistolary novel”)। বেশিরভাগ চিঠি যিনি লিখেছেন, তিনি আমেরিকার দক্ষিণ-পূর্ব অঞ্চলের জর্জিয়া রাজ্যের একজন গ্রাম্য স্বল্পশিক্ষিত কৃষ্ণাঙ্গ মেয়ে। সেই মেয়েটির মুখের আঞ্চলিক ভাষাতেই চিঠিগুলো লেখা হয়েছে। She happy. Don't nobody come see us. Us mama dead. Soon I gitting marry to him. —এইরকম ভাষায়। Authenticity বজায় রাখার জন্যেই নিশ্চয়ই এই রচনাশৈলী গ্রহণ করেছেন লেখিকা? কিন্তু আমার মনে হয়েছে, এটা শুধুই চমক সৃষ্টি করার একটা উপায়। ঠিক যেমন চমক সৃষ্টি করার জন্যে আরো বত্রিশ রকম কায়দা করেছেন তিনি। এমনকি, ডুবে যাওয়া জাহাজের মানুষদের কোনোরকম explanation ছাড়াই বাঁচিয়ে নিয়ে এসেছেন! (মিথ্যা বলছি না!)

এই আরোপিত, কৃত্রিম, চমকসর্বস্ব একটা উপন্যাসকে পুলিৎজার পুরস্কার দেওয়া হয়েছে। স্পিলবার্গ সিনেমা বানিয়েছেন (এটা অবশ্য খুব অবাক হওয়ার মতো ঘটনা নয়)। ব্রডওয়েতে মিউজিক্যাল অভিনীত হয়েছে। এখনও পর্যন্ত ষাট লক্ষ কপি বিক্রি হয়েছে বইটা। কিন্তু এইরকম অতিনাটকীয়, অস্বাভাবিক, (কিছু ক্ষেত্রে আপত্তিকর) উপায়ে মানুষের জীবনের সমস্যার সমাধান করা হয় বুঝি? মেয়েদের প্রতি সমাজের চিরাচরিত বঞ্চনাকে নিয়ে, সমকাম নিয়ে, বর্ণবাদ নিয়ে, এই ঠাট্টা না করলে হতো না? কৃষ্ণাঙ্গ মানুষদের জীবনের, কৃষ্ণাঙ্গ মেয়েদের জীবনের, পৃথিবীর যেকোনো মেয়ের জীবনের, সত্যিকারের এবং ভীষণ গুরুত্বপূর্ণ সমস্যাগুলোকে নিয়ে এরকম ফাজলামি না করলে হতো না?

ভুয়া উপন্যাসের ভুয়া আশাবাদ!





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Siempre me han llamado la atención los libros que son escritos de manera epistolar, prueba de ello es la Silla del Águila, de Carlos Fuentes, otro de mis favoritos. Éste no se ha quedado atrás. Ya sé que es una película, la cual no he visto todavía, porque quería leer primero el libro.

A veces la felicidad está en las cosas más simples, como el color púrpura...