Author: Alice Walker
My Rating: 4/5
This is another book that I’m glad I didn’t watch the movie before I read it. I really enjoyed reading this book.
I knew this was a heavy book, but still the first page took me by surprise. It just punched you in the gut right away. After that, I kind of expected that for the entirety of the book — but that wasn’t the case, either — the punches did keep coming, but it wasn’t all bad.
After getting in the flow of the dialect used in the writing, it was an easy read. It moved fast and didn’t waste much time on unimportant details.
“The thing I believe. God is inside you and inside everybody else. You come into the world with God. But only them that search for it inside find it. And sometimes it just manifest itself even if you not looking, or don’t know what you looking for. Terrible do it for most folks, I think.
My wife asked me what I thought the title meant – The Color Purple. Celie, the main character, mentions it when she’s shopping for dresses – she wanted a purple dress, with maybe some red in it too. They can’t find a purple dress and she’s told her husband wouldn’t want to pay for red – she can choose brown, maroon or navy.
I think the color purple represents Celie’s wants and desires — and maybe her happiness, maybe her peace. She searched for it for most of the book and I think she got close a couple of different times, even some of her poor circumstances – but something usually disrupted it. Maybe teaching us that happiness and peace are fleeting.