By Sahaja S
I've never really felt that a book review should be formal nor a summary of the novel. Rather, a casual analysis of the story. Instead of giving away the story, I prefer drawing people in with the various techniques authors use to create their pieces. The book I have been reading is titled The Color Purple written by Alice Walker. Alice Walker's background and childhood stood out to me. She was born in Georgia, a child among 8. Her brother shot her in the eye, which I'm unsure of whether it was an accident or not. The incident caused her to gain major trust issues and she began to isolate herself from all the other children. She took up a passion for writing at a young age as it was all she did while she was alone. In the 60's, Walker got involved in a civil rights movement which had me draw a connection to the deep symbols of race and feminism in the story.
I wouldn't say the book is necessarily a tough read but rather it has concepts and ideas that are difficult to grasp. A lot of times i caught myself going back to read the same line twice, not because I didn't understand, but it shook me up a little and I just sat there uncomfortably confused for a few minutes. She also uses a lot of metaphors that make you dig a little deeper. My favorite quote from the book: "I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it." There is a lot of positive reference to a higher power throughout the whole novel, which definitely encouraged my beliefs.
The story was written differently and unique formats personally draw me closer to the content. It starts with a flashback from the main character, Celie, about her father telling her she can not speak about the sexual and physical abuse she is undergoing by him. Abuse is never easy to imagine, but it is becoming more common for people to read and write about. It doesn't hit me as hard as it really should while I'm reading anymore. I like feeling lost and uncomfortable while I read, it helps me expand my imagination. Following the flashback, it transitions into Celie's letters to God. This is where I think the author did a phenomenal job of engraving the character of Celie into my head without even having to do much describing. It's not common for people to write to God, we often speak through prayer. I also think writing is so much more powerful than speaking. It's proof that everyone silently thinks. Walker could've chose a person, such as Celie's mother or one of the babies, & unfortunately a majority of people only go to God when they're desperate. The rest of the story is definitely twisted, Celie's mom is so sick to the point where she can't satisfy her husband's sexual desires and eventually she dies. So he begins raping Celie and impregnates her twice. The first time he kills the baby and the second time he sells the child. It's really just one big tragic happy story because the ending is just a whole lot of happiness. However, it's not about love or death, usually the two go hand in hand.
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