Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Lippincote

I read this book in a matter of hours. Swallowed it whole. It is a woman-based spiritual masterpiece and, as such, not for everyone.

Celie lurches from one abusive relationship to another. The action takes place in 1930's Georgia, and she is the lowest woman on the lowest totem pole, until she meets, and is influenced by, a disparate group of women.

There's Sofia, Shug, Squeak and her sister Nettie, all of whom are stronger and more confident than her. When, for instance, Sofia's husband, Harpo, tries to beat her, she fights back. "I loves Harpo, God knows I do, but I'll kill him dead before I let him beat me."

Celie learns, and gains confidence, from these women, but it is not until she becomes intimate with Shug (her husband's ex-lover) that she gets the courage to leave him, and branch out on her own.

For me the plot did not really matter. What mattered were the women: their relationships and conversations, their religious and political philosophy.

And what a philosophy! That it is feminist goes without saying, but it is also deeply spiritual. "God is inside you and inside everybody else.... Only them that search for it inside find it. And sometimes it just manifest itself even if you not looking, or don't know you looking for it."

Which is what happens to Celie. Celie believes that God is an old white man in the sky, until she has an epiphanous experience. "One day when I was sitting quiet, like a motherless child... it come to me: that feeling of being part of everything, not separate at all... And I laughed and I cried and I run all round the house. I knew just what it was. In fact, when it happen, you can't miss it."

Even the book's title has meaning. "I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it."

Well, since reading this book I do notice it. Half the flowers in my garden are purple and I make a point of admiring them.

To say this book was life changing for me would be an understatement. I loved it, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Thank you Alice Walker!