Alice Walker
1982
Around 305 pages
I understand the criticism of the novel and the movie, that it might feed into the negative stereotypes about African American men. The men in the story are horrible people. But is it really the responsibility of Black women to correct all of society's assumptions about Black men? Let Celie tell her story the way she wants to tell it, even if it is a relentlessly depressing one.
Celie is a 14-year-old girl whose only confidant is god, because her father forbids her from telling anybody else about his sexual and physical abuse. She has two children by her father, and is married off to a farmer named "Mister," even though he asked for her sister Nettie's hand. Mister is another abusive monster, but his mistress, Shug Avery, forms a connection with Celie. Yay, lesbian literature!
This is a powerful book and Alice Walker is an extremely talented author. It is a bummer that the Black stories that get the most attention are the ones that full of trauma and misery. But like I said, that's not Alice's fault or responsibility, and she did an amazing job getting your heart to break for Celie.
Predictably, the film adaptation is directed by a straight white guy.
RATING: ****-
Interesting Facts:
Interesting Facts:
Number 17 on the American Library Association's 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books.
Won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1983, making Walker the first black woman to win the prize.
UP NEXT: A Boy's Own Story by Edmund White
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