The Color Purple

By Alice Walker

Book Overview

Read the original inspiration for the new, boldly reimagined film from producers Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg, starring Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, and Fantasia Barrino. Celebrating its... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0156028352
• ISBN13: 9780156028356
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 300 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grades 9 to 12

Customer Reviews

The most beautiful story I’ve read.

I didn’t know what I was getting into when I picked up The Color Purple by Alice Walker. The book is fast paced, but beautifully written- it’s impossible to put down. Alice Walker embodies feelings of sympathy, love, and hope in this novel. I would read it 1,000 times over again.

Gorgeous book

Obviously an incredible read. Beautiful, heartbreaking, and heartmending.

Not like the movie

As usual for books and movies. The book is better and not the same.

Get lost in this story, it will never leave you.

This story is beautiful. Alice Walker uses words like an expert chef, knowing where to pepper a passage or sweeten a character to help her readers connect to the larger themes and meanings in this text. Do yourself a favor and read this book if you have not already; you will not regret it. The characters and story will linger in your mind for a lifetime, like friendly ghosts.

Love the book

I saw the movie when it came out and always wanted to read the book. I enjoyed the book and even though it was fiction. It still gave you an doorway in to how some African Americans might have lived and endured in their lifetime. The story of different families and how they interact with each other and their ups and down they each faced. A book well worth reading.

Best read of 2024

I’ve seen the movie 1000x but this book was next level. I never would have thought this book would be written as letters and done so well. Would definitely recommend!

Great gift !!!!

This was a gift for my mom and she loves the movie. So if thought why not give her the book as well. She loves thr book. The book came in perfect condtion, no missing pages at all. I'm glad this book came in one peace.

Impeccable

Make sure to also read The Temple of My Familiar and Possessing the Secret of Joy.

The Color Purple.

Oh ,to get a copy of this book back in my hands. And with all my books in such a good shape.

Classic book

Good story, written more as a narrative but easy to follow. Heartfelt and moving to read. I saw the movie years and years ago however I appreciated the story much more now at middle age. A story of strength and struggle and hope. Beautiful ending.

Wonderful read.

Great quality, there was some writings with a pencil but very minimum and didn't bother me at all. On the contrary, it made me wonder that someone else read this book what their perspective might be? So interesting. I enjoyed the story so much and it fills you with emotions and thoughts. Highly recommend.

For the Soft-Hearted

This is the story of adversity and love. The setting is unusual and the characters are surprising. The way of telling the story through letters to God brings out the emotions.

A potent exploration of spirituality and sexuality

Alice Walker's novel "The Color Purple" has had an interesting "life," as far as books go. It's been the subject of controversy over her portrayal of black men and her use of black vernacular language; it's been adapted by director Steven Spielberg into a motion picture that's inspired its own controversy; it's had a whole other life as a text used in college courses. But, so many years after its original publication, and after all of the accolades and debates, "The Color Purple" still holds its own as a compelling piece of fiction."The Color Purple" is written in the form of letters. It opens with a letter to God from Celie, a rural African-American girl who, as she reveals on the first page, is a victim of sexual abuse. As Celie grows into womanhood, Walker paints a fascinating portrait of the community of people who make up Celie's world."The Color Purple" is, ultimately, about liberation and redemption. Those who believe that this book attacks black men are wrong. This book attacks violence and abuse, and celebrates those--whether victim or victimizer--who are able to break the cycle of abuse and truly grow as human beings. This novel is bold in its exploration of sexuality--in particular, lesbian sexuality--as a potentially liberating force. And Walker also explores the possibility of an alternative spirituality and alternative family structures to heal those who have been damaged by the racist, sexist paradigms of United States society."The Color Purple" is also about the power of writing. In her long career, Alice Walker has distinguished herself as a writer of poetry, essays, short fiction, and novels. "The Color Purple" is among the best of her many fine literary achievements, and this novel continues to have a vibrant life of its own.

THE COLOR PURPLE, a heartfelt masterpiece

"I maybe black, I may be poor, I maybe a woman, and I may even be ugly! But thank God I'm here" I have recently finished reading The Color Purple, by Alice Walker. This book had the most emotional impact on me, more then any other book I have ever read. It gives the reader a vivid and terrifying description of the life of a black woman growing up in the early twenty century. I read this book for my eighth grade English class. Everyone was assigned to read an independent reading book that relates and associates with the timeless classic, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Even though the main character in each book was placed in completely different situations, the same issues applied to both. There were both victims of sexism. Both their lives were dominated by men and Celie, in The Color Purple, was abused by them physically and mentally because they wanted to keep her in line and control her to a certain extent that doesn't allow her to think for herself. Scout, in To Kill a Mockingbird, had constant pressure upon her to be the lady society had shaped woman to be. The Color Purple opened up to an experience that many woman faced but was chosen to be ignored by the public. It expressed the harshness of reality and the pain inflicted amongst many woman of a different race during this period of time.The Color Purple takes place in the south and spans thirty years in the life of Celie, a poor southern black woman. Alice Walker portrays the life of an innocent girl who is put through rape, physical abuse, teenage marriage, child birth and emotional abuse. Celie started out as a slave to her own family. Her mother is killed, and Celie and her siblings are raised by their father. Celie goes through the transition of a slave to an individual. Celie is an extremely strong character that overcomes the many years of abuse that was put upon her. The book was conveyed in a style that is unique in its own sense and the use of the Southern English makes the book especially realistic and more like an actual journal. I have felt that it is the most powerful portrayal of a woman and her struggle to survive. This character shows the reader that she is a survivor and your future can't be determined from your past.

A powerful, uplifting book

"The Color Purple" is one of the strongest statements of how love transforms and cruelty disfigures the human spirit that this reviewer has ever read. Alice Walker gives us Celie, 14 years old when the book opens, who has been raped, abused, degraded and twice impregnated by her father. After he takes her children away from her without a so much as a word, he marries her off like a piece of chattel to her husband, who is so cold, distant and inhuman to her that she can only refer to him as Mr; and this person deprives her of her sister Nettie, the only one who ever loved her. Celie manages to survive by living one day at a time. Her life is a series of flat, lifeless panoramas painted in browns and grays. Into this existence, if you can call it that, comes Shug Avery, her husband's mistress, who shows Celie her own specialness and uniqueness. A lot has been made about lesbianism in this book and all of it is beside the point. Celie isn't a lesbian, she is a human being in need of love and Shug Avery helps Celie realize that she is somebody worth loving and caring about. When Celie hurls her defiance into Mr's face -- "I'm poor, I'm black, I may be ugly... but I'm here", she is making an affirmation not only to him, but to the whole world; the reader can only say, along with Shug Avery, "Amen". When Celie finds the strength to leave Mr, he is left to face the reality of himself and what he sees isn't pretty; his transformation humanizes him and allows Celie to call him Albert, recognizing him as a person, as he finally recognizes her as one. The last chapter makes many readers go through half a box of Kleenex (Stephen Spielberg once said in an interview that he "cried and cried at the end" of the book), but Walker doesn't play cheap with the reader's emotions; she has a powerful story to tell and she tells it with such consummate skill and sensitivity that she brings us into it and makes it ours. This is a book to be treasured and read over and over again.