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The Color Purple by Alice Walker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This novel was a hard read. One that either got you in the beginning, with a scene describing the rape of the narrator by her father, or put you off entirely. I read this novel because it has been challenged in the library of the school where I work. Everything that happened in the novel, from the sexual abuse, to the changing of partners, needed to happen in order for Celie to find herself the way she did. The catalyst for her discovery: reflecting on her relationship with Shug with the man who was her husband. As far as content and the challenge, I think there are lessons to be learned from The Color Purple about love, about how we treat each other, about family, about religion, and about life–how it takes some a lifetime to find happiness, and sometimes just as long to realize that contentment might not be so bad. But it takes life’s difficulties to provide the ability to come to that realization.
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