The Color Purple

The Color Purple by Alice Walker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Epistolary novels are probably one of my most favourite things to read. They are a different way of telling a story and I find that I can actually picture myself as a third party, non-biased observer. The emotions are more intense. While it can be tricky to follow a story line, it challenges the reader to really focus and pay attention.

The Colour Purple is about the lives of several Negroes/ African Americans, living in the South and the hardships and trials/tribulations they have to overcome to find some piece of happiness in their lives. The letters are written by Celie and later her sister Nettie. When Nettie is writing letters she is writing them as a missionary in Africa, so not only do you get to explore the South (USA) but get to travel to Africa and see how a particular tribe's way of life is. I don't want to give anything away so I am going to keep what I say somewhat vague. This book is very raw. There is things you read about that most people would rather not know about or acknowledge that they exist. While there is a deep sadness within the writings, there is a silver lining in many situations. This is a great book but you have to pay attention and if you are able to do that you will have no trouble following the different story lines that come up.


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