This is a book review on a Pulitzer Prize winning book "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker. A must read, may lead to rise of maturity in you on a certain level.

1. The Color Purple
~by Alice Walker
A book
review on

3. About the Author
Alice Walker
Alice Malsenior Walker (born February
9, 1944) is an American novelist, short
story writer, poet, and activist. She
wrote the critically acclaimed novel The
Color Purple (1982) for which she won
the National Book Award and the
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. She also
wrote Meridian and The Third Life of
Grange Copeland, among other works.

4. -Alice Walker.
If you deny people voice… their own voice,
there is no way you will ever know they were.

5. About the book
The color Purple is a classic. With over one
million copies sold in the UK alone, it is
hailed as one of the all-time ‘greats’ of
literature, inspiring generation of readers.
Set in the deep American South between
the wars, it is the tale of Celie, a young
black girl born into poverty and segregation.
Raped repeatedly by the man she calls
‘father’, she has two children taken away
from her, is separated from her beloved
sister and is trapped into an ugly marriage.
But then she meets glamorous Shug Avery,
singer and magic-maker— a woman who
has taken charge of her own destiny.
Gradually, Celie discovers the power and
joy of her own spirit, freeing her from her
past and reuniting her with those she loves.

8. Summary
Celie is abused and raped by her Pa, who takes away her children after
they’re born. Eventually, Pa marries Celie off to a man who is just as abusive
as Pa. Celie’s new husband, Mr.__, simply marries Celie to take care of his
four children, look after of his house, and work in his fields.
Celie is somewhat happy to marry Mr.__ because she can now remove her
younger sister, Nettie, from Pa’s household. However, after Nettie lives in
Mr.__’s household for a time without encouraging his sexual advances, Mr.__
kicks Nettie out. Though Nettie promises to write to her sister, Celie doesn’t
hear from her. Celie’s life gets worse and worse, as she’s now separated from
the only person in the world whom she loves and who loves her back.

9. Celie’s life changes when Mr.__ brings his deathly ill mistress home for Celie to
nurse back to health. Mr.__’s mistress, Shug, is everything that Celie isn’t: sexy,
sassy, and independent. Celie quickly falls in love with Shug, and Shug falls in love
back. For the first time in Celie’s life, she has a chance to enjoy sex, romance, and
friendship.
Together with Shug, Celie discovers the mystery of Nettie’s silence for so many
decades: Mr.__ has been hiding all of Nettie’s letters in his locked trunk. When
Celie finds her sister’s letters, it unlocks a new world for her. Instead of being
submissive and downtrodden, she realizes the full extent of the abuses she has
suffered from Mr.__. This knowledge gives her the strength to leave him. Celie
heads off to Memphis with Shug to start a new life.
Nettie’s letters transform the way Celie sees the world. From Nettie, Celie learns
that Pa isn’t actually her biological father. Celie also learns that Nettie is living with
the Reverend Samuel and his family, working as a missionary in Africa. The
Reverend Samuel had also adopted Celie’s two children from Pa many years back.
Nettie, Samuel, and the children plan to return from Africa soon.

11. Celie learns that Pa has died. She also finds out that the house that Pa lived in
actually has belonged to Celie and Nettie since their mother passed away. So
now Celie owns a home, which she prepares for Nettie’s arrival. Now an
independent woman, Celie remains close friends with Shug, although Shug is
not faithful or constant in their romantic relationship. Celie also gains a new
friend. After she left Mr.__, he became a changed man. He’s reformed and is
now a pretty decent guy. Although Celie isn’t remotely romantically interested
in him, they now enjoy each other’s company.
After several decades abroad in Africa, Nettie returns with Samuel, who is now
her husband, and with Celie’s two children. The sisters have a blissful reunion,
and although they’re now old women, we get the sense that they’ve just begun
the best years of their lives.

12. Theme of the
Book
Violence:- Still, there's a whole lot of it in The Color Purple. Most of the black
female characters in this book tend to be victims of violence, and men attempt to
exert their dominance over women—particularly their wives—by beating and
raping them.The way female characters react to violence varies dramatically.
Celie suffers repeated violence from both her father and husband and reacts by
shutting down emotionally and being very submissive.
Religion:- Celie narrates The Color Purple through a series of letters, most of
which are addressed to God. She initially imagines God as an old white man,
something like Dumbledore or Gandalf. But as a black woman who's been abused
by men all her life, Celie eventually begins to rebel against this image of God. She
begins to see God as genderless and raceless, a more universal being who wants
humans to enjoy all aspects of life.

13. Race:- The Color Purple has a lot to say about race in America. At the
beginning of the novel, Celie is extremely downtrodden—almost to the
point of being defeated. Black women in this book are far too often
victims of violent crimes committed by white men. However, as Celie
learns about the rich cultures and civilizations that existed in Africa and
reimagines her own vision of God, she gains some pride in her ethnic
heritage.
Love:- The Color Purple can be a harsh read at times, but it's
ultimately a book about the power of love—both romantic and familial.
Celie's first experience with love comes from her relationship with her
little sister Nettie, whom she fiercely protects, even when it means
sacrificing her own wellbeing. In this novel, love isn’t necessarily about
fidelity, and certainly isn’t about gender or marriage. Love is about self-
sacrifice, respect, and unconditional care.

14. Targeted Audience
The dilemma of the novel is that it consists quite a bit of
mature content. If the reader is level-headed enough then
must try the book.

15. My review
It’s so deservedly famous that it’s difficult for me to think of anything that might be
interesting to say. I can understand the more negative reviews for it — the
epistolary format, the colloquial language and often phonetic spelling, the
unrelenting awfulness of the main character’s life. Even some of the plot twists.
And of course the more conservative among us aren’t going to be pleased by the
female sexuality on display, and particularly not the relationship between Shug
and Celie.
And yet. It ends up being quite uplifting, because here are these people who are
discovering how to stand on their own two feet, how to live, and how to be their
own selves and not what their parents made, and not what society wants them to
be either. It seems like there’s no one in the book immune from the possibility of
self-discovery and redemption. And despite the fact that Shug has no faith in the
typical version of God, and Celie loses it too, there’s something profoundly
spiritual about Celie’s journey