Monday, April 28, 2008
Dangerously Reading v. 4
I'm trucking right along on my dangerously reading challenge. Because I don't get down with poetry, I chose to substitute a feminist classic that I've yet to read. The Color Purple and I set off on a journey to celebrate the month of April. And it was glorious.

I'm embarrassed to say but I've never read any Alice Walker. I'm not sure why. I teach her in my women's studies classes. I admire her. And, based on this book, she is a fantastic writer. This book is so heartbreaking. There were quite a few times I thought about stopping. Many times I thought I couldn't take any more sadness and violence. But that's kinda the point of the book.

An explicitly feminist story, I enjoyed the main character, Celie. She suffered much at the hands of patriarchy and misogyny. Her story is an explicit critique of these systems.

My favorite part of the story was one that is overlooked by most reviews that I've seen and that is the familial bond in Celie's family. To me, all families should be as free and accepting. All family members should work together to raise the children. All the women should be supportive of one another. And that is a huge component of the book that I adored.

I recommend this book for anyone. It is fantastic. I'm thinking about adding it to my reading list for all students.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Iliana said...

I'm not doing so well with my Dangerous challenge but I'm not giving up yet :)
I would like to read this book one of these days!

Blogger Andi said...

Glad you got so much out of this one. I haven't read The Color Purple yet, but I did read Possessing the Secret of Joy a number of years ago, and it was just breathtaking.

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