Stars: *****
This book was read for the Book Awards Challenge, Southern Reading Challenge, Personal Banned Books Challenge, 888 Challenge and What’s in a Name? Challenge.
Wow. I’ve been meaning to read this book for over 5 years but it just stayed on my TBR list for a long time. I finally chose it for the Book Awards challenge and then later added it on for some other challenges and am I ever glad I read it! It most definitely deserves it’s Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award.
If you don’t know, it’s “the story of two sisters – one a missionary in Africa and the other a child wife living in the south – who sustain their loyalty to and trust in each other across time, distance and silence.”
The whole book is told through letters to God and to each other, which I thought, was a very interesting way to do it. Although the way Celie (the child wife) talks is with very poor grammar and the book is written to show that, I had no trouble understanding what the words were supposed to be. For example, I know that “ast” is ask and “git” is get and “preshate” is appreciate. One thing I didn’t understand was why Celie’s “husband” was referred to as “Mr. _______.” I suppose because he wasn’t a good husband so it wasn’t worth giving a name?
I recommend this book to everyone but just a warning that there is some disturbing material in the book, namely abuse so if it would trigger negative thoughts you may want to skip this book.
About Kathleen
