Page turner: 7/10
Heart tugger: 8/10
Thought provoker: 7/10
Overall: 4 stars

I finished reading The Color Purple just as I got to the train station at work on a Monday morning. It is a very good thing I didn’t finish 90 seconds later, or I would have ended up somewhere terribly unhelpful. I remember, as I finished, an overwhelming sense of relief. And also of peace.

Celie, the main character, is a black woman in the American South whose story mostly takes part in the early decades of the twentieth century. If you can think of the variety of horrible things that, stereotypically, might happen to a black woman during that time period – they do. Her life is not, objectively, a happy one. And yet, somehow, the author does a stupendous job of documenting the steady transformation of Celie’s life as she finds empowerment and happiness. It is a journey towards (and through?) grace.

The book itself is written in a series of diary entries (well, sort of – they are notes to a higher being) and letters. Mostly from Celie’s perspective. So as a reader, you quickly pick up the nuances of language, pronunciation, and vocab of the poor African Americans in the South. When done well (this is) it is easily to get steeped in the culture of the book without really realizing that the writing is ‘beautiful’ in the traditional sense.

I remember very little about my 10 minute walk from the station to the office that Monday, but I do recall getting to the office and discovering that my fingers were a bit stiff as I had been clenching my hand in a fist for the entire walk. Upon reflection it was very much a triumphant fist-clench.  Not an over-the-top-wild-celebration, but more of a pursed lips, elbow-pump, ‘HA.’  The main characters all demonstrate quite a lot of personal strength, growth, and love. So for all of its rather depressing episodes, I will say that it has a relatively happy ending.

It is a relatively short book – so no need to be intimidated by its size. As mentioned, it isn’t all happy but once you know setting (which is pretty well outlined on the back of the book) none of the bad incidents are particularly surprising.  As such, it isn’t a big page-turner: you aren’t so sucked in you can’t put it down – but the characters themselves are obviously (given my reaction to the ending) very real and very believable. If nothing else, I wanted to know what happened to them.

I had always meant to read The Color Purple – and I can definitively say I am very pleased I did.  And now I can finally allow myself to watch the movie!  (Which I’m told is quite good.) Overall it is a beautiful book, which I would recommend to pretty much anyone.  There are lessons about love and life, but it is also just a good read, and an eye-opening window into a time in the not-so-distant past. Read it when you are a bit stressed, and you can’t help but think, “if they can overcome those things in life … what on Earth am I so worried about”?