The Color Purple Collection: The Color Purple, The Temple of My Familiar, and Possessing the Secret of Joy
Product ID: 104039993
Three novels by a New York Times –bestselling author—including the Pulitzer Prize winner The Color Purple —that speak to the African experience in America. The Color Purple is Alice Walker's stunning, Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of courage in the face of oppression. Celie grows up in rural Georgia, navigating a childhood of ceaseless abuse. Not only is she poor and despised by the society around her, she's badly treated by her family. As a teenager she begins writing letters directly to God in an attempt to transcend a life that often seems too much to bear. Her letters span twenty years and record a journey of self-discovery and empowerment through the guiding light of a few strong women and her own implacable will to find harmony with herself and her home. In The Temple of My Familiar , Celie and Shug from The Color Purple follow the lives of a brilliant cast of characters, all dealing in some way with the legacy of the African experience in America. From recent African immigrants, to a woman who grew up in the mixed-race rainforest communities of South America, to Celie's own granddaughter living in modern-day San Francisco, all must come to understand the brutal stories of their ancestors to come to terms with their own troubled lives. Possessing the Secret of Joy portrays Tashi's tribe, the Olinka, where young girls undergo genital mutilation as an initiation into the community. Tashi manages to avoid this fate at first, but when pressed by tribal leaders, she submits. Years later, married and living in America as Evelyn Johnson, Tashi's inner pain emerges. As she questions why such a terrifying, disfiguring sacrifice was required, she sorts through the many levels of subjugation with which she's been burdened over the years. Hailed by the Washington Post as "one of the best American writers of today," Alice Walker is a master storyteller and a major voice in modern literary fiction. Includes a new letter written by the author on The Temple of My Familiar. Review: Knowing My Familiar.... - I have seen Ms. Walker at a reading and her spirit" matches her love of the Earth, Nature and People. My paper copy is tattered now from the words I so deeply needed to learn we are forever changing. I have reread "Temple of My Familiar" with each big event in my life good or bad; it's like each time I read this precious book I'm seeing me differently everytime and there's growth presented!! As I look at my pictures that's captured through the years I see all the different images; some I looked like my father, mother or siblings pushing me on my way EVERYTIME. The books with the Color Purple leading to The Temple of my Familiar and lastly My Joy shouldn't be an effortlessly flow but it's a true Masterpiece!! I've always wanted all three of the books made into a movie. Her descriptions is a 5k Color TV playing clearly in my head. Review: ". - WOW! I couldn't stop reading. This collection of writings touches the heart of any woman, regardless of age, race, or nationality. And opened my eyes to the suffering of women who have survived this horrifying "procedure
| Best Sellers Rank | #323,053 in Kindle Store ( See Top 100 in Kindle Store ) #210 in Black & African American Historical Fiction (Kindle Store) #256 in Black & African American Literary Fiction #368 in Black & African American Historical Fiction (Books) |
M**9
Knowing My Familiar....
I have seen Ms. Walker at a reading and her spirit" matches her love of the Earth, Nature and People. My paper copy is tattered now from the words I so deeply needed to learn we are forever changing. I have reread "Temple of My Familiar" with each big event in my life good or bad; it's like each time I read this precious book I'm seeing me differently everytime and there's growth presented!! As I look at my pictures that's captured through the years I see all the different images; some I looked like my father, mother or siblings pushing me on my way EVERYTIME. The books with the Color Purple leading to The Temple of my Familiar and lastly My Joy shouldn't be an effortlessly flow but it's a true Masterpiece!! I've always wanted all three of the books made into a movie. Her descriptions is a 5k Color TV playing clearly in my head.
J**A
".
WOW! I couldn't stop reading. This collection of writings touches the heart of any woman, regardless of age, race, or nationality. And opened my eyes to the suffering of women who have survived this horrifying "procedure
K**.
Three Alice Walker novels! WOW!
The Color Purple, what can I say that hasn't already been said? In my opinion the movie was as ,good as the book thanks to the genius of Steven Spielberg. The Temple Of My Familiar, a learning experience for me. The story includes African history, legends, cultures, and introduces the reader to ways of seeing what could have happened, what may have happened and what did happen in the lives of this group of the most interesting, complex, characters you will ever hope to meet in Africa and America as their lives unfold. A book you will remember. Possessing the Secret of Joy, Another learning experience! This book was written as a protest to the practice of mutilating young girls in a rite referred to as circumcision in Africa and to a lesser,degree in America. The author made her point!
M**D
Journey through Darkness
I liked this book, albeit grudgingly. I felt troubled by the near-universal bestiality of all the men in the story, but I must concede that this is the perspective of Celie, the narrator and protagonist, a Black woman in the rural South; the most oppressed of an oppressed people. As much as I find myself cringing at the oppressive conditions of life for Celie as a Black woman, it is even more painful to consider her observations of the relationship between Black women and Black men, and the always-dour undertones to the expectations of her and the other women in this tale that unfortunately stings with a ring of truth- regardless of perspective. Though one, including myself, might want to argue that there was more light, at least in flashes, in the darkness of their existence, one cannot argue from the protagonist's perspective, and must also concede, dully, that the near all-encompassing darkness did exist, and even vestiges still linger to this day....
B**C
Good collection
Great collection of stories. I was lucky and saw it when Amazon had a really good sale, and I really enjoyed reading these. I had read the color purple years ago but it was great to reread .
D**.
Now I Know the True Story
Alice Walker is so great. I recently watched the movie and I wanted to get the rest of the story. The book and the movie are great companions. The movie was able to provide some moments the book was unable to offer. Together the two will complete the story. If you have seen the movie you owe it to yourself and to Alice Walker to read the book, you will be glad you did.
L**E
Three classic Alice Walker reads
I've been looking forward to reading Alice Walker's book Color Purple since I've seen the classic movie many times. Just getting the time to catch up on reading important books. Alice Walker is a great author! And I'll have three books to read in this Kindle collection.
C**L
Celie gains her personhood
Over twenty years ago I began reading this book. I faltered at page 100, and gave up. I saw and liked both the movie and the musical. Then, recently, I bought this collection and read COLOR PURPLE within a few days. Midway through the novel, Celie gains her personhood, her sense of right and wrong, that she has been wronged. Courageously, she speaks up in her own defense. I especially like the line in which she tells Mr.--- that nothing he does will succeed until he's done right by her. Those were powerful words that revealed she is aware of her predicament. By the end, the two have reconciled and he sees her differently, with respect. Although some of Celie's experiences are a bit painful to read, especially in the beginning, she finds love with Shug, loses her, and ultimately gains a self. Celie's letters to God form a diary that exemplifies her spirituality (a subtheme)--not religiosity, which she rejects because, as she sees it, God had abandoned her. Lastly, I marvel at how the book reflects American history.
C**S
The Color Purple' is a very rich read!
February's book in Emma Watson's online feminist book club, "Our Shared Shelf" was The Color Purple, by Alice Walker. (It was hard for me to misspell the word 'colour!') I remember seeing Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg in the movie version years ago, so I was familiar with the story, but I was unprepared for the blunt description of sexual assault in Alice Walker's opening scene. In fact, I found the violence, that the women in the novel had to live with, difficult to read. The book is set in Georgia in the 1930s, and is written as a series of letters from the main character, Celie, first to God and later to her sister, Nettie. Many of the book's black, female characters, Celie, Shug, Sophia and Squeak, rise above horrible situations to carve out lives for themselves. Not only do they have to deal with, the racism of the American south in the 1930s, but also a violent patriarchy from their own community. Some of the women are strong throughout the story. Others start out struggling in the midst of oppression, but eventually find their strength, with the help of each other. Not only does Walker address sexism and racism head on. She also explores gender roles, orientation, sexual intimacy, women's relationships, power imbalances, internalized oppression and cultural arrogance! 'The Color Purple' is a very rich read!
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