The Color Purple

Alice Walker 1982

Devastation Rating

Emotionally Ruined
race gender queer survival

Our Take

Celie writes letters to God because there is no one else. Walker gives her fifty years to find her way from abuse and erasure to a self that belongs to her. The love story with Shug Avery is queer and life-saving; the ending restores what should never have been taken. You will want to mark the page where Celie first says no.

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