I thought this amazing even though there were several aspects of the novel that would ordinarily be off-putting. First of all, this is very dark--that first page landed like a punch to the gut, dealing with the rape of a child. There's a lot of raw sexual content and graphic violence depicted in the novel. I've dropped books with strong styles like Fingersmith and The God of Small Things because I couldn't take similar subject matter.
But I think what helped me through it (besides the sense that after this beginning worse couldn't happen) was the second aspect that ordinarily would put me off--this is an epistolary novel--told through letters (and in dialect and with many deliberate misspellings and no quotation marks to offset dialogue). The text is headed by the words: You better not never tell nobody but God. It'll kill your mammy. Following that are the "Dear God" letters of Celie, who is fourteen-years-old when the novel begins, set in the American South from the early 20th century to World War II (The 1927 Bessie Smith song, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is referenced fairly early on.) Once I started reading those letters I just couldn't stop--they were that riveting. I think it helps the subject matter--imparting a simultaneous intimacy and distance--so that your heart can break for Celie without feeling repelled, and it's easier to take the disturbing content in short bursts--this book flew right past, read in one sitting. The voice is marvelous, making the best use of the epistolary technique, showing Celie and her growth in the very way she writes--spelling, grammar, etc making me feel as if she was whispering into my ear.
There are a host of strong characters such as Shug Avery and Sofia. Well, strong Black women characters. If I have a criticism, it's that pretty much every male and every White character is loathsome, at least through most of the book, although there is a redemptive aspect to one of the worst, and a few positive minor male characters like Samuel and Adam and Jack.
There's a strong spiritual theme in the book--as you might guess from a book mostly composed of "Dear God" letters (and ending with "Amen.") It's important--but I never felt it was preachy--and ties in very closely with the title:
But more than anything else, God love admiration.
You saying God vain? I ast.
Naw, she say. Not vain, just wanting to share a good thing. I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.
What it do when it pissed off? I ast.
Oh, it make something else. People think pleasing God is all God care about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.
It's a pretty harrowing book for most of its length--but with passages of beauty, glints of humor and strong friendships among women--dark in themes and content but ultimately not depressing. I enjoyed the Spielberg film adaptation too. I think it would be hard to beat his cast. But compared to the book it feels like a Disney production.
