Our Shared Shelf discussion

We had you waiting for a while to know this month's book, so I feel it's only fair to open this thread now. Early birds, you can start commenting! Oh, and since this book is a novel and many people here have read it already, I think it would be the polite thing to use the spoiler tag. You'll find more info on HTML at the small (some html is ok) disclaimer on top of the text box. ^^

Happy reading! :)

Just began, trying to read it in English but - can you confirm - it's kind of a spoken English right ? Not easy at all, maybe I'm gonna keep a French version beside to be sure to understand :-)

Yes, but not for someone for whom English is a second language;)

Kodak wrote: "Yep, it appears to have been written with a deep south American dialect! Interesting concept!"

Just to clarify, it's a southern American dialect, not a south American dialect.

Here's a blog post about the importance of dialect in The Color Purple. There are minor spoilers, but not anything important I don't think, so it's worth reading:
http://eggplantemoji.com/2015/12/11/w...

I think people should read the book in whatever language they're most comfortable with, because that is how you'll get the most out of the book, but if you feel confident reading in English, I think the dialect is really very important to the presentation of the story, so I'd say give it a shot. Honestly, even as an American, the dialect is challenging, and I think it's meant to be a bit confusing to readers. So if it's tripping you up, you're not alone!

Yes! I bought this book last month, what a coincidence! Going to read it in Dutch.

Agnes wrote: "Yes, but not for someone for whom English is a second language;)"

Thanks for the link. Trying it in English, and I keep an eye on my language version so I can understand if necessary :) But the first pages were not easy, but understandable :)

This book is my favorite in terms of "classics"and probably my second favorite after all (after The Book Thief). Being a self-proclaimed agnostic, even the highly religious aspects of this novel were immensely relatable and of course the implications for women and African Americans are spot on and intriguing.

Got to admit, I usually find novels very easy to read quickly. After reading the first few letters, I can tell I'm going to struggle to get through this one, mainly because of the content (also having a few issues with the dialect but nothing too major).

Linda, ahhhh, Dutch. <3 I have to refresh my Dutch! Right now I can still read but looks like this month's book would be a bit too much.

Next weekend
I will read it.

Next weekend
I will read it.

As Norwegian - but quite fluent in English - I find the audio book (read by the author!) to be much easier than to read it for myself. When I listen to her voice, intonation and all, I never get confused about the meaning of her words. But if I were to read it, I would stumble on the grammar part of "non-standard English" (African American Vernacular English?).

Lene wrote: "As Norwegian - but quite fluent in English - I find the audio book (read by the author!) to be much easier than to read it for myself. When I listen to her voice, intonation and all, I never get co..."

That's a good thing, I'm going to try to find the audio files ! I read a good third yesterday evening, in French (thinking about re-reading it in English after, or listening to it!).

The characters are all so interesting I think. There are already a few "strong" women and some men who think different than the father of Celie, for example. Curious to find out what happen next to Celie and the others.

BUT I think for now it's more difficult for me to think about the whole thing than for the book of Gloria. Because it's a novel, I think. Maybe because it's something far from what I'm used to live in my everyday life, perhaps. I don't know quite well now how to put the good words on my feelings. So, I'll keep on eye on everything that is said here, to help me to go deeper in my own thinking :)

The parts of the book that roil my feminist heart:

(view spoiler)[
1. Celie's life is one of loss and despair for the most part (except Shug and the letters from Nettie). Even her ending is in question -- does she dream her reunion with Nettie? Is it some reward for not killing either one of the men who actively suppressed her? This is not an uplifting book for me, and the hope comes too late (despite the fact that the story is gripping and I recognize the truths in all of these women's situations).

2. There is no woman who does not pay a steep price for her choices, whether it is Celie at one end of the spectrum for not actively fighting for herself, or Sofia at the other for actively fighting for herself. Even Shug, who steps outside of societal expectations, and Nettie, who essentially runs away from the highly oppressive Southern American culture all the way to Africa, pay a huge price. It is interesting to me that the story is told from Celie's point of view, because no one would want to be as powerless as Celie, and yet she has the deepest insight her own powerlessness, and that of others, men and women.

3. A lot of discussions claim that this story is about women empowering other women in a suppressive society. But, when the story is over, the "freedom" and "empowerment" that always felt just around the corner (for over 40 years!) is a mere hope for the next generation.

On the other hand, the book is a masterpiece of how oppression works in such a way that the oppressed oppress others, in a layered effect (Celie helps Harpo oppress Sofia because she was oppressed by Pa and Mr. ___, Pa was oppressed by a white society when he married Celie's mother who had been widowed by white men who didn't like her first husband being successful in business -- Mr. ____ was oppressed by a culture who made him choose between the "fast" woman he loved and being respectable). In the end, the truth that we are all busy oppressing each other and ourselves, is pretty clearly laid out. I just wish the answer to the question of how to reverse the oppression didn't seem to be: die and go to Heaven. (hide spoiler)]

Katelyn wrote: "Kodak wrote: "Yep, it appears to have been written with a deep south American dialect! Interesting concept!"

Just to clarify, it's a southern American dialect, not a south American dialect.

Here'..."

That's a great post about the usage of dialect in the book. I am struggling with it a bit (English is my second language), but I do feel that I am much more able to get into Celie's head. I will not say that I understand her because how could I understand her when I never experiences anything like she is experiencing. But I think that I can relate to her - and that's partly because of the use of dialect in the book.

Reserved this yesterday at the library. I feel that it is a rather a fast read but you need to pay attention to what their saying. The text is laid out differently so paying attention is very important. I can't wait to see how this book unfolds and what I can learn from it.

Read the book last year and really liked it. The the southern accent is certainly more difficult to comprehend when read rather than heard, so it was a bit of a challenge at first.

I finished reading it!! You can read my full review on my profile. Just note that this book does talk about some difficult topics such as racism, abuse, rape, incest and death going into reading this book. I would read it with an open mind. :)

I've just started reading this book and so far I can't put it down. And the southern american dialect it is written un completely fascinates me

I had NO idea what to expect. Of course, I had heard of the book before, and I knew there was a movie version and Oprah was in it. But my heart was aching by the first page. I read 'Uncle Toms Cabin' over the summer, so the dialect wasn't a shock. But the content is heavy right off the bat. I have a feeling I'm going to need to read this with some tissues near by. Looking forward to discussion! ❤️

Kelly wrote: "The parts of the book that roil my feminist heart:

I have to completely disagree.

(view spoiler)[You say that the book didn't solve the women's problems, but I felt that it oversolved them and did it too easily. It felt ridiculously lucky for Celie to be taken care by Shug, in real life it's a fat chance to suddenly meet someone caring and rich who takes you out of your home. Shug was the only chance Celie got and it's incredible that she got it! Shug is a version of Mr. Rich & Charming from contemporary romance novels. To me Celie felt like blessed by unprecedented luck. They got their home back at the end of the book, how fortunate was that? Such things don't happen in life easily, as well. Both singers in the book were incredibly successful, a beast of a man had a change of heart at the end, Celie happened to recognize her daughter, Corinna remembered Celie and died peacefully... Need I continue recounting? The book felt like a fairy-tale to me, full of convenient lucky turns for ours characters.

What shocked me even more was how lavishly they lived. I had no idea that oppressed people can own their land and open a tavern! Wow. This is an alternative reality. I honestly didn't expect these people to live better that I live myself and I'm a bit shocked. Their situation was never a dead-end, the book tells us that if people merely worked hard enough they could live better. This is so untrue of reality that I've seen. So I have to wonder: was it really so easy to have success or is that another matter in which the author showers our characters with unprecedented luck?

The way I see it, sexism and racism were the only atrocious things about their lives (obviously I'm not saying that it disappoints me, I'm merely surprised), and even then they managed to largely ignore them at the end. That sounds like a book with a happy end to me. As for the others, we're basically told that everyone can achieve the same if they merely realize they need to leave their husband and work on their own. My mind is still reeling, I can't believe that's true. If it was so easy, why didn't feminism appear much earlier than it did? My guts say that the author must've endowed our characters with too much luck, after all, and spared them the concepts of non-functioning vertical mobility, an imminent financial disaster if you live your husband, etc.

There was one note the book upset me on: Shuq's unfaithfulness. Yeah I get her. I do get her. But Celie caves in and forgives, like she always does, suppressing her pain, like she always does. This is sad, she only does it because she has noone else to love. I didn't like that. So after being mistreated by her dad and husband she had to be mistreated by her "one true love". Yeah, realistic, but in a book with so many unrealistically lucky points, I felt like the trend could be taken towards the end and the Ms. Rich & Charming could avoid turning into another instance of abuse. She alone made the happy end feel fake, like Celie was deluding herself once again that she's happy, while in fact she harbored a great deal of pain inside, pain that she would never even show. I do not understand the point that the authoress wanted to make by that. (hide spoiler)]

I'm on hold for the book, I hope I won't have to wait too long!

Helen - please use the spoiler html and edit your post ;)

Done.

Haven't read the book before, but really looking forward to finishing this! Read a few pages earlier this evening and I seem to "hear" Celie's voice quite strongly in my head, so for now no trouble with the written dialect. :)

I have seen bits and pieces of the movie, but I like that it is on the reading list. I have chosen the English version over the Dutch version. It will make it easier to find quotes and I don't even want to know what they did to the accent. A lot of the time things get lost in translation.

For now I am doing mostly fine with the dialect thing, it's not that difficult and just like other people said, I can hear Celie inside of my head. However, there's this word that is haunting me haha. What on earth is a daidie?

Oh, right. A diaper.

i'm brazilian, but i speek fluent english, do you guys think i could reed it?

I think I might need to read this book a few times! Being dyslexic and this book is a little challenging! Enjoying the challenge though:)

Branca wrote: "i'm brazilian, but i speek fluent english, do you guys think i could reed it?"

Shouldn't be too much of a problem then! :) I am also not a native English speaker and so far I'm getting everything just fine. :)

I think Celie is a strong character. At first, she is quiet and does what she's told, but she begins to grow up, and that changes. It's not a fast change, but it does happen. By the end, she is making up her own mind and making her own decisions. She wakes up to the feminist movement essentially.

So far I'm most interested in the fact that all of the adult male last names are excluded. So far everyone is Mr. __________. I'm interested to read more to understand where this decision comes from. Perhaps she's denying them the privilege of even having a name?

So far I'm most interested in the fact that all of the adult male last names are excluded. So far everyone is Mr. __________. I'm interested to read more to understand where this decision comes from. Perhaps she's denying them the privilege of even having a name?

Caitlin, my thoughts on that are that Celie feels so estranged from her husband that she doesn't think of him by name. For her, he is just a distant Mister, like many other Misters, she doesn't feel like a beloved wife, but more like a slave to a distant lord. And for her, I think, his name isn't important at all, she can't tell him apart from all other Misters who behave the same and who'd be the same if they married her instead of him. Just my two cents.

Very great observation, Hellen!...I've been engrossed with this book since yesterday and I just finished it. It blew me away. I grew up in the South (USA) and I can't believe I never read it till now.

When I began to read this novel I had mixed reviews, mainly due to the introduction by the author. Another problem I had was with the way it starts out, as if the author was severely lacking education. But as I progressed through the story I realized this was intentional and necessary to demonstrate Celie's thirst for knowledge and proof of her bettering herself over the years. Although this is a work of fiction it does imitate life through the truth of the conditions of that period. This book covers controversial subject matter like rape, incest, homosexuality, domestic violence, blasphemy, racism, misogyny, atheism, vulgar language, paganism, genital mutilation, scarification, persecution and child labor; but is written in such a way it tugs at your heart and opens your eyes to the realities of the injustices we've faced since the dawn of time.


. This story represents a time almost a hundred years ago but is still relevant to today's society. It's a sad state when women and children are treated like property; used and abused. Life is a precious gift which we would not have if it weren't for women. They should be cherished, loved and respected as all of God's creations because God is in all of us and all that we see. There are numerous injustices still happening today based on a person's appearance, lifestyle, religion, sex and skin color and it will only stop when the persecuted stand up for themselves and fight back. In a world where everyone wants to be a unique individual, we must unite together as a single, colorful and beautiful entity that demands respect. This is what The Color Purple says to me and I believe that one day we will be able to see people for what's in their hearts and not judge them based on their appearances and actions.

Oh wow, so when I read the first line I thought basically "Uh-oh this will be quite hard to understand.." but I'm halfway through now and have had a lot less issues than I thought, and I've solved them all by reading the section out loud.

I don't think I've cried this much in a book for a long time! The style really does make you feel like you're there inside her head, doesn't it. I am a speed reader, so I will read it two or three times just to make sure that I am picking up as much as possible, but I am really looking forwards to the discussions about this book!

not read this book before but such a book!!!! love the dialect as it helps to get into the characters cannot wait for discussion xxxxx

Read this book back in HS and have been meaning to pick it up again to see how it holds up, so glad that its this month's bookclub read.

Hellen wrote: "Kelly wrote: "The parts of the book that roil my feminist heart:

I have to completely disagree.

You say that the book didn't solve the women's problems, but I felt that it oversolved them and did..."

Julie wrote: "Just began, trying to read it in English but - can you confirm - it's kind of a spoken English right ? Not easy at all, maybe I'm gonna keep a French version beside to be sure to understand :-)"

Intertesting views, some of which I had while reading as well. I think that supports the choice for this bookclub. The dialogue and divergent views.

Yes it's a dialect but it is also Celie not knowing how to spell words because she was taking out of school at such a young age. Her spelling is that of a 7 or 8 year old. Further along in the book it's improving, showing how Celie ia developing herself more and more. I think the spelling is one of the most powerful ways to give an insight into the character

Carlein wrote: "Yes it's a dialect but it is also Celie not knowing how to spell words because she was taking out of school at such a young age. Her spelling is that of a 7 or 8 year old. Further along in the book..."

But the lack of education helps to define and form the dialect, so those ideas are not mutually exclusive.

I'm getting this book tomorrow! so excited to start reading it!

Julie wrote: "Just began, trying to read it in English but - can you confirm - it's kind of a spoken English right ? Not easy at all, maybe I'm gonna keep a French version beside to be sure to understand :-)"

It is a spoken English. The character doing most of the writing is uneducated so her grammar is incorrect and many words are spelled how they would be spoken in the southern parts of the country which can be rather different. It would be a challenge to read in a second language even though your English is clearly very good.

When is the book actually set?

Thanks Priyanka :)

I actually read this book in high school. Don't remember much besides the abuse, but I do remember liking it.

I first watched the movie when a child. I didn't understand all of it since I was kind of young but I knew certain themes. I can't believe I was allowed to watch it!

I read the book in my young 20s then I re-read it two years ago. It brought tears to my eyes this last read through. It's interesting the different things I've picked up at different times in my life. I assume if I read it ten years from now I'll stick pick up something else from the book that I didn't from my 20's and 30s.

Kelly wrote: "The parts of the book that roil my feminist heart:


1. Celie's life is one of loss and despair for the most part (except Shug and the letters from Nettie). Even her ending is in question -- does s..."


Yes, Celie's life is one of loss and despair. You say the hope comes too late. But in life, sometimes hope does not come. Not every book can have a happy ending. Yet in saying that, this book has some classic fairy tale elements (reunion with sister and children, character has altered their behaviour, character has found love, character meets rich stranger).

You say women pay a steep price for their choices, but don't we still? I'm only in my 20's, I have a degree and am travelling. I often get asked when will I will marry and have children, because society still accepts that as the norm. Many people often say to me my parents would be good grandparents, and I respond that although they would be it is my choice when (and if) I have children. It is my body, my life. We see on social media and the news, that women who choose (for a number of reasons) not to become mothers 'looked down' on by society. Yet, we should respect their decision as it is what is best for them.

One of the big issues in Australia recently has been regarding breastfeeding in public, a healthy and natural way to nurture babies yet some in society see it as an act that should be undertaken in privacy. Women have been juggling motherhood, careers and family for a number of years, yet celebs who do this are often called 'super mum'. We still have all these standards when it comes to careers and family.

Hellen wrote: "Kelly wrote: "The parts of the book that roil my feminist heart:

I have to completely disagree.

You say that the book didn't solve the women's problems, but I felt that it oversolved them and did..."

I agree the book had fairy tale elements: Celie being taken away from her surrounds and abusive husband by a rich stranger who loves her; Albert altering his abusive behaviour; Nettie finding love and getting forgiveness by Corrine on her deathbed; Celie being reunited with Nettie and her children; getting left their house and moving in; the women all leaving their husbands etc. In books, we often love fairytale endings, yet to me it seemed a little unrealistic for the setting and time of the period. While yes women can support and empower other women to leave domestic violence, there are numerous reasons why women choose not to leave the relationship (children, finance, support etc), and indeed, many women try to leave the relationship a number of times before leaving permanently. I would have liked those elements to be depicted a little in the book.