Audiobook: The Color Purple

I remember watching and loving the 1985 movie The Color Purple starring Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg (among other talented actors) many, many years ago. Its an emotional story and the star-studded cast gave amazing performances that stayed with me for decades. 

The movie is based on the book by the same name which was the Pulitzer Prize winner for Fiction in 1983. It is a Historical Fiction/domestic drama that focuses on the limitations put upon impoverished Black women, Black history, and the bond between two sisters, Nettie and Celie. It is told in an epistolary format between Celie to God and Celie and her younger sister, Nettie over many years.

I cannot remember if I've ever read The Color Purple but I decided to listen to the eAudiobook which was narrated by the author, Alice Walker. Due to the subject matter, this is an emotional read that is a raw, gritty and no-holds barred story about strong, yet broken, female characters who have had to endure a lot and learn to stand up for themselves in a world controlled by men and an oppressive and racist society. Walker includes many topics that would be great for book club discussion: LGBTQ, abuse, oppression, and the unease/embarrassment around female sexuality.

But at the halfway mark, I found I was struggling to stay interested in the story. It's at this point that the plot focuses on Nettie's letters home and it's during her recitation of daily life as a missionary that we lose the emotion of the story. The story dragged for the rest of the book and perhaps the epistolary format isn't well-suited for audiobook format. I became frustrated hearing Nettie repeatedly say "he said" or "she said" in her letters to Celie as she recounted conversations. In print format I probably graze over those bits but in audio, to hear that repeated several times per minute was frustrating.

In the end, I'm disappointed that I didn't love this audiobook more, particularly because the author reads it herself. I enjoyed the issues and emotions it raised in the first half, but the second half dragged so much that it just wasn't as an enjoyable experience as I had anticipated. That said, reading this book has got me interested in watching the movie again.

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Alice Walker

Genre: Historical Fiction (US)

Type and Source: eAudio from Audible.ca

Publisher: Recorded Books

First Published: 1982 (print)

Opening Line: Dear God, I am fourteen years old.

Book Description from GoodReads: The Color Purple is a classic. With over a million copies sold in the UK alone, it is hailed as one of the all-time 'greats' of literature, inspiring generations of readers.

Set in the deep American South between the wars, it is the tale of Celie, a young black girl born into poverty and segregation. Raped repeatedly by the man she calls 'father', she has two children taken away from her, is separated from her beloved sister Nettie and is trapped into an ugly marriage. But then she meets the glamorous Shug Avery, singer and magic-maker - a woman who has taken charge of her own destiny. Gradually, Celie discovers the power and joy of her own spirit, freeing her from her past and reuniting her with those she loves.