Finished: The Color Purple (Walker) A book about one African American woman's life that hits you right between the eyes with it's stark, sad reality. It's always so hard for me to grasp how human beings can treat their fellow human beings so despicably. And, we're not talking about a book on slavery here...we're talking about that period of time where black men themselves treated their women like dogs, worse than dogs, really. Did this all filter down from the way slaves were treated by slave owners in the first place? Possibly. Anyway, the harsh realities of men beating their wives, sexually abusing their wives, daughters, sisters, cheating on their wives, expecting their wives to work out in the field, as well as in the home, while sometimes they just sat on the porch watching. Women were nothing much more than property to fathers and husbands. This is the story of Celie from the time she's a teenager to the time she's a grown woman with grey hair. Celie spends the first part of the book writing her feelings down to God. At a certain point, after she's given birth to and had taken from her two children by her own father (later discovered to be her step-father); been forcibly separated from her beloved sister; been married off to a man who only wants her to keep his house and existing children; found out that her mother was crazy before she was murdered; and on and on...Celie begins to question whether there really is a God. Her friend, Shug (who also happens to be the woman Celie's husband has been in love with for years), gives a long dissertation about the existence of God and a couple of my favorite statements come from that. Over the years, Celie and Shug have become the best of friends, and more. When Celie one day tells Shug that her husband "Mister" beats her, that's the last time Shug ever sleeps with Mister. From then on, it's Celie and Shug who develop the deep relationship. Anyway, after Celie stops writing to God, she starts writing to her sister, Nettie. She and Nettie haven't seen each other since Mister forced Nettie to leave years before because Nettie refused Mister's advances. Nettie has since been in Africa for years as a missionary with a married couple and their two adopted children (in a keen twist of fate...the same two children that Celie was forced to give up!) One day, Shug and Celie discover that Nettie has been writing Celie letters for years and years and Mister has always hid them from Celie. The one person who loved Celie unconditionally has been kept from her in the most malicious way. :-(

This is Celie writing to her sister Nettie about Shug and God. "She say, Celie, tell the truth, have you ever found God in church? I never did. I just found a bunch of folks hoping for him to show. Any God I ever felt in church I brought in with me. And I think all the other folks did too. They come to church to share God, not find God."

"Here's the thing, say Shug. The thing I believe God is inside you and inside everybody else. You come into the world with God. But only them that search for it inside find it. And sometimes it just manifest itself even if you not looking, or don't know what you looking for. Trouble do it for most folks, I think. Sorrow, lord."

"Listen, God love everything you love--and a mess of stuff you don't. 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."

I love that! The color purple. Also compelling in the book is the side story of Sophia, who marries Mister's oldest son, Harpo. Harpo wants and expects a pushover wife like Celie has been to his father...but Sophia is a tough woman with different ideas. If Harpo tries to beat her, she puts a whooping on him that's much worse than he could do to her. Harpo asks his father's advice, and he tells Harpo to beat her. Harpo looks over at Celie, and she just agrees with Mister and says beat her. In a heartbreaking exchange, Sophia comes up the drive to visit Celie and bring back the curtains she made her. Celie suspects she knows what's wrong, but the words that Sophia directs to her are heartbreaking.

"She say, All my life I had to fight. I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my brothers. I had to fight my cousins and my uncles. A girl child ain't safe in a family of men. But I never thought I'd have to fight in my own house. She let out her breath. I loves Harpo, she say. God knows I do. But I'll kill him dead before I let him beat me."

I couldn't help but conjure up Oprah talking to Whoopie in that scene! Anyway...a really good book. I'm glad I finally read it. I'm so glad I'm off of my list of Top 100 and now on to books that I've been wanting to read. :-)