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84th out of 409 books
—
476 voters
Possessing the Secret of Joy
by
Alice Walker
"Possessing the Secret of Joy" is the story of Tashi, a tribal African woman who lives much of her adult life in North America. As a young woman, a misguided loyalty to the customs of her people led her to voluntarily submit to the tsunga's knife and be genitally mutilated (pharoanoically circumcised). Severely traumatized by this experience, she spends the rest of her lif...more
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
January 1st 1997
by Washington Square Press
(first published 1992)
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Dec 15, 2008
Julie Suzanne
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
african-american-issues,
women-s-issues
Picked this book up for a dime on a bookshelf full of unappealing books outside of a library. I believe that I took it because I knew that Alice Walker is a reputable writer, but I didn't even read the back cover. It's been sitting on my shelf for a few years and I'd completely forgotten about it. I picked it up two nights ago and WOW...
The subject of genital mutilation has been dormant in conversations in my world lately, and I welcome the opportunity to be awakened to important concerns in the...more
The subject of genital mutilation has been dormant in conversations in my world lately, and I welcome the opportunity to be awakened to important concerns in the...more
This is my second reading of this book. The first was nearly 20 years ago and all I really recalled was thinking I should hold on to the book because I would read it again.
Since I am a very different person now that when I was in my early twenties - I experienced this book very differently. The first read was an introduction to genital mutilation, let alone it's different forms, the cultural significance, the consideration of the psychological ramifications for anyone involved - I was amazed and...more
Since I am a very different person now that when I was in my early twenties - I experienced this book very differently. The first read was an introduction to genital mutilation, let alone it's different forms, the cultural significance, the consideration of the psychological ramifications for anyone involved - I was amazed and...more
The book details the life of an African girl, Tashi, from her youth through marriage - she meets the son and a daughter of missionaries and becomes friends with them - although still seeking acceptance from her village. The author, Alice Walker, gives us a unique perspective for each of the characters in each chapter. We see the wonderful youthful girl enjoying a crush and feeling the splendor of sex in the grass - yet - we learn that women in that village practice genital circumcision on every...more
This was the toughest book for me to finish. It was recommended to me by several friends whose judgment in books reflected mine, but I kept putting it off. The novel's subject, female genital mutilation, cannot be sugar-coated, nor should it be. Alice Walker does a unbelievable job of kicking your apathetic butt into gear. You will be angry, unbelievably angry. Angry enough to figure out what you can do to stop this, frustrated that the practice is still going on and tolerated by societies wholl...more
Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker follows the story of Tashi, a tribal African American who struggles with her undergoing for genital mutilation. A member of the Olinkan tribe who did not undergo the tribal ritual at the right time, unlike her sister who bled to death. Instead Tashi chooses to carry out the practice of Female Genital Mutilation when she is more grown up, as a recognition she fits in to the women of her tribe. Now living in the United States with her husband Adam she c...more
This book was written in the same style as The Color Purple, with each section being written by a different character. I enjoyed that aspect, because it gives each one a voice of their own, & a unique perspective on the events in the book. This book centers on Tashi, also called Evelyn, who married Adam, & was briefly seen in The Color Purple. It centers around the barbaric practice of female genital mutilation, or, female circumcision, which Tashi had done, & which killed her sister...more
This is the second time I have journied through the pages of this riveting book, picking up new nuances and concepts along the way. This book is one of my all time favourites because it hits an emotional chord and attachment to the charcaters and their inherant obstacles develops through each page to well after the book is finished and one is left musing the strangeness of certain customs and how mutilation can become culturally acceptable until individuals questions it. "Resistance is the secre...more
A quite wonderful book about a grisly and difficult subject: female genital mutilation. Walker attempts to be quite evenhanded and succeeds admirably, considering how horrific she most likely finds this practice. Because it has spiritual as well as social significance in many cultures (mostly in Africa), she does attempt to present that side of things. However, it becomes quite clear that the subjugation of women and the supremacy of men is the primary motive behind the practice, and that no spi...more
Back in the early Nineties, there was a story in our local newspaper about female circumcision that was published because of the release of Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker. It was a practice I had never heard of before, and I was both horrified and fascinated. I read it as soon as I could. Now, after more than 15 years, I still remember how emotional this book was. (I don't know what possessed me to think of it today.) With Possessing the Secret of Joy, Walker proves that fiction ca...more
This is a book that deals with FGM and Walker works to show how it affects both men and women in different negative ways. Walker is at times quite descriptive and it might be hard for some to read but she weaves a story through it all that carries the reader along through those tough spots. First read this book for a lit class in '02/'03 and was educated considerably to say the least. When reading it once more years later (yet again for a lit class) I was able to study the structure of the book...more
Just finished reading this book. It made me angry. It made me sad. It made me happy. It made me cry.
I really enjoyed the way it was written (Pulp Fiction style with things happening in chapters that seem out of order. Choppy.). I also enjoyed how each character got to have their say as it was mostly written from Tashi's perspective, but each character had their own chapters to share their views.
It's about so much more than physical mutilation. It's about the ways that women are mutated emotiona...more
I really enjoyed the way it was written (Pulp Fiction style with things happening in chapters that seem out of order. Choppy.). I also enjoyed how each character got to have their say as it was mostly written from Tashi's perspective, but each character had their own chapters to share their views.
It's about so much more than physical mutilation. It's about the ways that women are mutated emotiona...more
Like the modern German who, wanting to rise above the past and enter a new age of normalcy, must open the wounds of the Holocaust and come to terms with its legacy and its indelible mark of Cain, Alice Walker opens a tremendous, but previously hidden wound for African-Americans (and humans in general) who look to Africa for self-evaluation and identity (for we are all 'Africans' in the evolutionary sense): female genital mutilation. Ms. Walker shines a blistering halogen light on this unbelievab...more
A remarkable story about the painfully, horrifying and chilling ritual of female circumcision. I can't begin to imagine the horror and pain these young girls endured during such procedures, but Alice Walker gave me a realistic insight into this horrific, cruel and saddistic practice.
Being a person who cares deeply for others, this novel made me want to reach out and care for all these women who suffered so much.
The central character in this novel Tashi remembers her mother aiding in this procedu...more
Being a person who cares deeply for others, this novel made me want to reach out and care for all these women who suffered so much.
The central character in this novel Tashi remembers her mother aiding in this procedu...more
This is the first time I have read anything by Alice Walker and so I feel I may be lacking a certain richness in my reading by not approaching this work from the angle of The Color Purple. I certainly plan to read her most famous work now, as this novel is one I am thoroughly glad to have read.
Dealing with the topic of female genital mutilation, Walker does not flinch from trying the faint-hearted. I think this should be essential reading for both genders, especially at a time of rising practice...more
Dealing with the topic of female genital mutilation, Walker does not flinch from trying the faint-hearted. I think this should be essential reading for both genders, especially at a time of rising practice...more
This book was rather difficult to get through because of its focus on FGM (female genital mutilation) and its emotional and physical effects on women's lives - and by extension, the lives of their loved ones. At the same time, it was compelling enough that I couldn't put it down, even though it left me rather depressed at one point. Walker does an excellent job of bringing Tashi to life, creating a powerful, emotionally tearing story and leaving a rather deep impression on your heart about the i...more
I appreciated The Color Purple for what it was. This book follows a similiar writing style from what I remember of TCP. I'm a little unclear of the actual time period, but I am thinking it's in the 1960's. It's following a missionary family in Africa and the relationships that results. It does jump around in time a little though. Warning--this book does address squeamish issues like female circumcision.
So when I had about 50 pages to finish this book I really really really wanted to give it bac...more
So when I had about 50 pages to finish this book I really really really wanted to give it bac...more
I read this book straight through while sitting at the airport waiting for my husband to come in on a red-eye flight. Another reader put it perfectly, (I'm paraphrasing at best,) that this is a quick but definitely NOT easy read.
This book certainly has some jaw-dropping moments. The subject matter of female genital mutilation is tougher than a reader can really anticipate. Walker makes very effective use of few words to describe the pain and horror that the Olinka women/girls undergo, making the...more
This book certainly has some jaw-dropping moments. The subject matter of female genital mutilation is tougher than a reader can really anticipate. Walker makes very effective use of few words to describe the pain and horror that the Olinka women/girls undergo, making the...more
Possessing The Secret of Joy is a powerful book about the traditions, fears and emotion surrounding the practice of female circumcision in certain tribes in Africa. It deals effectively with the oppression of women, and the general atmosphere of misogyny surrounding the practise. In this aspect it is very moving. But the novel falls down with some of the characterisation. While Tashi, her husband Adam,and the menacing M'Lissa are wonderfully done, the next generation is not so deft, and the prea...more
I read this as I have a soft spot for Alice Walker and because my work in Kenya involves women and girls who are survivors of FGM. I didn't give it five stars as nothing will ever measure up to reading The Color Purple for the first time. I enjoyed the protagonist's multiple names/selves and the first person descriptions of FGM. Walker had, as always, some moments that captured moments of experience so beautifully. At core, this is a book about FGM specifically and trauma in general.
I tend to fi...more
I tend to fi...more
I am only giving this book five stars because Walker's attention to and replication of the perspectives of the characters is awe-inspiring. I also liked how she broke the book into the perspectives of the characters. I found myself highlighting and bookmarking more pages in this book that I have ever done in any book.
This book receives five stars because of its literary merit and not for my interest in it as a novel. I could not eat while reading large sections of this book (and I am not in any...more
This book receives five stars because of its literary merit and not for my interest in it as a novel. I could not eat while reading large sections of this book (and I am not in any...more
Such a moving novel that centers around Tashi (from The Color Purple and the horrific custom of female genital mutilation. Possessing the Secret of Joy is, as far as I know, is the first novel to illustrate the beliefs, effects, practices, and horrors behind FGM. Tashi represents the "every woman" who takes a stand for women's rights, but only after she chooses to undergo circumcision as a young woman. The book is broken into many short chapters, each one narrated by a different character in the...more
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A horrible difficult theme and really brave to raise awareness to this issue. It is all about men controlling women yet its women who carry it out &go along with it but even M'lissa at the end says the women are foolish for doing so & it's like it's just being carried on tit for tat I.e I've suffered so so should you. It's the women who need to take a stand against it, protect their daughters and men will be forced to accept it -if men won't marry them then so bloody what! Stuff them! T...more
Possessing the Secret of Joy was the first Alice Walker book I've ever read
First thing to notice about this book is the constant change in voice and person between the characters Tashi/Evelyn/Pierre/Adam/Olivia leading the reader to undergo an intense perspective change almost every other chapter..Alice Walker's diction serves this well.
Emotionally, Alice Walker does an incredible job with the journey and relationship with Tashi/psychological and emotional madness and of course femme-sexual bon...more
First thing to notice about this book is the constant change in voice and person between the characters Tashi/Evelyn/Pierre/Adam/Olivia leading the reader to undergo an intense perspective change almost every other chapter..Alice Walker's diction serves this well.
Emotionally, Alice Walker does an incredible job with the journey and relationship with Tashi/psychological and emotional madness and of course femme-sexual bon...more
One of my favorite novels of all time. Have read it 3 or 4 times. Beautifully written. Characters have clear and distinct voices. Good story-telling. Interesting story; about an African woman who suffered from female mutiliation. She is accused to murdering the woman who killed her sister during a mutilation procedure. Each chapter is told by the point of view of Tashi or someone who knows her including her African American husband, her best friend, her husband's French lover, her various psychi...more
Female circumcision is a horrible and violent atrocity perpetrated in Africa and other parts of the world. It makes male circumcision look like removing a hang nail. I was shocked and learned a lot about African history, African women and men, and African mythology. Can't say it was a fun read, but it was enthralling. Here's another book that sat on my shelf for fifteen years before I finally read it. Why do I buy great books and let them sit like that? Because I perpetually have fifteen books o...more
OMG,the whole time I read this book my mouth was wide open. It was the only thing that I could talk about, so much so that my friends started reading the book. I remember feeling so very angry. At one point I had to call my mother long distance for a NFW conversation. This book really opened my eyes to what I call Alice Walker's angst and her need to inform us of true life cruelties that happen to women in a fictional way. I've only read two books by her and I wonder if she has ever written a "h...more
Related to Color Purple. Focus on Tashi/ Evelyn. She has a 'circumcision / mutilation' as a young woman to follow traditional believes. Becomes maimed and haunted. Impact has ripple affect to many lives.
Overall horror of female genital mutilation.
Quotes:
That her soul had been dealt a mortal blow was plain to anyone who dared look into her eyes.
They do not want to hear what their children suffer. They've made the telling of the suffering itself taboo. If every man in this courtroom had his pen...more
Overall horror of female genital mutilation.
Quotes:
That her soul had been dealt a mortal blow was plain to anyone who dared look into her eyes.
They do not want to hear what their children suffer. They've made the telling of the suffering itself taboo. If every man in this courtroom had his pen...more
Preview… Rarely would I recommend a book that I consider so lacking in entertainment value. However, Alice Walker’s “Possessing the Secret of Joy” is worth reading for its many layers of meaning. This is a quick read that, while a bit erratic and hard-to-follow at times, hits the reader with deep emotions at its pivotal plot points.
Tashi moves from her native Olinka (a fictitious nation in Africa) to the western United States, adopting the new name ‘Evelyn’ along the way. This character was firs...more
Tashi moves from her native Olinka (a fictitious nation in Africa) to the western United States, adopting the new name ‘Evelyn’ along the way. This character was firs...more
Hubo un tiempo en que los libros me parecían escritos sólo para mí. Los encontraba, o me encontraban ellos a mí, en los estantes más bajos de mi casa, de la biblioteca o de las librerías. Los cogía en base a la estética del objeto y no tenía ningún remordimiento en dejarlos a medias. Me parecían escritos sólo para mí porque ninguna de mis amigas del colegio había siquiera oído hablar de ellos, ni yo de los suyos. A veces nos los prestábamos, cuando había alguno que tuviese cosas algo "fuertes"....more
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Alice Walker (b. 1944), one of the United States’ preeminent writers, is an award-winning author of novels, stories, essays, and poetry. In 1983, Walker became the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction with her novel The Color Purple, which also won the National Book Award. Her other books include The Third Life of Grange Copeland, Meridian, The Temple of My Familiar, an...more
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