"These are the stories that came to me to be told after the close of a magical marriage to an extraordinary man that ended in a less-than-magi...
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reviews
Feb 08, 2009
Sonia
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The title of this book interested me. This is a collection of stories based in part on Walker's early marriage to a white man (a Jewish civil rights attorney). Living happily in the racially volatile and violent Deep South state of Mississippi, a place and time in which their union was not only unconventional but illegal. Then she goes on to say (on the inside flap of the book) "These are the stories that came to me to be told after the close of a magical marriage to an extraordinary man th
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Jan 06, 2010
Janet Ollman
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I loved Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and was anxious to read her work again. In this book, there are different characters and story lines, woven together into one story of how love and relationships evolve and change. My favorite characters were Big Sister, Little Sister. My favorite line: “Do you ever wonder, old lover of mine, where so much loves comes from? I wonder this often, because no matter how distressing the world is, wherever I am, there never seems to be a shortage of love.
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Jun 18, 2010
Alison
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I loved the Colour Purple so was a little disappointed to read this collection of short stories. There is no doubt that Alice Walker is a spiritual and poetic writer but the rawness of her stories was too uncomfortable for me. I enjoyed the beginning of the book – a memoir of the relationship with her first husband, but the rest of the stories, the ‘fiction’ were too transparently taken from her experiences and I found it all too repetitive and wacky.
Jan 08, 2010
Jhindman
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this always happens to me with alice walker books (since Temple of My Familiar): i start off all into it and excited and then just fade away. i start to feel less than because i'm not all spiritually removed and shit, because i'm attached to people and don't want to change all the time, because i'm "of this world." all her books seem to be about her and her life and so i don't really feel connected since i'll never have a life like hers
May 13, 2010
Zen
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Quick, enjoyable read. Walker is radical in a way that feels very American. The stories felt like they were all stories about the same people and same events, even when they had characters with different names. Portrayal of bisexuality/lesbianism felt old-fashioned -- I was going to say "oddly" old-fashioned but considering Walker talks about a character's kid growing up in the atmosphere of the Cold War, it's not really odd.
Jan 31, 2012
Erin
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"...the Universe is not that interested in punishing us. Every move we make is simply part of its reflection. " So this is one of those books. The kind that you immediately want to reread as soon as you are done. And it's a really fast, succulent read. I'm sure everyone says this about Alice Walker but it's as if she can see into my head, my heart and my soul. In general, I have a promiscuous relationship with books and I devour them, moving quickly from one to the next but I want t
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Feb 11, 2010
Meagan
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I don't know how Walker weaves these stories together... I'm pretty sure most (all?) are reflections of her marriage and subsequent divorce of a Jewish man, and yet the stories are of all kinds of women dealing with love in their lives. So good. Alice Walker is my hero.
Nov 28, 2011
Nancy
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This was a great read. Alice Walker is such a wonderful writer. This book is about a marriage breakdown and the experience of moving through the fears of being unmated through to freedom and rebirth of a new self. It is about love, loss, healing.
May 03, 2009
Yn
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This was a very hard book to read. The first 100 pages just broke your heart and left you wondering if you had it in you to read the next 100 pages. The last 100 healed the wounds and left new ones. As expected, a beautifully written book.
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Aug 04, 2011
I read this book during a time when I was questioning whether or not I mattered in the lives of some of the people I know. I could easily put some of my story beside this story, which in a way was both healing and validating.
Jan 13, 2009
Margaret
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Excellent. I'm not sure where autobiography leaves off and fiction begins, but it doesn't matter. It's a beautiful examination of friends, lovers and parents, from one of our greatest authors.
Apr 22, 2009
Joanie
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This book is a memoir of sorts but told in short story fashion. Alice Walker talks about her marraige and the eventual dissolution of the relationship as well as other forms of heartache.
May 14, 2009
Jamie
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A poetic book that managed to convey conflicted emotions and life experiences of politics, love, heartbreak, and building a life.
Aug 11, 2011
My favourite chapter is the Little Sister and Big Sister part, when they go swimming. And also Olive Oil.
Apr 28, 2011
BOOK: Short love stories of interesting, black characters who have equally interesting opinions of white people
Dec 01, 2010
Jessica
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This compilation of short stories by Alice Walker is fantastic. She is a great story teller. Love her!
Sep 13, 2009
Sarah Jane
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Some of the stories in this book were wonderful, others I just couldnt get into. Though I am huge fan of Alice Walkers work, this wasnt my favorite read of hers.
Mar 20, 2009
Melina
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This book gave me so much insight into an author that I already had immense respect for.
Feb 04, 2010
Martyna
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I learnt yet again that race can be used as a political tool..got some beautiful quotes.
Jun 19, 2010
Kristen
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One of the few books I actually gave up on. I REALLY could not get into it.
Aug 07, 2011
Lindsey
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Lovely, with it's earthy undertones; and bittersweet in it's ascension from our Mississippian past.
Sep 26, 2007
Jen
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Walker does not shy away from the complex subject of love and relationships in her collection of stories, related or otherwise, that reveal some startling situations in all their gory and unappealing, yet very real, detail. The difficult subjects of falling out of love, overcoming extramarrital affairs, parental expectations for their children's relationships, amorphous sexualities, prejudices and racism, and more are brought up. This is definitely not a read for the idealistic or the optimistic
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Dec 21, 2011
Purchased at the Texas Book Festival, this book of short fiction is a return to my early fiction reading roots, my early childhood days of literary curiosity and passion, when I borrowed mom and big sister's books. I remember enjoying Alice Walker's short stories and poetry more than her equally thoughtful "womanist" novels, and expect to experience the same fascination with the lives of tragic and triumphant women, but with a more mature and developed philosophical p.o.v.
Sep 11, 2007
Stephanie
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I think I read this book at exactly the right time (maybe when I had a broken heart). This book of short stories about relationships, about Alice Walker's relationship with her daughter's father, about working with him during the Civil Rights Movement, about other beautiful relationships that work, that hold beauty, love and adventure but still can fail shows how relationships can be meaningful and not last.
Dec 26, 2009
Billie
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Alice Walkers writing is so moving that I identified deeply with her protagonists, although they were very dissimilar to each other.
Sep 23, 2007
lia
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Short stories, most autobiographical, about relationships and their remarkable ability to dissapate and morph without us even knowing how. One of the best pieces is the one detailing Walker's relationship with her former husband, a white man, and their work in the civil rights movement in the sixties when their relationship was both dangeroous and illegal.
