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The Third Life of Grange Copeland; Meridian; The Color Purple
Book by Alice Walker
Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
11 people are currently reading
309 people want to read
About the author
Alice Walker
250 books7,388 followersNoted American writer Alice Walker won a Pulitzer Prize for her stance against racism and sexism in such novels as
The Color Purple
(1982).
People awarded this preeminent author of stories, essays, and poetry of the United States. In 1983, this first African woman for fiction also received the national book award. Her other books include The Third Life of Grange Copeland , Meridian , The Temple of My Familiar , and Possessing the Secret of Joy . In public life, Walker worked to address problems of injustice, inequality, and poverty as an activist, teacher, and public intellectual.
People awarded this preeminent author of stories, essays, and poetry of the United States. In 1983, this first African woman for fiction also received the national book award. Her other books include The Third Life of Grange Copeland , Meridian , The Temple of My Familiar , and Possessing the Secret of Joy . In public life, Walker worked to address problems of injustice, inequality, and poverty as an activist, teacher, and public intellectual.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 25, 2012
This book is very inspiring and filled with history. It showed how many people lose their dreams because of situations they cannot control. However, when I finished the book, it made me realize that it is one's sole responsibility to protect his/her dream and make that dream a reality someday. You alone can emancipate yourself.
January 12, 2023
To have all three in one? Heaven! And to now be reading Walker's diaries with entries from when she was writing these works is amazing. To see her thoughts, her strategy, and her struggle as she penned some of the best work we have as black Americans is more than I can ask for as a lover of literature.
August 4, 2014
This is one of those books that hook the reader before they know they are being hooked, and reels them on in even though they don't want to get caught. None of the characters grabbed me at first, and I kept intending to put the book down, but kept coming back until I realized that I was hooked.
Partly I was curious as to how author Alice Walker would resolve the issue of the evil white man. The characters blame white people for their grinding poverty as well as for their cruelty to each other -- yet Walker begins the book with a quote from THE CHILDREN OF SANCHEZ, which is a comparable story of an impoverished, dysfunctional group of relatives in Mexico, comparable in many ways to THE THIRD LIFE set in Georgia, with an important difference -- the Sanchez family live in soul-crushing poverty just as the Copeland family do, but the Copeland family have a face for the enemy outside of themselves -- the white race. The Sanchez family are cruel to their spouses and neglect their children, also, living lives of not so quiet desperation, but there are no white people strutting around, talking down to the Sanchezes as though they are children, making them shuffle their feet and look down. The difference between the haves and have-nots are not racially divided in the Sanchez story.
Walker's Copeland family have a focus for their hatred that is outside of themselves. It was interesting to me to see where Walker took the Copeland family in light of the fact that she had obviously read THE CHILDREN OF SANCHEZ. I hoped that she would go further than blaming the white man, although the white characters certainly earned their share of blame. She did not disappoint. It is subtle, as the whole book has subtlety -- the same subtlety that hooked me when I thought it was a book easily set down -- but she widens the scope so that the story is about the human soul and the choices of the heart, even when the heart is broken by forces within and forces outside the self.
Her development of her characters is very "real", each character complex, and the changes within them as they go through their lives are sometimes surprising but completely authentic. A neglected boy finds love only to turn upon the one he loves. His negligent father becomes a wise and caring grandfather. These things we see in real life, as a person is one thing to one person, and quite something else to someone else. All takes place against the backdrop of a desperate struggle to achieve a better standard of living, and the costs people are willing to pay for a better life, and the costs that they refuse to pay. Grange Copeland's son, Brownfield, marries a woman who is able to bring their family to a more prosperous lifestyle, but the cost for Brownfield is too great -- he would rather destroy his life and the lives of his wife and children than accept a prosperity he feels he didn't earn.
Although the story is named for Brownfield's father, Grange, the story seems to pivot around the son who is more present in the story than Grange. Grange, however, casts a long shadow, and Brownfield can't separate himself from his father, even to taking up with his father's cast off lover. When Grange finally resurfaces for an active role in the narrative, it is in the nick of time for Brownfield's daughter Ruth who needs her grandfather desperately. Grange has found wisdom during his long negligence of his son, which he imparts to his son's daughter, but he cannot undo the wrong choices that have damaged his son, so it is only for his granddaughter that he is able to make a right -- and terrible -- choice.
Partly I was curious as to how author Alice Walker would resolve the issue of the evil white man. The characters blame white people for their grinding poverty as well as for their cruelty to each other -- yet Walker begins the book with a quote from THE CHILDREN OF SANCHEZ, which is a comparable story of an impoverished, dysfunctional group of relatives in Mexico, comparable in many ways to THE THIRD LIFE set in Georgia, with an important difference -- the Sanchez family live in soul-crushing poverty just as the Copeland family do, but the Copeland family have a face for the enemy outside of themselves -- the white race. The Sanchez family are cruel to their spouses and neglect their children, also, living lives of not so quiet desperation, but there are no white people strutting around, talking down to the Sanchezes as though they are children, making them shuffle their feet and look down. The difference between the haves and have-nots are not racially divided in the Sanchez story.
Walker's Copeland family have a focus for their hatred that is outside of themselves. It was interesting to me to see where Walker took the Copeland family in light of the fact that she had obviously read THE CHILDREN OF SANCHEZ. I hoped that she would go further than blaming the white man, although the white characters certainly earned their share of blame. She did not disappoint. It is subtle, as the whole book has subtlety -- the same subtlety that hooked me when I thought it was a book easily set down -- but she widens the scope so that the story is about the human soul and the choices of the heart, even when the heart is broken by forces within and forces outside the self.
Her development of her characters is very "real", each character complex, and the changes within them as they go through their lives are sometimes surprising but completely authentic. A neglected boy finds love only to turn upon the one he loves. His negligent father becomes a wise and caring grandfather. These things we see in real life, as a person is one thing to one person, and quite something else to someone else. All takes place against the backdrop of a desperate struggle to achieve a better standard of living, and the costs people are willing to pay for a better life, and the costs that they refuse to pay. Grange Copeland's son, Brownfield, marries a woman who is able to bring their family to a more prosperous lifestyle, but the cost for Brownfield is too great -- he would rather destroy his life and the lives of his wife and children than accept a prosperity he feels he didn't earn.
Although the story is named for Brownfield's father, Grange, the story seems to pivot around the son who is more present in the story than Grange. Grange, however, casts a long shadow, and Brownfield can't separate himself from his father, even to taking up with his father's cast off lover. When Grange finally resurfaces for an active role in the narrative, it is in the nick of time for Brownfield's daughter Ruth who needs her grandfather desperately. Grange has found wisdom during his long negligence of his son, which he imparts to his son's daughter, but he cannot undo the wrong choices that have damaged his son, so it is only for his granddaughter that he is able to make a right -- and terrible -- choice.
October 15, 2007
Katleyn Bradbury
Mrs.Kuhn
English 111
14 October 2007
While reading The Color Purple by Alice Walker I found myself uncomfortable, yet compelled to discover more about Ceile and her dysfunctional family. I "asked" Ceile a few questions. Even though the book was written as Ceile's diary, at some times it was dificult to understand what she was discribing.
1. What was it like to be constantly looked down upon by the men in your life(Mr.____ and Alphonso)?
-The men made me feel badly about myself. I learned to ignore it and I tried real hard to stay kind of invisible.
2.Was it easier having your sister with you?
-Nettie was my everything. Sometimes it made me feel sad that she was prettier and smarter than me, but she is my sister.
3.How do you veiw God? Is he real to you?
-In the beginning God was just someone to talk to, a way to let somebody else know what was going on. I didn't really believe much. Later I felt closer after Shug Avery helped me invision my own God and not the one everybody else sees.
4.What made you open up to Shug Avery?
-Shug was a very pretty woman, which is what first attracted me to her. We were alike in many ways and that made me feel nice.
5.Why were you so confused about your sexuality?
-I never had a choice to say I like this type, or I like that type. I was abused since I was nearly 12 years old. It was forced upon me. Once I got older, I started questioning myself.
6.How did not hearing from your sister effect the way you lived your life?
-I just assumed she had died. It made more since that way. I lived with her memory.
7. How did you react when you found out she was alive?
-I wanted to kill Mr.______ for hiding my letters all those years. Then I wanted to hear how she was doing.
8. When did you start to let your creativity blossom?
-When everything in my life started getting better;around the time I told of Mr.______.
9. Why was making quilts and clothing important to you?
-It was a release. It made me feel good because I could do what I wanted to.
10. How do you think your step father would have reacted if he could have seen you?
- I think he would have changed just like Mr.______. He would have been proud of me.
Mrs.Kuhn
English 111
14 October 2007
While reading The Color Purple by Alice Walker I found myself uncomfortable, yet compelled to discover more about Ceile and her dysfunctional family. I "asked" Ceile a few questions. Even though the book was written as Ceile's diary, at some times it was dificult to understand what she was discribing.
1. What was it like to be constantly looked down upon by the men in your life(Mr.____ and Alphonso)?
-The men made me feel badly about myself. I learned to ignore it and I tried real hard to stay kind of invisible.
2.Was it easier having your sister with you?
-Nettie was my everything. Sometimes it made me feel sad that she was prettier and smarter than me, but she is my sister.
3.How do you veiw God? Is he real to you?
-In the beginning God was just someone to talk to, a way to let somebody else know what was going on. I didn't really believe much. Later I felt closer after Shug Avery helped me invision my own God and not the one everybody else sees.
4.What made you open up to Shug Avery?
-Shug was a very pretty woman, which is what first attracted me to her. We were alike in many ways and that made me feel nice.
5.Why were you so confused about your sexuality?
-I never had a choice to say I like this type, or I like that type. I was abused since I was nearly 12 years old. It was forced upon me. Once I got older, I started questioning myself.
6.How did not hearing from your sister effect the way you lived your life?
-I just assumed she had died. It made more since that way. I lived with her memory.
7. How did you react when you found out she was alive?
-I wanted to kill Mr.______ for hiding my letters all those years. Then I wanted to hear how she was doing.
8. When did you start to let your creativity blossom?
-When everything in my life started getting better;around the time I told of Mr.______.
9. Why was making quilts and clothing important to you?
-It was a release. It made me feel good because I could do what I wanted to.
10. How do you think your step father would have reacted if he could have seen you?
- I think he would have changed just like Mr.______. He would have been proud of me.
May 21, 2008
The Color Purple is a good book. If you seen the movie, then you know what it is about. If you don't know then it is about a young girl Ceilie and her sister, Nettie. Celie is 14 years old, and she has already have two kids. They are by her stepdaddy. Ceilie's stepdaddy takes the kids off, so she never got to see them grow up. There real father died, so Fonso, the stepdaddy, marries the mother. Ceilie and Nettie mother loose her mind and goes crazy afther her husband dies cause of him being lynched.
Now Nettie is the beautiful girl between her and Ceilie, and so there is a man name Albert he goes by Mr. troughout the book. So he wishes to marry Nettie, but Fonso won't let him. He tells him that the only one ready for marrige is Ceilie, and so he takes Ceilie. Mr. wife died one day after church, her boyfriend killed her. Now Mr. has to take care of about 12 kids, so he needed some one to care of food, kids, and the house. Mr. is abusive towards Ceilie, and one day he hit her for refusing to do something. He also calls her ugly and stuff. He even sent Nettie to Africa, because Nettie always come over to play with Ceilie, and one day he tried to have sex with her, but she wouldn't give him none, so she hit him and he got mad. Now Ceilie is stuc with a man that she don't love.
Now Nettie is the beautiful girl between her and Ceilie, and so there is a man name Albert he goes by Mr. troughout the book. So he wishes to marry Nettie, but Fonso won't let him. He tells him that the only one ready for marrige is Ceilie, and so he takes Ceilie. Mr. wife died one day after church, her boyfriend killed her. Now Mr. has to take care of about 12 kids, so he needed some one to care of food, kids, and the house. Mr. is abusive towards Ceilie, and one day he hit her for refusing to do something. He also calls her ugly and stuff. He even sent Nettie to Africa, because Nettie always come over to play with Ceilie, and one day he tried to have sex with her, but she wouldn't give him none, so she hit him and he got mad. Now Ceilie is stuc with a man that she don't love.
January 18, 2015
As a white person who has had friends of all colors, I found myself squirming at the bleakness and violence of this book. I've read several of Alice Walker's books, and I admire and appreciate her unflinching portrayal of people's inhumanity--particularly that of wealthy whites--while I find them hard to read. I think some of the Native American peoples who preceded us on this continent worked to make the earth a good place to live, even to the seventh generation. By flipping that coin, Walker exposes the consequences of our slave history, even to the seventh generation . . . and beyond, I'm sure. As always, Walker offers a spark of humanity even in the cinders as her characters strive and sometimes succeed in overcoming the brutality rained down on them in order to claim a tiny glimmer of their own humanity.
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October 15, 2007The story of an african american woman and her daily life living with a husband she was forced to marry, looking to be loved and being apart from her only happiness; her sister nettie.
She endures pain and hardships as well as life-changing people. She builds a family through blood and friends and recording it as if she were writing to God or her distant that sister she misses terribly.
I thought it was a good book; its hard to relate to considering we live in a modern era in time, whereas this books setting is just after the abolishment of slavery.
Its a very popular book to read as well, so maybe you would be able to get more out of the book than i have.
She endures pain and hardships as well as life-changing people. She builds a family through blood and friends and recording it as if she were writing to God or her distant that sister she misses terribly.
I thought it was a good book; its hard to relate to considering we live in a modern era in time, whereas this books setting is just after the abolishment of slavery.
Its a very popular book to read as well, so maybe you would be able to get more out of the book than i have.
May 27, 2008
Dramatic sequences of black literature. I found this book quite fascinating to describe its hidden depression over the edge. Nettie and Celie are quite tremendous characters in this one for the fact that they reflect the purest love of familial relationship in time no matter what. Men are cruel, aren't they?
January 26, 2015
A gritty, tough, very realistic story chronicling the life of Grange Copeland and the generations that followed him. Sometimes uncomfortable to read the reality of life in the deep south during this time, but ultimately a clear reminder of one's one responsibility for one's own soul. Even days after I have finished reading it, the themes of this book reverberate daily.
March 28, 2007
such a great writer!
May 18, 2007
Changed my life when I read it, way back when...
July 1, 2007
This was my last shot at Walker's poetry. It's hard for me to conceive that I could like her prose so much and not her poetry...but there it is.
March 28, 2008
Minus the lesbian bit, there's something very romantic about the deep south, even when it is very dysfunctional like this one. It's about roots.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 31, 2008
I was prompted to read this book after seeing the musical...a strange order, I know. But, I loved the way it was written like a diary. A book filled with turmoil and emotion.
April 4, 2008
This was part of my radio book club. We could have spent two hours on this book. So many great themes to discuss and dynamic characters.
May 16, 2008
The Color Purple
May 31, 2008
another goodie.
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October 2, 2008good book
January 21, 2010
I really enjoyed my journey through these three Alice Walker novels. they were interesting and very easy to read. I enjoy the aspect of true history that she weaves into her fictional stories.
Read
February 1, 2015B C2 R5
April 21, 2015
A sad tough read. I cringed at the harsh treatment and broken attitudes used to inflict maximum pain. Alice Walker you are a star!
Read
July 11, 2009The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1985)
November 5, 2009
Everyone gets in a hard place but we must be strong enough to come out of that place.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews