005: Color Us Moved

Re:Read

Whew. This was a tough one for us, Re:Readers.

If Alice Walker's The Color Purple is, at times, brutal, scary, sad, and just plain difficult, it is also full of love, hope, and joy. In the end, it is nothing short of triumphant.

In Episode 005, "Color Us Moved," we discover that neither of us could complete this classic on the first go-round, but are both profoundly grateful to have given it a reread. We talk about race, gender, and more than one pool party. Listen in, and then share your own thoughts on The Color Purple with us!

To reread with us, grab a copy of The Color Purple at your local bookstore or neighborhood library, or download it from your favorite digital book space.

Beyond Re:Read

Alice Walker was deeply involved in the making of the 1985 film version of The Color Purple, which stars Whoopi Goldberg as Celie and earned a whopping 11 Academy Award nominations. Grab it from your local library or check it out on Amazon where it's currently available for streaming rental. Also worth a watch is Pratibha Parmar's Beauty in Truth, a 2013 documentary about Alice Walker's past, process, and passions, which initially aired on the PBS series "American Masters."

Fun Facts

• The Color Purple was not only adapted for the Silver Screen, but turned into a Broadway Musical which originally ran from 2005 - 2008, with a Tony Award-winning revival running from 2015 through January of this year.
• Initially challenged in 1984 and as recently as 2008, The Color Purple is one of the most banned/challenged books of all time, according to the American Library Association.
• Alice Walker won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for the work, making her the first woman of color to receive the award. (She nabbed a National Book Award for Fiction, too!)