52 in 52 Week 23: The Color Purple by Alice Walker

My Book Dames Book Club decided to read this because we read Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Alice Walker has said that her inspiration comes from Hurston. Hurston's writing was so beautiful. I found Alice Walker's less so. I know that The Color Purple is considered a classic, but I don't feel like it is well-written, and it is pretty crude, raw, gritty in parts. 

I warned my book club of this three weeks ago, but no one had responded. So, I plunged ahead with it. Just as I was finishing the last line on my iPod this morning, I heard a "ding" from Facebook with another person in the club who started it last night and said, essentially the same thing. I guess they didn't see what I wrote three weeks ago. So, we are rethinking it.

I am really conservative. I know life can be gritty, but I felt Hurston did it in such a non-offensive way, whereas Walker (and Toni Morrison in The Bluest Eyes) are just distastefully crude. 

I felt like I needed to take a shower afterward. I think it is sad because there is much in the book that is really quite beautiful (Nettie's letters), but the crudeness spoiled the book for me. I really, really wanted to like this book, but I didn't really care for it. 

Also, Alice Walker, while sweet, should stick to writing books and not narrating them. She is no actress. So, it was really stilted and boring in parts. I read from a print copy when I could.