By Mysia Haight, Audible Editor

THE COLOR PURPLE IS A WRENCHING YET SPIRIT-AFFIRMING NOVEL ABOUT RESILIENCE, REDEMPTION, AND LOVE

The first time I read The Color Purple, I was in my 20s, single, living in New York City, and working as a book publicist. That was decades ago, and Alice Walker’s novel has stayed with me. Along with To Kill a Mockingbird and The Grapes of Wrath, The Color Purple is at the top of my list of great American novels, and over the years, I’ve recommended it to many women, including my daughter, Lucero, who’s now close to the age I was when I fell in awe with it.

About a year ago, a friend of my daughter was assigned to write an essay on The Color Purple for a college class. So, I wasn’t surprised when Lucero told this young woman, whom I’ll call Gina, that I’d be thrilled to help her. Two days before the essay was due, Gina popped into my home office and dropped a bomb—she hadn’t read the book. But, she assured me, the essay didn’t have to be long or complicated—she just needed to know the main theme. "It’s about slavery, right?" Gina ventured. I started to explain that yes, at its core, The Color Purple is about slavery—specifically, the legacy of slavery on race relations in early 1900s Georgia—and being enslaved due to gender oppression, poverty, abuse, and intergenerational trauma. But it’s also about freedom and empowerment, a young Black woman’s awakening to sexuality, love, and her self-worth, and about sisterhood, loss, family, friendship, redemption, forgiveness, faith, religion, God, and Africa. "That’s a lot," Gina said. I suggested she ask for an extension on her assignment and gave her my paperback copy of the novel. And that was the last I heard from Gina on the subject.

After that encounter, I kept thinking—yes, The Color Purple is a lot, and definitely worth revisiting. I’m a fan of the Audible Questionnaire, a fun video conversation with authors featured on select book pages throughout our site, and as soon as I finished watching the gorgeous, captivating Samira Wiley share her answers, I downloaded The Color Purple and plugged in. While listening to the novel, all of the powerful themes I remembered came across as even deeper and richer. And through Wiley’s brilliant narration, Celie—and all her pain and sorrow, her heartbreaking sense of abandonment and worthlessness, her righteous anger, her aching longing, her gradual awareness, and her ultimate triumph—came alive. It was a revelation.

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