Product Description
Admirers of The Color Purple will find in these stories more evidence
of Walker’s power to depict black women—women who vary
greatly in background yet are bound together by what they share in
common.Taken as a whole, their stories form an enlightening,
disturbing view of life in the South.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

book that talks to the soul
My son asked me to read a short story by Alice Walker. He was analyzing different writing styles for a writing class. I was pleasantly taken back by the way she uses certain detailsto communicated to those of us who are not literature major's. I bought several of her books. In readingthem I found that she had retained a sense of her Africa culture. Her outlook is hoslitic and circular whilemost white writerswritelinear.
The purposeof writing is to communicate and Alice Walker does that. Her writing is not pretentious but humble like the people she writes about. Her writingmetaphorically legitimizes being black!

Something I'll read over and over again...loved it
A collection of short stories that I first read for a Black Literature class when I was in college in the '70....and here recently, shared it with my book club as our book of the month. Ms. Walker's writing style makes youfeel you are right there with the character. While each story presentsdifferent experiences of African-American women, women of all nationalitieswill be able to relate to the stories and the emotions. It's a fast pacedbook that is heart-warming, amusing, sad,....every emotion is touched.

Walker learned at the knee of Hurston....
Clearly no ground-breaking storyteller in the mold of Joyce,Ellison, or Hemingway, Walker IS, however, a very entertaining and resourceful author who is able to make up with charm what she lacks in originality and clarity of aesthetic vision. These stories, however, lean too hard against the trunk of Hurston's Eatonville folksy charm to make an indelible impression, and the sordidness which is featured in the narrative remains ill-conceived and dangerously ill-informed. For Walker's simple best, pick up a copy of her "The Color Purple", which remains landmark in its singularity of ambition and revisionistic approach to an otherwise- tired narrative form. ... Read more

Product Description
This latest collection of Walker's essays interspersed with journal entries is the most deeply spiritual of her works thus far. Here are her meditations on matters both planetary and personal--a powerful collection sure to please readers of her previous masterpieces. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A true favorite
I love this book.Full disclosure time:I love the writing of Alice Walker, so I'd probably read her grocery lists if she published a compilation of them.But truly, this book is in my list of Top 20 Favorites of All Time.I found it in a bookstore on a bad day in a bad part of town during a bad period of a bad (back then) life.Reading this book every morning before going off to my bad job kept me sane.I loved it so much I didn't read the last few pages for a long, long time because I just didn't want to finish it.Walker sees the poetic truth of life and renders it in brilliant prose.She is absolutely a writer's writer.I love this book.(I know, I said that already... just... for emphasis.)

One of my very favorite books
How could I not give it 5 stars?? All the emotion that is evoked coming from her soul & compassion for all living beings truly make for a beautiful compilation.Each new story is precious & makes one feel the need to pass this book around to all friends & acquaintances...

A political and spiritual testament
"Living by the Word: Selected Writings 1973-1987" is an excellent collection from prolific author Alice Walker. In this collection of essays and journal entries, Walker demonstrates the essential union of her political, spiritual, and artistic "selves."

Walker writes about many topics: animal rights, her daughter's smoking habit, her father, the problematic legacy of Joel Chandler Harris, pioneering African-American thinker Benjamin Banneker, vegetarianism, Reggae legend Bob Marley, her own 1983 trip to China, and more. Particularly fascinating are her thoughts on the controversies surrounding her great novel "The Color Purple."

Although the "New Age" vibe of much of the book may be too much for some readers, I found the book to be well-written and consistently interesting. Walker is a writer who has created a remarkable body of work, and "Living by the Word" is an excellent example of her passion and insight.

Travel with Alice
Thoroughly enjoyed her essays!You had an opportunity to travel with Alice as she journeys all over the world and other worlds greeting her ancestors.Each essay gave you the feel that she was in your living room,sharing from her life.Really enjoyable. ... Read more

Product Description
By the Light of My Father's Smile is Alice Walker's first novel in six years--a stunning, original, and important book by "one of the best American writers of today" (The Washington Post).

A family from the United States goes to the remote Sierras in Mexico--the writer-to-be, Susannah; her sister, Magdalena; her father and mother.  And there, amid an endangered band of mixed-race Blacks and Indians called the Mundo, they begin an encounter that will change them more than they could ever dream.  Moving back and forth in time, and among unforgettable characters and their stories, Walker crosses conventional borders of all kinds as she explores in this magical novel the ways in which a woman's denied sexuality leads to the loss of the much prized and necessary original self; and how she regains that self, even as her family's past of lies and love is transformed.

By the Light of My Father's Smile presents, as Alice Walker puts it, "a celebration of sexuality, its absolute usefulness in the accessing of one's mature spirituality, and the father's role in assuring joy or sorrow in this arena for his female children."  It explores the richness and coherence of alternative culture, experience of sexuality as a celebration of life, of trust in Nature and the Spirit, even as it affirms the belief, as Walker says, "that it is the triumphant heart, not the conquered heart, that forgives.  And that love is both timeless and beyond time."


From the Hardcover edition.Amazon.com Review
The Mundo are a new tribe, created by the intermingling of escaped Blackslaves and native Indians in the Mexican Sierras. Ineligible for academicfunding, a husband-and-wife team of African American anthropologists poseas Christian missionaries to secure sponsorship to live among the Mundo andstudy their culture. This soul-stifling deception underlies the familytragedy at the heart of Alice Walker's novel, her first in six years. Thefather, preaching the message of his puritanical Protestant sponsors, is"sucked into the black cloth" of Christianity and blinded to the Mundo'slife-affirming ways. When he discovers his daughter Magdalena's affair witha young Mundo, he beats her with a belt, thus estranging himself from bothher and the younger daughter, Susannah. The first of several narrative voicesto speak is his. Dead, he has become an "angel" who observes his daughtersfrom the "other side" and seeks to make amends for the pain he inflicted onthem in life.

It is the conceit of By the Light of My Father's Smile that angelshave complete access to the consciousness of the living beings theyobserve. One of the book's very first scenes involves the ebullientlovemaking of Susannah and her partner, Pauline, reported in sweaty detailby the angelic paternal voyeur. Highly explicit, this set piece is a kindof guerrilla assault on our sensibilities, preparing us to receiveWalker's urgent message--that sexuality and spirituality are inextricable,that denying one causes the other to atrophy as well. The blessings offathers are, according to this canon, essential to the sexual flowering andspiritual maturity of their female offspring. It is in the loss, theconferring, and the claiming of these blessings that the novel finds its narrative thrust.

By the Light of My Father's Smile is intended perhaps less as astory than as a parable presenting Walker's cosmology for the newmillennium--one that synthesizes ancient and modern wisdoms in a way that'sas artistically daring as it is politically correct: Sex is good,repression is evil. Dominant is bad, distaff is good. European culture isdead meat, the third world is wise, there is ongoing commerce between theliving and the dead, great orgasms shall set us free. Many readers willagree that a world built upon these precepts surely would be preferable tothe one we now inhabit. Here, as in previous fictions, Walker thestoryteller is spellbinding, Walker the preacher-theorist, less so.On theother hand, what other novelist risks so bravely or with such generosity, and seeks to give so much? With the proper mindset, Walker assures us, anyonecan become a member of the Mundo tribe. --Joyce Thompson ... Read more

Customer Reviews (45)

This book well move you
I love Alice Walker. She is an exceptional writer."By the Light of My Father's Smile" is as easy to read as "The Color Purple" and as inspirational as The "Temple of My Familiar." Her ideas about the spirituality of sexuality are so beautiful.

"By the Light of My Father's Smile" gathers up so much of women's history and experience, all previously ignored or misrepresented and takes this history/experience as an important given, uses it to explain our human quest to seek sexual and spiritual fulfillment, to know ourselves. Speaking so honestly about female sexual hurt, female sexual maiming, female sexual shaming within the family, within the father/daughter relationship and imagining a way to heal this experience was powerfully brave of Walker. I felt like I was is a long darkened and forbidden room now amazingly and lovingly explored, revealed. I felt such relief to read this attempt at restoring female sexuality to an altar of acceptance, respect, love, social esteem. It seemed almost possible to live in a society, a family that really could anticipate female sexuality with joy, freedom and respect on an equal footing with male sexual importance. But my awe and gratitude for the subject and Walker's attempt is still tempered by my real sense, in the reading of it, that it was not entirely successful. I'm not sure why. Some of the sexual imagery, the dominating type sexual play in some scenes seemed artificial, unreal. If it were real, it wouldn't be so undisturbing to the participants, it would raise issues, and it would be unsettling, not just accepted as part of their sexual bliss identity.

But over all, the story reads like a fable, a fairy tale, really and that is fine with me. It would be truly a shame for anyone to ignore to gift that Alice has given us through her vision. This book is exquisite to say the very least and the fact that is told from the point of view of a father looking down on his daughter is brilliant. Highly recommend especially for Walker fans.

A captivating book with many layers
I have read this book several times.The events are startling, the characters are fascinating and unexpected.The story is told from multiple viewpoints, which creates the effect of a flower opening for the reader. The themes of the book are universal: cultural differences, father-daughter relationships, sisters, death, afterlife, sexuality.It's all there! This is not a book for the uptight!For the open-minded only!

curiouslyvoyeuristic
I had a difficult time putting this book down.However, I'm not sure if it was well written or if I was curious to see what happened next-much like reading a tabloid.The storyline regarding the fictitious Mundo felt contrived, much like the rest of the book. It was also difficult to follow which character was speaking at a given time. This is not one of my favorite Alice Walker pieces.

Not for everyone!
Alice Walker is one of those writers whose work has the power to reach out and touch you when you need it most.This and I believe many of her other works are meant to be read at certain critical points in a specific persons life.Points when it is necessary to come to terms with a particular complex of issues.I thought it was telling when one reviewer said that the pre-occupation by some of the characters in this book with their personal traumas was unrealistic.Trauma is by its very nature pre-occupying.And what becomes lodged in an individual persons psyche as a result of the trauma they have experienced is typically unique to that individual (no one can judge the magnitude of pain in anothers heart).As a person who has been hurt reading the words of Alice Walker not only lets me know that another is serving as a witness to my pain it also shows me that there is joy waiting behind a door that I hadn't even realized existed.And it is in those moments that I feel truly blessed my her writing.Perhaps this and her other works are not perfect, in truth they are not.But in that moment when she has captured the pain in ones heart and soul, given it voice and a means to move forward who cares if it isn't the perfect novel?I guess those who haven't felt the coldness of a heart alone and bereft.For my part I say thank you Alice and keep writing, at least for me!

Alice challenged her style and won!
I just finished reading this book.I enjoyed reading
it.The writing style was not like The Color Purple.
I think Alice Walker stretched her creativity by leaping
into creating a somewhat existentialist and poetic work of art.
Tapesty comes to mind when I think of this book.An
intersting, well written read. ... Read more

Product Description
Despondent over the futility of life in the South, black tenant farmer Grange Copeland leaves his wife and son in Georgia to head North. After meeting an equally humiliating existence there, he returns to Georgia, years later, to find his son, Brownfield, imprisoned for the murder of his wife. As the guardian of the couple's youngest daughter, Grange Copeland is looking at his third -- and final -- chance to free himself from spiritual and social enslavement.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Great story!
I loved this book.Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down.

Pretty good
Had to order this book for my English class in college for my end of term paper, pretty good story, I've noticed Alice Walker makes very interesting novels about AA struggle and life stories. But very good plot, makes you think a little.

Wise, compassionate, beautiful book.
An unflinching exploration of the effect of oppression on the family, and of the opportunity of liberation through responsibility and agency.Walker's compassion for her characters, no matter how hurtful and destructive their choices, opens the heart and mind of the reader.I doubt there's a more important American writer than she.Thank you, wise woman.

Not So Good
I know people think that Alice Walker is a great author and I can say that The Color Purple has had a very strong influence over the world, especially the African american community; but this book isn't nearly as impacting as The Color Purple. The characters are flat as paper, and don't have a voice. The only character I could really say that does have a voice is Ruth, but she is the only sane character in the whole book, and everybody else is just tangled in bad writing and horrible plot structure. Now, don't get me wrong, I can see where The Third Life and The Color Purple are similar, but NO one should read this book. It is horribly written, and it is weak. I was expecting better out of her since she wrote such a good and influencing book, but this books sucks. Don't even buy it, save your money and don't get it. Buy another book, like Private by Kate Brian. It is TEN times better and has more juicer drama. Better yet, buy the Color Purple and step away from any other book by this author. Just step away.

A Best
I was mesmerized by this book.I believe it is her best. ... Read more

Product Description
"The rich, complex story White tells . . . is never less than fascinating." —New York Times Book ReviewAlice Walker's life is remarkable not only because she was the first black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in fiction (the book that won her that award, The Color Purple, has been translated into nearly thirty languages and made into an Academy Award–nominated film), but also because these accomplishments are merely highlights of a luminous and varied career made from inauspicious beginnings in rural Georgia. Drawing on extensive interviews and exhaustive research, Evelyn C. White brings this life to light. 16 pages of illustrations ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Alice Walker: No Life
I wanted to love this book as I had been looking for so long for a book on Alice Walker's life. But Ms. White's writing style left me unmoved throughout the book, either that or I am in a coma. At one point Alice Walker lived in Mississippi with her white husband and young daughter post Martin Luther King's assassination.I never get a real feel for the danger or the courage it took to face the everyday for Alice and her family.
The book was very disappointing.

The Color of Inspiration
This is really more of an acclamation than a review.It is simply the most inspirational book I have ever read.It deeply and personally touched me on so many levels and recalled many memories of my own life and childhood.

I became aware of Ms. Walker with"The Color Purple" and loved it but had never read any of her other work and did not know much else abouther life.Ms. White clearly shows her to be a woman of uncommon intellect, divine talent, genuine
compassion and sterling integrity.

After reading the book I recommended it to everybody I knew because I thought it was so powerful in its message and lesson about struggle, redemption and the power of love.

It also rekindled my desire to become a serious and successful writer.

It is truly phenomenal!

Michael Sainte-Andress

Forced to Disagree
Inadequate. Superficial. Fawning. Sycophantic. And did I mention inadequate? Though very readable, with some interesting information about one of the most courageous and innovative writers of our time, this boot-licking "literary" biography does not do justice to Walker. White uses the book as a forum for sarcastic attacks on anyone who has ever disagreed with Walker or written a negative review of her work. Walker is an intelligent woman, a writer who takes chances in her life and in her works, who uses her writing to challenge many aspects of society. White seems to take more offense than Walker, unless we are not hearing the whole truth about Walker's reactions to her critics, when reviewers, critics, black male writers and others attack Walker's work.If everyone took Walker's writing with serene equanimity, she would not be doing her job, but she is surely not a candidate for the sainthood White would bestow on her. When several of Walker's personal, mentoring, and business relationships falter, White invariably blames the other party and pictures Walker as rising calmly above the fray. Can the woman, fine writer or not, really be that icily aloof or that innocent? Further, the biography barely covers Walker's life after publication and filming of The Color Purple, as though her important work ended there. And to nitpick a bit, I got very tired of paragraphs beginning with "To be sure..."I can only think that the enthusiasm other reviewers have expressed for this work is really respect for Walker and her work.

Evelyn C. White Wins!
Well now, here I am on page 316 of this biography, over 100 pages to go, yet I felt compelled to scream, shout and holler about it! Evelyn C. White's expertly crafted, brilliant portrayal has lifted me up in much the same way that Alice Walker's poems, essays, and novels send me soaring.It is a celebration of not only Alice Walker's genius, but an affirmation of many unheralded black women writers as well. While riding a crowded subway, I found myself scraping the bottom of my purse for a scrap of paper in which to jot down the names of authors and works that I've overlooked, forgotten about, and/or never heard of.What an absolute JOY! Throughout this biography, I am reminded of why Alice Walker's work is so important, so necessary.I am astounded by her courage and bravery and genorosity. Where in the world would we be without an Alice Walker? Now, I must press on and finish the book, though I am conflicted--I don't know whether to go slowly to savor every single sentence and stretch out my experience for a few more days, or to hurry up so I can bask in the feeling of being utterly inspired.

An intimate portrayal
If one were to ask, most people most closely identify Alice Walker with her extraordinary novel that was later made into a movie, The Color Purple. However, this complicated, deeply-intelligent child of southern roots has never shied away from controversial subjects in her writing, constantly tackling issues that call for attention. Often drawn to the rebellious factions of a changing society, Walker is fearless, throwing her considerable energy into ideas whose time has come, as well as important causes.

The Georgia-born Walker showed her intelligence early, an avid learner who was drawn to educational pursuits and the written word. She has challenged racial, political and sexual boundaries, daring to bring such topics to light as FGM, aware that such practices cannot be eradicated until society as a whole acknowledges the horror of such acts perpetrated upon young African women. Yet Walker has tackled less predictable ground in her work as well, with more esoteric novels that envision a more utopian world (The Temple of My Familiar), giving reign to a creative vision that expands upon the conventional. Yet The Color Purple becomes the novel that defines Walker to most audiences.

Walker has deep roots in the literary community and author Evelyn C White makes liberal use of quotations to illustrate Walker's impact on black literary society. As in life, these authors frequently draw strength and support from each other, breaking new ground and daring to speak about forbidden topics, family abuse, violence and the mutilation of women's bodies. In pursuit of an honest portrayal of the world she sees, Walker wields words as her most powerful tool.

White has compiled an impressive biography, a fully-fleshed examination of Walker's life, both public and private, her personal struggles as a writer and her evolution as a woman. Walker is still an active writer, and, as such, a work-in-progress, with much to contribute as a female and an author who refuses to be intimidated or restricted by the world. In Walker's own words: "Love is big. Love can hold anger, love can hold pain, love can even hold hatred. It's all about love." Luan Gaines/2004
... Read more

Product Description
The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Color Purple, Possessing the Secret of Joy, and The Temple of My Familiar now gives us a beautiful new novel that is at once a deeply moving personal story and a powerful spiritual journey.

In Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart, Alice Walker has created a work that ranks among her ?nest achievements: the story of a woman’s spiritual adventure that becomes a passage through time, a quest for self, and a collision with love.

Kate has always been a wanderer. A well-published author, married many times, she has lived a life rich with explorations of the natural world and the human soul. Now, at fifty-seven, she leaves her lover, Yolo, to embark on a new excursion, one that begins on the Colorado River, proceeds through the past, and flows, inexorably, into the future. As Yolo begins his own parallel voyage, Kate encounters celibates and lovers, shamans and snakes, memories of family disaster and marital discord, and emerges at a place where nothing remains but love.

Told with the accessible style and deep feeling that are its author’s hallmarks, Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart is Alice Walker’s most surprising achievement.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Product Description
Describes a unique film making journey, from Alice Walker's first letter to Pratibha Parmar proposing the idea of the film, to the many journal entries & observations each of them made along the way. From California to England to Senegal, The Gambia, & Burkina Faso, Warrior Marks follows Walker & Parmar as they interview people who are concerned with & affected by the practice of female genital mutilation. Includes transcripts of their interviews, 3 new poems by Alice Walker, & over 50 photos offering a vivid & poignant portrayal of the people & places they visited. The adventure of two remarkable women who together fulfilled a dream. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Heartrendering and unforgetable
Reading this book drives me to tears and anger.
How can people be so cruel for their own selfish means?
The book was written in sincerity and it is easy read (I finished it in one go) and one cannot help but ask deep questions?When can all these cruel practises to hurt women stop?
The opening quotation "Why is the child crying?" summs it up all.

Don't be mislead by the title......
I agree with previous reviews stating that there are much better resources out there. I was VERY disappointed in this book and think it is one of the most misleading titles/text I have ever read. This book barely touches on FGM with any detail or facts. It is 99% about her making the film and what they did on a daily basis. While that may be insightful to some, I wanted to know details about the issue. I have read Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker and this is a better book by far. I wouldn't waste the time to read or buy Warrior Marks and recommend you start with another book that actually deals with the topic. What a terrible follow up to Alice Walker's great start at educating us on FGM.

a waste of paper
I had high hopes for this work, hopes that were dashed when reading how the authors wanted to travel and explore their topic first hand but were afraid that they'd be harmed in Africa.As if Jane Goodall worried about being eaten when she studied our primate cousins.
Then the authors chose to avoid personal contact and do their research in the library, reading the works of other people, thus presenting older second hand material as accurate without bothering to check the veracity or continuity of the material.
Finally, the authors personal bias came through often such as when they complained how combing the hair of a black girl was abusing and degrading and even torturing the girl.
At least Dr Godall had the guts to ask if the beliefs we had about gorillas were true and then seek the truth in their homes.Ms Walker and friend rarely left the library or their hotel and passed off the works of other researchers without question other than to blame men for all the ills that befall women.
FYI- It is women who choose to pierce their own ears, labia and clits, not men.

If you wish accurate information on the subject of genital mutilation, look elsewhere because all you will find here is second-hand data and personal bias and personal insults against anyone who disagrees with them.

We African women need MORE books like this!!
I am Kola Boof, often and truthfully billed as the nation of Sudan's top woman writer.I am also a woman who is "vaginally circumcised"--mutilated, if you will.In fact, Sudan is Africa's leading nation for "FMG" as Americans call it.

"Warrior Marks" is a superior work by a superior woman.

While so many reviewers here have claimed that there are BETTER books on this subject than Walker's "Warrior Marks"....I would remind them that with so very little written about this subject in the first place--we need to read and value EVERYTHING that is offered on the subject, especially when offered by a Black Woman (Alice Walker) whose obvious love, care and respect for African women...seeps like a healing oil from every page.

It's no secret that Alice Walker is one of the great inspirations of my own literary career and much of my work as an African woman from the Nilotic peoples of Sudan is distilled through the prism of her own American voice---as I struggled to find a way to tell my own stories with as much truth and bareness as possible.

"Warrior Marks" is a tribute to the WORTHINESS of African women...a book that gives us permission to embrace our sexuality, to value our black bodies and to insist that those bodies be healed.It also gives us the chance for "forgiveness".And through Alice Walker's willingness to lay bare her own personal reactions and observations and "empathies"....a larger story of womanhood is revealed and committed to word.

GOD bless both Alice and Pratibah, for such COURAGE.

postcolonial ego soapbox
This postcolonial piece of garbage masks some very real issues.I expected far more intelligence and sensitivity from Alice Walker. ... Read more

Product Description
The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Color Purple, Possessing the Secret of Joy, and The Temple of My Familiar now gives us a beautiful new novel that is at once a deeply moving personal story and a powerful spiritual journey.

In Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart, Alice Walker has created a work that ranks among her ?nest achievements: the story of a woman’s spiritual adventure that becomes a passage through time, a quest for self, and a collision with love.

Kate has always been a wanderer. A well-published author, married many times, she has lived a life rich with explorations of the natural world and the human soul. Now, at fifty-seven, she leaves her lover, Yolo, to embark on a new excursion, one that begins on the Colorado River, proceeds through the past, and flows, inexorably, into the future. As Yolo begins his own parallel voyage, Kate encounters celibates and lovers, shamans and snakes, memories of family disaster and marital discord, and emerges at a place where nothing remains but love.

Told with the accessible style and deep feeling that are its author’s hallmarks, Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart is Alice Walker’s most surprising achievement. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Reponse to Mamala
Honestly, I haven't read this particular Walker work, though I just ordered it. But I had to laugh -- and respond -- to Mamala's statement that Walker "insists on seeing everything through the lens of a person of color" and that while beautiful in The Color Purple (in which the primary antagonists and oppressors are black men, themselves, of course, deeply damaged by racism) it's somehow less warm and fuzzy in this work. How dare Alice Walker insist on writing through the eyes of a black person! How dare John Updike insist on writing always through the eyes of a suburban white American well-to-do man! (Even when trying, and failing miserably, to write about a teenaged Muslim). Mamala, your words are self-evident. Stick to Ann Coulter

top three??
Despite enjoying previous works by this author, I actually stayed awake last night contemplating whether this novel was in my top three worst novels of all time. Why? It is meandering, cliched, downright offensive in terms of stereotypes and the main characters Kate and Yolo generally bear no resemblance to real people. To compound the problem, the other characters who play supporting roles are hollow shellsused merely to make didactic pointsabout oppression and abuse. Being black is depicted in terms of such simplistic stereotypes as "being more tolerant than anyone else", being native American is "being in touch with the land" and being white has nothing positive to say for it at all.
For example, the author seems unaware that if Kate actually lived in Africa as I do, her sexuality would be enough to get her thrown into jail by virtually every African government of the day and would result in her being an outcast by local communities. That's the level of tolerance here in the Motherland.
My point ultimately is that this novel is ahistorical, ill-informed and in terms of simple entertainment value - particularly tedious if you have anyinterest in wit, irony, insightfulness or relevance. Don't waste your money.

Very hard to get through
I'm a fan of Alice Walker (read the Color Purple too many times to count) but this book was very hard to get through. If you are not familiar with the language that she uses it will take you a long time to get trough. I usually read a book in about three days, this one took me all on August.

Way too new agey and pompous!
I love Alice Walker's philosophies, but I really found myself loathing the protagonist of this book.Kate was very self-satisfied and arrogant, I thought.I definitely preferred her lover's story/journey to Kate's.The new age aspect to it was a turnoff and though I do embrace some 'new age' practices, I just thought it was too much.Also, the book meandered too much, going from character to character without cohesion.All in all, I found myself forced to get through this since I just couldn't stand Kate.I would not suggest this book to others.

Open Your Mind to "Open Your Heart"
I frequently found myself remembering how I felt years back reading Walker's "Temple of My Familiar" -- a compelling plotline that encourages the reader to learn about new places and peoples while questioning his/her own beliefs.That being said, "Open Your Heart" may be more treasured by readers who have already opened up to broad spiritual concepts (ex. the feminine divine) as opposed to traditional formalized & Western religion. For those readers, I would also highly recommend "Dance of the Dissident Daughter" by Sue Monk Kidd.As for me, I got "Open Your Heart" from the library & plan to buy my own copy to re-read again & again as I predict I will get more from it each time.I don't see Walker attempting to promote any "philosophy" except a willingness to accept those who find God outside of church or temple walls. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

A poetic journey with Alice Walker
The back cover of "Once" notes that this was Alice Walker's first volume of poetry; the text has a copyright date of 1968.This volume contains poems about the Civil Rights movement in the United States, love, despair, and other topics.Particularly interesting is a sequence of poems describing Africa as seen through the eyes of an African-American.

Walker's poems are written in a clear, smooth, often striking language.Some standout pieces are as follows."African Images": a sequence of 45 haiku-like stanzas."Karamojans": an ironic and tragic portrait of the "proud people" of the title.The title poem: illuminates the ugliness of American racism and the beauty of those who stand against it."Compulsory Chapel": shows a welcome touch of dry humor."Mornings / of an impossible love": a sequence of prose poems."Johann": a striking, visually evocative poem that explores the possibility of interracial love.

I have great admiration for Walker's skill as a novelist and essayist."Once" shows her to also be a poet of sensitivity and grace. ... Read more

Product Description
Chronicles the experiences of Alice Walker in the aftermath of the publication of The Color Purple and its winning of the Pulitzer Prize, as illustrated by essays, journal entries, and the author's never-used screenplay. Reprint.Amazon.com Review
Alice Walker, a writer who had generally shunned public life,reached a period of great achievement in the early 1980s. Her novel, The ColorPurple, was awarded both the Pulitzer Prize and the American BookAward. But when Steven Spielberg made a film of the novel, intensecontroversy erupted. In this provocative and thoughtful collection ofessays, Walker takes, as she puts it, a "lingering look backward at adangerous crossroad in one's life." How does a serious writer engagepopular culture? What are the costs? What are the joys? The eloquentMs. Walker offers insights. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Excellent Book in My Opinion
This book is not for everyone. I found this book extremely intimate and amazing. Why? I enjoy "getting to know" my favorite authors in a way that depicts them as "human just like you and me." Alice Walker let's us into her mind and emotions. She shows us that behind her great literary talent, she too goes through self-doubt, worry about what "other people think", etc.
I remember when The Color Purple movie was released and the backlash it got from black men in my community who perceived it as "male hating." I always wondered what it was like to put your heart and soul into a literary piece, have hollywood create a visual experience out of it in a way that you didn't expect, then sit through people "attacking" you as a "black male hater." Well, this book reveals what Alice went through, emotionally, spiritually and psychologically. We get to read exerpts from her journal.Furthermore, I felt more connected to this book than perhaps other readers because I myself am a novelist writer trying to publish my first book. Alice Walker brought up "controversial issues" in the book, The Color Purple (the most controversial being the "lesbian" relationship between Celie and Shug). My own work brings up "taboo" subjects within the black community. Reading Walker's intimate experiences with the public's (and her family and friends') reactions to her work and her bravery to "keep on keepin' on", inspired me to continue writing about subjects that have often been "silenced" within my own black community. The Same River Twice is an excellent book for someone such as myself who is often intimidated and worried about how their community may respond to their literary pieces.

Mixed Feelings
Reading Walker's prose can be like talking with a live person face to face.There is no aloof distance between Walker and the reader, one feels that she is addressing them personally; the drawback to this is that when she says something you may not agree with, you can feel a little hurt or even betrayed. The Color Purple is a story that so many people lay "claim" to, and is one of the most important books of the twentieth century. Readership of the novel has only grown since its initial publication in 1982, and it's no wonder that Walker feels such a bond to this story of hers.The problem is that the rights were sold to make a movie version and Walker wasn't entirely pleased with the results.

While I am sure any writer would feel very ambivalent about a film version of their novel (as Ken Kesey did for "Cuckoo's Nest"), when one signs the film rights away, they should brace themselves for the disappointment. Walker takes us step-by-step through the disappointment but the final conclusion is a feeling of ingratitude. What is important to me is that because of the movie I became aware of the book and thus began my love for Alice Walker. As a teen I loved the movie, but being older now I do see many moments in the film as rather embarrassing. But again, had it not been for the film I would not have read the book.

But why did Walker choose to write this book?Parts of it are very interesting, but much of the book is just a bunch of journal entries and news clippings. Walker does submit her entire screenplay that she proposed; Her screenplay is actually less streamlined than the script that made it to the screen and has too many moments involving the patterns in a quilt that stop the story dead in its tracks. For all the flaws of the screenplay that was adapted, (and there are many), it's a much less rambling script than Walkers.

Despite Walker's intentions, the book comes off as ungrateful. After all, she was able to make a nice home for herself.But this book is interesting to see the author's point of view.Had Purple been made in the 50's, it would have been damaged beyond repair and probably taken the point of view of one of the minor white characters ... if it would have been made at all. We've all seen movies that ruined a book, Walker is one of the only ones who has been voal about it.

But Walker should also take heart, at least she didn't write "Beloved" and watch that transition to the screen.

Just telling her side of the story
"The Same River Twice" was a very good book and it gave so much insight into who Alice Walker is as a person. I never knew that Ms. Walker has Lyme disease and that she loved to garden. The casting of certain individuals in certain roles shocked me it never dawned on that Tina Turner was their first choice in playing Shug Avery and that Lola Folana and Diana Ross were also considered for the part. Also I did not know that Ms. Walker had a problem completing the screenplay for the actual movie due her disease. Ms. Walker is one of the best authors of our time and it is a shame that people cannot see the beauty in her work.

I do remember all of the controversy surrounding "The Color Purple" when I was a teenager and how I was forbidden to see the movie. When I finally saw the movie after it had been out on video cassette three years later I was shocked and enlightened all at the same moment. I was shocked at seeing two women kiss and enlightened to see Celie break away from her abusive husband and flourish as person. The book and the movie are different and people should read the book before passing judgement on Ms. Walker's character if they have only seen the movie. I know now Ms. Walker had somewhat of a different vision of her book being made into a movie than Steven.

More Praise for Ms. Walker
I felt this book was one of her most personal, and from the start I could not put it down. The Color Purple was the finest book (and film) I have yet to see, although a better book than The Color Purple I don't think can be found. I am very grateful to Alice for publishing this book, as it gives insight into both the book and herself, and I feel it is the most revealing of all her books (so far). Reading it opened a window onto her life, albeit a small window, a window none the less, and for an author, I feel that is one of the bravest and most honourable feats. It allows you to step into her life for a brief moment, which can also heighten the journey taken in some of her other novels. Such as The Temple of My Familiar, which takes you further into the lives of the characters from The Color Purple, and knowing the motivation behind the novel from Alice herself, opens up a whole new aspect of Temple. I feel that to be a true Walker fan, this is a must read.

Boring and Pretentious.
Several years ago, I had a conversation with a group of filmakers who angrily debated the merits of "The Color Purple". Chiefly, we all wondered "What did Alice Walker really think of themovie?"

Well, she tells us here. In the most dull, pretentious andboring prose I've ever read. Self-serving and rambling journal entries.Tired cliches about what it means to be a black bisexual woman.Overreaching liberal claptrap that is better suited for a late-nightcollege bull session than a serious piece of literature. ... Read more

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The seed of joy lies in the heart of suffering. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker discovered this revolutionary truth when she first heard the teachings of Pema Chodron, an American-born Buddhist nun whose popular books have helped to awaken and spread the practice of compassion in the West. On Pema Chodron and Alice Walker in Conversation, you will learn about the life-changing impact on both women of tonglen meditation: an ancient Tibetan meditation that transforms pain into compassion through the medium of your own breath. With honesty and humor, Chodron and Walker reflect on anger, joy, fear, and the union of spirituality and social activism. A deeply courageous vision of the human journey unfolds as these two thinkers from different worlds come together in a provocative exchange of insight and personal revelation. Ultimately, their combined wisdom illuminates the realm, available to us all, where the barriers between self and others dissolve. Recorded live at San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts, Pema Chodron and Alice Walker in Conversation includes a lively question-and-answer session available nowhere else. Complete with a booklet including Ane Pema's tonglen instructions, suggestions for further readings, and more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Pema Chodron & Purple Color--new & better PC
A 70:45 min. live discussion @ a 1999 Shambhala International session (it & CD raised funds) between the 1st fully ordained Tibetan Buddhist nun Bhikshuni Pema Chödrön & Pulitzer prizewinning author Alice Walker ("The Color Purple" also a movie) with audience Q&A, Introduction by Naropa Institute's James Meadows, & Judy Leach narration.Both Shambhala & Naropa were created by Pema's lama Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoché.Walker discovered Pema's teachings through "Awakening Compassion," & they display mutual admiration in this CD.Both are down-to-earth, upbeat (while addressing "suffering"), & provide lots of laughter.The CD has 9 Tracks: (1) Introduction; (2) James Meadows' Introduction; (3) The use of suffering; (4) negative negativity; (5) opening & closing; (6) relating directly with yourself; (7) life as an experiment; (8) Questions & Answers part 1; (9) Q & A pt. 2.

The topic is Tonglen, "giving & taking" or "sending & receiving" a Lojong mind training technique for which Pema is famous.In Tonglen one breathes in others' negativities & breathes out positive feelings/wishes to others.Pema says to dispense with `shoulds', to experience ebb & flow, "start from your own feeling & make it meaningful, & to use yourself as a reference."She says that compassion will automatically arise out of this practice, & one will overcome one's fear of suffering or dissatisfaction.Per Trungpa, "Live your life as an experiment."A twice-divorced (with 2 kids) former elementary school teacher, she says that "Western teachers...see things differently."Interestingly, but in her own words, Alice Walker addresses taking back shadow projections--a la Jung.Where the CD is short on details on Tonglen, the 6-page accompanying booklet succinctly does, excerpting Pema's "When Things Fall Apart," including: attuning to others' feelings, on-the-spot Tonglen, changing poison to medicine, & the 4 steps of Tonglen: (1) openness & absolute Bodhichitta; (2) breathe in though whole body including pores: hot, dark, heavy, claustrophobic then breathe out cool, bright, light, openness; (3) focus on person to be helped or on those feeling what you are feeling; (4) extend focus to everyone.

It also includes Lojong, from Pema's "Start Where You Are" & "Awakening Compassion"--"The basic notion of lojong is that we can make friends with what we reject, what we see as `bad' in ourselves & in other people [shadow] at the same time, we could learn to be generous with what we cherish, what we see as `good.'Also, "give up all hope of fruition."There's also a short Glossary.Overall, it's an enjoyable, very human introduction to simple, yet profound & efficacious, techniques to increase joy & reduce suffering for individuals & society.
Also available on tape: Pema Chodron & Alice Walker: In Conversation on the Meaning of Suffering and the Mystery of Joy and VHS
Pema Chodron & Alice Walker in Conversation

"good stuff" - but not life changing
I have listened to this book on tape several times, and I have found many evocative concepts laid out by these women on handling conflict and interpersonal communication with more aplomb. Both authors have done great work separately as well, perhaps better than together. Too many times difficult concepts and moments of possibly productive diverging perspectives defuse into murmurs of agreement, sounding a little too much like the public radio skit on Saturday Night Live. That said, there are insights to be had in this conversation between feminist luminaries, and there's something to be said for a tape I can listen to when bedridden with migraine to be instructed and soothed at the same time.

Wonderful, Inspiring, Commonsensible
This delightful tape reassures that one can "fall of f themeditation/Tonglen bandwagon" periodically & still be ok. That'swhy it's called "practice," Pema says. For a few dollars, youparticipate in dialogue that will follow you about for weeks. ... Read more

Product Description
In this exquisite book, Alice Walker’s first new collection of poetry since 1991, are poems that reaffirm her as “one of the best American writers of today” (The Washington Post). The forces of nature and the strength of the human spirit inspire the poems in Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth. Alice Walker opens us to feeling and understanding, with poems that cover a broad spectrum of emotions. With profound artistry, Walker searches for, discovers, and declares the
fundamental beauty of existence, as she explores what it means to experience life fully, to learn from it, and to grow both as an individual and as part of a greater spiritual community.

About Walker’s Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful, America said, “In the tradition of Whitman, Walker sings, celebrates and agonizes over the ordinary vicissitudes that link and separate all of humankind,” and the same can be said about this astonishing new collection, Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Best book of Poetry ever
I just love this book. When it first came out I kept checking it out at our library.

The poetry is heartfelt, erotic, silly and touching. There are wonderful love poems as well.

Poems for Everywoman
I have enjoyed the work of Alice Walker from a distance. For years I have thought she seemed like an interesting individual, one worthy of much admiration.

In this collection of poetry, though, that admiration turned into soulful, connected admiration as it felt as if we linked arms and sat around a fire together, her poems as the guiding force to a deep and meaningful friendship.

I never imagined her thinking, as she writes in the introduction, "Will I write?" and then coming to a time of personal quiet following the events of September 11 and turning that moment of quiet into a time of walking through life, asking questions and then - following a Rilkean model - living the questions and holding a word-mirror to her life and those questions and writing down what was reflected.

She writes of sensuality, mortality, vitality... look:

She writes, in "Loss of Vitality"....

"Loss of Vitality
is a sign
tThat
Things have gone
wrong

It is like
sitting on
a sunny pier
wondering whether
to swing
your feet"

I discovered Alice Walker is a woman who writes poems with refrigerator magnets and then writes them down, for us to read and enjoy later.

I discovered she is like me.

Every woman should read this book. And every person who loves every woman should read this book. Maybe even read a poem a day, together.

Absolute Trust in Goodness
It's no secret what Alice Walker can do with words in books.Just when I thought I'd read it all by this wonderful woman, this poetry collection took me to new heights.I found myself indulging in her soulfelt musing in bed, in the bath in between times with my children and just any time I had a moment to read it.I read these poems like a novel, because in actuality, it's what they really are.

If you don't have this poetry collection yet, you're already missing out on one of the best books of poetry out there. Get it!

The color blue
Alice Walker seems to love the color blue.I didn't count how often, but blue is woven in and out of the poems.It is like there is a blue ribbon of healing words sent out to the reader.

The poems weave a tale of the wonder of life and send out a call for the end of war and mistreatment of each other.Alice Walker sets an example of thanking and honoring friends for being who they are.

The poems in this book dusts off the reader and sets him/her off to do the work that needs to be done.

"This is the true wine of astonishment:
We are not
Over
When we think
We are."

Awesome, Moving Poems
Thank you a thousand times, Ms. Walker, for the gift of your new poems.They literally danced off the pages and into my soul as I read them.I enjoyed the preface and especially being introduced to the shaman/priestess/healer, Maria Sabina.My favorite poem is "Thanks for the Garlic".You are a beautiful, amazing Apprentice Elder and someone I definitely will emulate in my own journey to become...... ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

Perfect service and delivery
The book arrived in record time, in perfect condition and beautifully packaged.A perfec, five star purchase!Thank you!

wonderful Paintings
As always, Alice Neel's figurative portraits reveal the inner soul of her models as well as herself. Sometimes awkwardly painted but always truthful, Alice Neel gets to the angst of her sitters. The essays in the book are very interesting and I wish that I could see the exhibit.

Very good, but not great.
The visibility of figurative painter Alice Neel has increased lately, with a record price paid at auction last year by the Cleveland Museum of Art for one of her paintings and with this retrospective, currently held at the Houston Museum of Art, which will then travel to England and Sweden and which is accompanied by this catalogue.

The book is a high-quality publication, with many very good reproductions of the 68 paintings in the show (from the 1920s to the 1980s), that traces the artist's career chronologically and studies such themes as the psychological portrait, the portrait from memory,the nude, the cityscapes, the relationship between parents and children, the old age, in short presents her work as a sort of chronicle of her time. It also dwells on her stylistic qualities, especially on her mastery of line and color, through numerous portraits of friends and celebrities (Andy Warhol...) and also some interesting landscapes in the tradition of Edward Hopper. The artist, herself influenced by various masters (Beckmann for example,) has in turn influenced many of today's figurative painters (Elizabeth Peyton comes to mind) and this is well shown here, even though one may question her real place among America's greatest artists of the XXth century... ... Read more

Product Description
'Stories are, after all, like a thumbprint. Unique to the soul and heart they are by creation attached' Comprising two volumes - In Love and Trouble and You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down - The Complete stories is a rich smorgasbord of tales that showcases three decades of the author's work. They show the immense range of Alice Walker's talent, from humour to stories of love, race and politics, reaffirming her position as one of the most important writers of the past 50 years. ... Read more

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Alice Walker, born in Eatonton, Georgia in 1944, overcame a disadvantaged sharecropping background, blindness in one eye, and the tense times of the Civil Rights Movement to become one of the world's most respected African American writers. While attending both Spelman and Sarah Lawrence Colleges, Walker began to draw on both her personal tragedies and those of her community to write poetry, essays, short stories, and novels that would tell the virtually untold stories of oppressed African and African American women, providing readers with hope and inspiring activisim. Perhaps best known for her novel The Color Purple (1982), which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1983 and became a controversial film three years later, Walker has introduced and developed womanist theory, criticism and practice, and continues to champion the causes of women of color by encouraging their strength and liberation in her life and her writings.

Literary works analyzed in this volume: The Third Life of Grange Copeland, Meridian, The Color Purple, The Temple of My Familiar, Possessing the Secret of Joy, By the Light of My Father's Smile, The Way Forward Is With a Broken Heart, Now is the Time to Open Your Heart.

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two stories plus texts on censorship of her works ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Walker continues to challenge readers.
In "Banned" Alice Walker continues to do for her readers what she has done throughout her writing career: challenges us.She challenges our ideas, our perceptions, and our life choices.This is a large part ofwhy her writing is such wonderful literature and excellent teachingmaterial.

To Walker's credit, much of this book is devoted to the ideasof those who oppose the inclusion of her works in state-wide CLAS tests. She could have easily written the book with only opinions in support of herown.However, were she to do that then she would be as guilty as those whooppose her without ever having read her stories in their entirety.

It isunfair to take any piece of art or literature (including the Bible, ofwhich this is often done) and judge its value solely on specific quotestaken out of context.Neither Walker's nor any other artist's brillianceis given justice when this happens.

The story behind the stories
This book is a must read for any serious Walker fan.It tells you a lotabout the war behind the scenes to get books like The Color Purple removedfrom schools and libraries."Banned" is an important companionpiece to Walker's books.The book brought up someissues I'd never thoughtof when I was reading the books.

Banned reveals the complexity of the censorship issue.
Reading is usually a solitary experience -- the reader engaged with the writer's words.That relationship can be enlarged with reading groups and in English classrooms.Banned further expands the relationship between reader and writer.What happens when what we read, or what teachers assign students to read, is challenged as inappropriate?The book's focus is the controversial decision by the California State Board of Education to remove two of Alice Walker's stories, "Roselily" and "Am I Blue?" from the 1994 California Learning Assessment System (CLAS) test.The book includes both stories, as well as an excerpt from The Color Purple, and nearly forty pages of letters to the editor and transcripts of the public hearing held by the California State Board of Education in response to the decision to remove the stories from the CLAS test

"Roselily," a short story of an African-American single mother marrying a Muslim man, and "Am I Blue?" a reflective essay about a woman's musings of her place in the world and the relationships with others in that world, are worthwhile reading in themselves.I found them both to be provocative pieces for different reasons.As a high school English teacher, I would use -- and have used -- both in my classes.Of course, the pieces have characteristics I want my students to learn and possess: voice, passion, writing with a purpose in both fiction and non-fiction forms.They are, indeed, controversial; but shouldn't writing provoke us to not just think about our world, but perhaps, to re-think our place in the world around us?

Banned's focus, however, is not the literary power of Alice Walker, but the power of her ideas.In the nearly forty pages of materials that either support or criticize the Board's decision to pull the pieces from the CLAS test, we witness the heart of the argument between censorship and free speech."Roselily" was attacked as being "anti-religious" while "Am I Blue?" was challenged as being "anti-meat eating."Good argument has both emotion and logic in it; the editorials and the hearing transcripts reveal both the emotion and the logic in the censorship argument.Some of the arguments on both sides are heavily laden with emotion that distort the issue; others use emotional appeals very effectively to help prove their point.Some arguments attack the Board's decision as politically correct and motivated by the wrong reasons.Others reveal that there are clear thinking people on both sides of the issue, people who make a logical defense of their own positions whether in supportive or critical of the California State Board of Education's decision.As one who leans toward the side of free speech and is very cautious about pulling materials from library shelves or from a class reading list, I was impressed with several of the arguments supportive of the Board.

Alice Walker's stories cause us to examine how we live our lives, cause us to question our beliefs, cause us to wonder about our relationships in our world.Similarly, Banned makes us think about what we read, and what we ask our students and our children to read.If you're a teacher, this small book will cause you to think about the readings that we give our students.As a parent, hopefully, you will ask your children what they are reading and what discussions they are having in their classes.As members of a democratic society, we will all ask what we should do with ideas that that may conflict with our own ideas.This book, a book of dialogue, really, about the issue of censorship, should become a focal point for further dialogue.

Alice Walker is wonderful
the story "am i blue" made me cry... the visuals with the horse and believing we are free and kind to animals while we are eating them :-( terrible, i feel just awful and as i put it down, my roommate had just finished cooking our dinner--steaks.i couldn't do it, the book was too powerful and meaningful. ... Read more

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Two Hard Bound Books in A Slip Cover ... Read more