The Color Purple has always been a 'not now, but maybe later' book for me for around a decade now. It was one my mum read often as a kid, and she bought me a copy to read. For that reason, it was a 'priority TBR' for me, but one that never felt right whenever I picked it up. I'm so glad I waited.

While this book is probably the most upsetting fictional work I've read, and the hardest fictional work to read in regards to its subject matter, it's also one so full of love. Celie's love for Nettie. For Shug. For Sofia. For her children. For the various people that move in and out of her life and back in again. This book may be about hatred, but it's also about love. And it's so clear how much love and passion Alice Walker put into creating this masterpiece. That really struck me when I started to think about the form of the novel - epistolary - and the diction, in that I think those are two things which are difficult to perfect. But Alice Walker seems to do it with ease, creating an engaging and emotional plot from fast paced letters which may only take up half a page. She is certainly an incredible talent.

I love how this book discusses race, gender, sexuality, and spirituality. I have had an interest in religion and wanting to experience what it must feel like to be religious, but no religion has ever felt 'right' to me so far. But I adored Walker's descriptions of spirituality and God, and it added so much to an already amazing story. I love the way the characters in the novel change, and how some of this is motivated by spiritual changes within themselves. 

I'm really glad my mum kept telling me to read this book. I think everybody should. It's an imperative modern classic and a treat to experience.