POD: Book Clubs

The Color Purple

Iconic modern classic

Set in the deep American South between the wars, The Color Purple is the classic tale of Celie, a young black girl born into poverty and segregation. Raped repeatedly by the man she calls ‘father’, she has two children taken away from her, is separated from her beloved sister Nettie and is trapped into an ugly marriage. But then she meets the glamorous Shug Avery, singer and magic-maker – a woman who has taken charge of her own destiny. Gradually Celie discovers the power and joy of her own spirit, freeing her from her past and reuniting her with those she loves.

Published in 1982, The Color Purple went on to win both the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction. In 1985, the book was adapted into a film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover and Oprah Winfrey, and in 2005 it was adapted into a Broadway musical.

Part of our ‘Beyond the Book’ Series. View

PODCASTS

Alice Walker – The Color Purple

(52 mins)

Iconic African American writer Alice Walker on her prize-winning novel ‘The Color Purple’ from the BBC World Book Club.

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Alice Walker: Desert Island Discs

(34 mins)

Kirsty Young’s castaway this week is the Pulitzer Prize winning writer Alice Walker. Author, poet, feminist and activist, it was her novel The Color Purple that brought her worldwide attention and acclaim. The story of a poor black girl surviving in the deep American south, between the wars, it is a landmark work, disturbing and exhilarating in equal measure.

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Movie: The Color Purple

(31 mins)

Movie review: Robert and Joshua from the Torn Stubs podcast head to the deep south to discuss The Color Purple directed by Steven Spielberg.

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VIDEOS

Alice Walker on Her Classic Novel, Speilberg’s Film, and the Broadway Adaptation

(3 mins)

Alice Walker discusses the birth of her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Steven Spielberg’s big-screen version, and her thoughts on the musical adaptation.

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Lovely Hoffman on Celie & Shug controversy

(4 mins)

Callie Crossley, WGBH Radio & TV Host, interviews Lovely Hoffman on the set of SpeakEasy Stage Company’s production of The Color Purple.

Watch

ARTICLES

1982 New York Times review

Review of The Color Purple shortly after it was published by Mel Watkins for the New York Times

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National Book Awards review

Journalist, Anna Clark, recalls her original 1983 review of The Color Purple that still features on the National Book Award website.

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A Cultural Touchstone for Black Female Self-Love

A review of the cultural impact of The Color Purple, by Victoria Bond for The New Republic.

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Filming locations

Details and photos of The Color Purple movie filming locations from themoviedistrict.com

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XTRA

Alice Walker author website

Book notes on The Color Purple

Symbolism of Purple

Website for The Color Purple Musical

Educated

Astonishing self-invention

Tara Westover grew up preparing for the End of Days in rural Idaho with radical survivalist Mormon parents. She didn’t get a birth certificate until she was nine and had no medical records because her father did not believe in doctors. She and her six older siblings worked in her father’s junkyard. As she grew older, her father’s beliefs became more extreme and one of her brothers grew violent.

At 17, she decided to educate herself as a means of escape. Within 10 years she had earned a PhD in intellectual history and political thought from Cambridge but was estranged from her parents and half of her siblings. Now 31 and still living in Cambridge, Educated is her first novel and is about the transformative power of education and the price she had to pay for it.

Part of our ‘Beyond the Book’ Series. View

Bad Blood

Unbelievable but true

Rigorously reported and fearlessly written by prize-winning journalist John Carryrou. Bad Blood is a fast paced and gripping story of the biggest corporate fraud since Enron. A tale of ambition and hubris, set amid the bold promises of Silicon Valley.

In 2014, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was widely seen as the next Steve Jobs. A brilliant Stanford dropout whose start-up promised to revolutionize the medical industry with its breakthrough device that performed the whole range of laboratory tests from a single drop of blood. Backed by high profile investors, Theranos was valued at more than $9 billion. There was just one problem, the technology didn’t work.

After the book came the podcast series The Drop Out, followed by the documentary ‘The Inventor’ and now a film staring Jennifer Lawrence is in the works. It’s a story that we just can’t get enough of!

Part of our ‘Beyond the Book’ Series. View

The Vanishing Half

Family and identity

From The New York Times-bestselling author of The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white. Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, Brit Bennett produces a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past, as it shapes decisions, desires and expectations, and explores the multiple reasons why people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.

Part of our ‘Beyond the Book’ Series. View

The Color Purple

Iconic modern classic

PODCASTS

(52 mins)

(34 mins)

Kindle Paperwhite

(31 mins)

VIDEOS

(3 mins)

HelloFresh meal plan offers

(4 mins)

ARTICLES

XTRA

Alice Walker author website

Book notes on The Color Purple

Symbolism of Purple

Website for The Color Purple Musical

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