I started this page because I read Possessing the Secret of Joy because Tori read it. Now I feel bad because that's the only reason I picked up the book. Since I read that Alice Walker has had an immense impact on me, so rather than have a page on how Tori inspired her, I wanted a page about her on my site. To see how she inspired Tori to write Cornflake Girl check out my Cornflake Girl page.

I guess more than anything this is just gonna be a place for me to babble about this really incredible woman. In the past few weeks she was moved in a way that few authors can. I can always tell how much I love a book by the amount of time it takes me to read it. I just finished another of Walker's books. So far I've read three and it's taken me about two days per book to finish them.

Possessing the Secret of Joy - This was the first one I read. What I loved was how Walker weaved in and out of different characters minds to tell the story. I had never seen anyone try that before, and it seemed to work. The narrative flowed back and forth with ease, and the real hook that got me was the way Tashi told her story. Showing the conflicted American and African sides of Tashi was just brilliant. After reading the book I just could not stop talking about it. For the first time in a long while I cried while reading a book.

The Color Purple (the book) - I read the book while I was in the car with my best friend on our way to Wichita Falls, Texas. The insights that i found in that book were extremely profound. The ones that stick out in my mind are Olivia's statement that the Olinka treat women the same way the white people in America treat African-Americans, Shug's comment about it everything just wanting to be loved, and finally Celie's word's to Mister, "I'm pore, I'm black, I may be ugly and can't cook, But I'm here."
The book is what I call my 'strength book.' Like The Joy Luck Club it's one of those books I can read when things start getting bad, and I can draw on the strength of Celie. If she could survive in that environment, find love, and break free, then so can I.

The Color Purple (the movie) - I was actually afraid of seeing the movie. I loved the book too much, and I didn't want the movie to ruin that. I had to keep reminding myself though, that the book was not the movie, and the movie was not the book. I guess the oddest thing was watching the movie now, knowing that most of the people in it are mega stars with long careers behind them. The cast was awesome, I love Whoopi Goldberg even more now (I thought it'd be impossible to like her anymore than I already do). I cried through the whole thing. Steven Spielberg did an excellent job.

The Same River Twice - Honoring the Difficult - I found this one by accident. Usually people are used to hearing how a book or movie affected the audience. Hearing how publishing the book, and helping make a movie affected the author was a new experience. The Same River Twice allows the reader to climb inside of Walker's head and understand how much she had to go through.