Alice Walker: A Life

It is said that "it takes a long time to become an overnight sensation." Evelyn White's definitive biography entitled, "Alice Walker: A Life," tells the gripping story of how the eponymous author's phenomenal success with "The Color Purple" was the product of decades of life experience -- from having to overcome the pain and disfigurement caused by a horrific childhood accident, to being a devoted daughter, precocious pupil, soul searcher, friend, lover, freedom fighter, wife, literary advocate, womanist, working mother and, ultimately, a prolific and popular author. White's biography works because it connects all these experiences with a spiritual thread that famously imbues Walker's work, but also imbues her life. In her book, "In Search of Our Mother's Gardens", Walker says, "I have learned little from anything that did not in some way make me sick." 'A Life' shows the many ways struggle and sickness deepen Walker's spirituality from her childhood accident, to her serious brush with suicide, to her dangerous [and exhilarating] experiences in the Freedom Movement, the physical sickness that accompanies her pregnancy...not to mention the experience of being an unbowed Black woman in the 20th Century. Walker's spiritual journey is not only inward bound. What is clear from 'A Life' is that Walker is an extrovert when it comes to championing the life and work of other artists, including the creativity of her own mother, as well as the works of Zora Neale Hurston and many others. Throughout her career - her life - Walker works indefatigably to shine a light on women and men whose work might have been forgotten but who she gives tribute to as her inspiration. She is even credited by cultural historians with helping "people to understand the cultural significance of quilting" and other folk art forms that were the only ways for Black women to express themselves in a "Handmaid's Tale" kind of world where reading and writing was a crime. White's pacing of the biography is terrific, too. For instance, the multi-chapter episode of how Walker and her future husband escape a small Mississippi town at the height of 1960's race conflict is as thrilling and chilling as "Get Out". I would be remiss if I did not disclose that I am an old white man. But, "Alice Walker's: A Life" is a book for anyone who wants a good dose of love -- and truth -- conquers all.

Evelyn White writes a suspense-filled, insight-producing biography that reads like a cliff-hanging novel. Be prepared for an emotional roller coaster ride that will touch your soul. Her subject is one of the greatest American writers of this century whose work has had a profound and lasting impact on the causes of freedom, equality and moral courage.

Everything was outstanding. The book was exactly as described. Maybe better. The book arrived exactly as predicated. The quality exceed my expectations. I would certainly purchase anything from this seller again. Thank you!

Alice walker is such an inspiring and evolved soul, I just love anything she touches, so I was very excited to receive this book in the mail, she's an interesting woman who has lead a remarkable life.

Minus the footnotes, this book has approximately 450 pages of text. I was expecting to read this during winter break because I couldn't possibly read it outside of off-time. However, once I started, I couldn't put it down. It just took a few days to breeze through.Whether you love or hate her, Alice is a powerhouse. Even outside of the book and film The Color Purple, she invented the term "womanist", she fought female genital mutilation, she revived Zora Neale Hurston. Alice is a major player in the history of African-American women. In fact, this book tells even more. She taught the first college course on black female authors in the country. Langston Hughes and James Baldwin sought her out, as opposed to the other way around. One of the reasons that I couldn't put the book down is because every 10 pages something would come up that I would find fascinating and feel that I was a better person for having known about. Sometimes this book is a little gushy, but that's not surprising since Miss Alice is a born genius. Maybe this is just a result of the biographer really enjoying her subject.The biographer took ten years to create this book. Sometimes I think journalists should stick to articles rather than books, but Evelyn White is an exception to my rule. In fact, I think her journalism background helped to make the book move quickly. I worship Frida Kahlo, but it's taking me forever to wade through Herrera's definitive biography on her. White saved me and other readers from that challenge here. She makes a point of letting people know that Gwendolyn Brooks is the first black woman to win a Pulitzer, not Alice. She is a cool sista that all readers should keep their eyes on.This book can be disheartening. White details stories that make female artists look sooooo hypersensitive, vindictive, gossipy, and catty. Later for "sisterhood is powerful!" cliches. In this non-fiction work, older female artists bicker with younger ones. Black women and white women duke it out. Lesbian writers and bisexual ones roll their eyes at each other.At the end of the book, the biographer straight up admits it: Alice can be grounded and non-plussed by the forces against her, but she can also be shady and she reads men and women, of many racial backgrounds, left and right. For example, she wrote to a critical reader, "I take what I find useful from people and discard the rest. Have you ever thought about doing that?! SNAP!" [She didn't really snap, but I added that for diva! effect since it's such a shady, attitudified comment. LOL!]This book concentrates on the beginnings far more than the ends. Thus, much is made of Alice's younger years while the last 15 years or so are summarized in a chapter or two. Much is written on "Meridian" and "The Color Purple", but nothing is said about "The Same River Twice" or "Anything We Love Can Be Saved."The chapter titles will be meaningless to any person just flipping through the table of contents. You will only understand the titles' meanings once you are well into the meat of the chapter. Thus, there's no "Color Purple Chapter" or "Alice Marries Interracially Chapter" for those who just want to skim for key books and events. Unlike most authors who start with a bang to get your attention, White saves the best till last. She concludes chapters with a bang I imagine in hopes that the reader will be encouraged to keep going.No person interviewed in this book ever says, "Yeah, I knew Alice, she was coo'." Every person is quoted as if they sounded as witty, sophisticated, and profound as Walker's writings. The biographer surely must have touched up quotes. There are long cites of poetry and book reviews. This gets tiresome after awhile.The issue of sexuality is incredibly scant here. In "The Same River Twice", Alice said she wanted homophobic readers to experience a gay character, thus she made Celie. She freely admits that she has had relationships with both men and women. Yet the biographer doesn't mention Alice's same-sex relationships until the end of the book, makes it sound like it only became an issue late in Walker's life, and only mentions the topic scantily. I was surprised to read that Walker was more of a "political lesbian" than an actual one. I think those who want to hear more about non-heterosexual matters will be disappointed. I also wish there was more on Walker and her admiration of Fidel Castro.My aunt, who has a Masters, once said, "I've only read two books cover to cover: the Bible and the Color Purple." Alice is really an icon. Anyone interested in all the themes that she has spearheaded must read this text. I especially think that anyone majoring in English, women's studies, or African-American studies must experience this text. I give great applause to Alice Walker and Evelyn White despite any critique I may have formulated.

I’m a huge Alice walker fan can’t wait to read her biography when it’s released next year but this has kept me going. Beautifully written really informative and heartbreakingly sad. I had no idea that in my lifetime America treated its citizens so badly, it’s almost unthinkable today.