Later on, it took

The Color Purple

I was given the Color Purple by Alice Walker a couple of weeks after it was on the shelves. I started reading it. It was so depressing in the way that it was written that I could not read it. Those Letters beginning each one with Dear God were very disturbing. The letters to God were so poignant that memories assaulted me. Memories of my Mother being abused by my father. Memories of my father lying drunk in the weeds,  in the rain beneath the chainey ball tree, legs hanging out into the dirt road. Memories of running with my  younger brother through the fields chasing Daddy as he chased our oldest brother with the shotgun. I was still not ready to face the memory of those hard years.

I put the book down and did not read the entire work until nearly 30 years later. In some ways, I am glad that I put the work away and did not read it entirely until after I had seen the movie and made peace with my own past. Now I appreciate the impact of the letters and the intention of writing it that way. Perhaps I will master that technique someday.