Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion

I have fairly recently taken an interest in African-American literature, and I take a particular interest in the Harlem Renaissance period, so I have started reading The Color Purple and thus far I am really enjoy in it.

I love the narrative voice and style in which it is written in. It is done to sound like a series of letters or diary entries, and because of this it also reads pretty quickly and the characters begin to develop rather quickly into being quite fascinating.

One of the things which I quite enjoy about this book is the way in which Alice Walker is able to give the book a rather authentic sounding voice, yet without using dialect or slang which makes it difficult to understand what is being said. It is easy to understand and read and yet it still feels as if someone is genuinely speaking.

The brutality which slams the reader from the very first page of the story is quite shocking at first and it gives one the feeling of being dropped down right in the middle of a story and have to catch up to what is going on, but it picks up pretty quickly and goes along quite well in a way that makes the reader want to just keep reading.

Have this at home and looking forward to reading it. I'm interested in African-American lit. as well, though I'm not familiar with the Harlem Renaissance period(?).

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement between the 1920s-1930s which was based within Harlem, New York.

Some of the well known writers which come from the period include

Langston Hughs
Nella Larson
Zora Neala Huston

Walker is a contemporary writer, not of the Harlem Renaissance. But she was certainly influenced by that era. I loved the Color Purple as well as the sequel, Possessing the Secret of Joy. Unfortunately for me, I had seen the movie a million times (more or less) so rather than seeing the characters as Walker portrays them, I just saw the actors. Still a wonderful read.

Silver, you mention the voice of the characters, and I agree 100%. I recently read a modern novel, Cane River, in which the characters were Louisiana slaves but they all talked like business professionals from Silicon Valley. It was a good story, but the dialog made it seem less authentic. Walker strikes the right balance.

Of the HR writers, I really enjoyed the two books on the list by Nella Larsen. I liked Cane by Jean Toomer even though it was very unusual. He was a black man writing during the time of the HR but did not really want to be included in that group.

One book from this period I did not like was Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin. We read it for one of my book clubs and no one had anything good to say about it. :)

Tej wrote: "Walker is a contemporary writer, not of the Harlem Renaissance. But she was certainly influenced by that era. I loved the Color Purple as well as the sequel, Possessing the Secret of Joy. Unfort..."

Yes, I know that Walker is a contemporary writer, but a portion of this book is set in the period of the Harlem Renaissance. And in fact in one of her letters Nettie writes to Celie about Harlem and the culture of the HR.

I read The Color Purple when it first came out and was astounded by it. That led me to read essays by Alice Walker, which is where I first learned of the Harlem Renaissance. I agree with you, Silver, that it was an ineresting period that cultivated some incredible talent. I am also grateful to Alice Walker for being so instrumental in bringing Zora Neale Hurston back into print.

I have yet to read Nelly Larson, but I may have to put her near the top of my TBR list.

I think James Baldwin is great writer. It was only a couple of years ago that I 'discovered' him while reading Giovanni's Room for a different goodreads bookclib. Since then I've read 2 other novels of his and a couple of books of essays.

Denise wrote: "I think James Baldwin is great writer. It was only a couple of years ago that I 'discovered' him while reading Giovanni's Room for a different goodreads bookclib. Since then I've read 2 other novels of his and a couple of books of essays."

Baldwin is one of my favorite writers. For some reason I don't think he's taught in school that much any more - at least I never heard about him in school and that wasn't all that long ago.

Silver wrote: "The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement between the 1920s-1930s which was based within Harlem, New York.

Some of the well known writers which come from the period include

Langston Hug..."

I took a class on the Harlem Ren in grad school. It was one of the most interesting classes I have ever taken. Oddly enough, Baldwin was left out of the reading list.

What I found with all of the writers of the period was a true honesty within their writing...a real search for not only their identity for themselves, but for their place in the world.

The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man and Nella Larson's Passing were both very powerful stories beyond the canon required reading of Invisible Man. While Ellison's novel isn't about passing, it is about being seen...all of them are about being seen as people rather than othered by society - not just white society, but black society as well.

I really enjoyed this book as well. But, like Tej, I have seen the movie so many times, that all I can see are the actors.

Is the movie as good as the book? I recently re-read this, but I have never seen the movie.

This is probably the first time I have ever thought the movie actually as good as or better than the book. Both fantastic!

The movie is great, great ...!!!!

I remember my boyfriend of the time walking out and leaving me in this movie because he thought it was SO boring! I thought it was a little slow but I chose to stay rather than leave with him, so I guess I didn't hate it. I prefer the book though.

Hope you dumped the boyfriend.

I sure did! LOL (although not soon enough!)

I liked the book, even though I had to get accustomed to the style. Empowering story, nicely-structured characters, worth it all the way.