Celie is a 14-year-old African American girl living in rural Georgia with her completely messed up family. She writes letters to God because her father abuses her in every way possible. She ends up having two children, both of whom her father presumably gets rid of. After a man named Mr. sets his eyes on her younger sister, Nettie, Celie's father refuses to let them get married, but instead gives Celie to Mr., leading Celie into a very unhappy marriage at a very young age. Nettie runs away from home and joins a missionary family, and Celie decides to start writing to her sister (who she assumes is dead) rather than God. Soon fate, or whatever you want to call it, steps up in the form of Mr.'s mistress, Shug Avery, changing Celie's life forever.
In some ways, this story is about the struggle of poor families during the Great Depressions, so Celie could be white and the story would be similar. Racism isn't the biggest theme in the book, although it's touched upon through the character of Sophia, a woman who reacts in a big way to a white man's unkind words and lands in jail. In the biggest way, this story is about two sisters to whom life has dealt a bad hand in that they are women and don't have the power to say no to the decisions that are made for them.
I enjoyed this book, although I had to go watch that scared kitten on YouTube afterwards so I wouldn't stay depressed. I've never watch the movie, but I would like to see what Steven Spielberg and Oprah did with the story.
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