Diana
I cried buckets - but what courage and determination - and in the end - what love. Both my kids (boy and girl) have read it and it has had a profound effect on them too.

Marilyn Major
A milestone book for me, about love over oppression. Alice Walker tops.

Sue Ewbank
I enjoyed this book enormously - it really made me think about what women have gone through in the past.

Janet Wood
A wonderful writer of a wonderful book. She made me see that being a woman, black and poor in a country full of racial predujice was about as bad as it could be. Not only was she abused by white people but also by frustrated black men. I have read most of Alice Walker's books but this was the first. I hope this counts as a vote for this book.

Ian Buckley
For me this is one of the most important books written in the 20th century, with its inspiring account of the struggle of the disempowered against the repressive conditioning forces wielded by all societies. Celie's growth to personhood, as she crosses socially constructed barriers of race and gender, provides an inspiration to all readers, whatever their background.

Ros Horncastle
Most shocking moving book I have ever read concerning the plight of black women

Rachel Constable
The thing about Celie's life is that it is just about as bad as it could possibly be - but what shines through the text is the secret warmth, humour and joy women share; an attitude which comforts and sustains. This book changed my life!

Nahla Abulfateh
I really was amazed by the story,it gave me a new kind of thinking. friendship is the most important thing in the story, and the experience that was gained through the sisterhood was really important in my own life. We, women ,could face the same problems anywhere in the world ,in any time, if the circumestances were the same.

deborah davies
This novel celebrates the richness and warmth of womens' friendship. We may not be poor, black fieldworkers, but we are all enriched by the bonds of sisterhood that we can all share.

Catherine Robinson
This novel honestly and brutally deals with the subject of domestic abuse and yet it also portrays how such experiences can be overcome through friendship and learning to depend upon yourself.

William Comery
It really did change the way I saw women. It made me see enough similarities so that understanding and fellow-feeling - and so hope - were possible.

Bethan Roberts
This novel opened my eyes, not only to the possibilities of fiction, but also to the possibilities of life itself. If Celie, a poor, black, abused lesbian, could make herself heard, then I (a white, middle class, straight but very shy girl) could certainly do the same.