The Color Purple / Alice Walker / 288 pages

One of the categories for the 2019 Read Harder Challenge is to read an epistolary novel. Epistolary novels are my favorite and I have already read tons, but I had no idea that The Color Purple, which I had never read, was a novel made up of letters. I had seen the movie a couple of times but had never read the book.

This is one of those books that I felt very torn about. I had a tough time with the book for the first half, but it got better and ended up grabbing my attention later. The story is told in a series of letters, first Celie's letters to God, then letters from her sister, Nettie, to her, then letters from her to Nettie. I think when those letters from her sister begin, about halfway through the book, that's when it finally got interesting and I ended up enjoying the latter half of the book far more than I did the first half.

Celie is a young black woman living around 1915 Georgia with her dad and mother. She is raped by her father and gives birth twice to children that her father takes away; she knows not where. Celie is not educated or good looking, unlike her younger sister Nettie, who is both of those things. Celie is given to an unnamed Mr. _____ to marry. He beats her and is obviously having an affair with Shug, a worldly beautiful singer. Meanwhile, Celie's sister runs away from home and a lifetime passes before they reconnect.

I'm glad I got to read this during Black History Month, as it is a good reminder of what life was like for African Americans in Jim Crow South. I recommend the book, but with the caveat that it's a tough read at first. Get through it and it gets better.

Last Christmas in Paris/Gaynor, Hazel/368 pages (Epistolary Novel & European Author)

                                                         Last Christmas in Paris is a series of letters written back and
                                                      forth basically between Evie, Tom, Will and Alice.  All were young
                                                      and the first world war is just starting.  Tom and Will go off to war,
                                                      Alice becomes a nurse and at first Evie stays at home but soon
                                                      she goes to the front and writes about the war.  All are happy, lively
                                                      young people at the start and the letters are perky notes that reflect
                                                      that.  Then the letters change  and are filled with concern and worry
                                                      and you can see the budding love between Evie and Tom.
                                                         Now it is 50+ years later and our characters are old and not doing
                                                      well.  Not everyone has survived and the ending is bittersweet.  Not
                                                      exactly a warm fuzzy romance for your holiday reading but a very
                                                      worthwhile novel about the horrors of war and the triumph of love.