Book Review: Gathering Blossoms Under Wild Fire, By Alice Walker

Summary

The website content is a review of Alice Walker's "Gathering Blossoms Under Fire," a collection of her personal journals spanning from the 1960s to the early 1990s, offering intimate insights into her life as a writer, activist, and individual.

Abstract

"Gathering Blossoms Under Fire" is a candid and engaging compilation of Alice Walker's journals, providing readers with a deep dive into her personal and professional life. The book covers her experiences from her student days to her rise to fame with "The Color Purple" and beyond, detailing her struggles and triumphs as a writer, mother, wife, bisexual woman, and black feminist. The review praises Walker's honesty and the conversational style of her writing, making the audiobook a recommended alternative to digest the extensive content. The reviewer, a black woman, finds particular resonance in Walker's advocacy for women's rights, especially for black women during a time when their voices were marginalized in both feminist and civil rights movements. The journals also reveal Walker's complex relationships with her family, her first husband, and her daughter, adding depth to her character.

Opinions

The reviewer appreciates the raw honesty in Walker's journals, which allows readers to connect with her on a personal level.
Alice Walker is portrayed as a multifaceted individual, with the journals highlighting her self-centeredness and her challenges with motherhood.
The reviewer values the insights into Walker's love life, noting her relationships with various partners and the emotional depth they add to her story.
The journals provide a unique perspective on significant historical events, including civil rights marches and protests, from Walker's personal viewpoint.
Walker's extensive travels to exotic locations are another aspect of her life that the reviewer finds intriguing.
The conversational writing style makes the book an enjoyable read and the audiobook a particularly immersive experience.
The reviewer highly recommends the book, giving it five out of five stars, especially for those interested in Alice Walker's life or her literary works.

Book Review: Gathering Blossoms Under Fire, By Alice Walker

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I just love Alice Walker, and it’s not just because The Color Purple(1982) is such a damn good read! Many of her other works are too. What has really given me reading pleasure was the author’s personal journals herself.

Released in 2022, Gathering Blossoms Under Fire allows a reader into the mind, heart, and soul of Alice Walker as a writer, mother, wife, bi-sexual woman, and black feminist (womanist). The journals start from the sixties, before Alice is even known to us and she was a student, up to her breakthrough with The Color Purple (1982), and all that follows in her life from the sixties to the early nineties.

What I Love About The Book

The honesty is beyond real. I loved that as a reader you really do get to know Alice as a person. I noticed that at times she was a very self-centred woman, and motherhood was not something she was naturally cut out for. Love seems to be a big thing in her life, whether this is with a white man, a woman, a black man, all three at one time, or anyone else in between she has loved and lost a lot in her life.

As a black woman myself, I really enjoyed the ‘front seat’ experience I had during her time advocating for women’s rights — black women in particular. During a time when their needs were not being focused on. Feminism was not inclusive of non-white women, and black people’s liberation, rights, and fight against racism was being pushed by the experiences of black men only. It was insightful to understand what it was all like. The marches and protests that she went to, which includes one of Martin Luther King’s were so insightful to read about via her personal diary.

I also enjoyed reading about the travel she has done over her life, she has done a lot! To some very exotic places. Lastly understanding her complex relationship with her family, first husband, and daughter really shed light on who she is and was as a person. Her relationship with her daughter comes up a lot, it was interesting to make sense of.

The writing style is very conversational, it is easy, flows, and I would recommend listening to the audio version also. The book is very thick, I wanted to get through it so I did download the audio. As I listened in I felt like I was being spoken to via the narrator.

Overall, I’d give this a solid five out of five stars. It’s not a typical autobiography at all. I’d recommend it to anyone who has a slight interest in Alice the real woman, or who is a genuine fan of her work.