Alice Walker
Paperback | Pages: 288 pages Rating: 4.08 | 14033 Users | 588 Reviews
Define About Books Possessing the Secret of Joy
| Title | : | Possessing the Secret of Joy |
| Author | : | Alice Walker |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 288 pages |
| Published | : | December 2nd 2005 by Washington Square Press (first published 1992) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Feminism. Cultural. African American. Africa |
Description To Books Possessing the Secret of Joy
Possessing the Secret of Joy is the story of Tashi, a tribal African woman who lives much of her adult life in North America. As a young woman, a misguided loyalty to the customs of her people led her to voluntarily submit to the tsunga's knife and be genitally mutilated (pharoanoically circumcised). Severely traumatized by this experience, she spends the rest of her life battling madness, trying desperately through psychotherapy - she is treated by disciples of both Freud and C.G. Jung, and even by Jung himself - to regain the ability to recognize her own reality and to feel. It is only with the help of the most unlikely ally she can imagine that she begins to study the mythological "reasons" invented by her ancient ancestors for what was done to her and to millions of other women and girls over thousands of years. As her understanding grows, so does her capacity to encounter her overwhelming grief. Underneath this grief is her glowing anger. Anger propels her to act. Action brings both feeling - life, the ability to exist with awareness in the moment - and death, of which she finds she has completely lost her fear.While not a sequel to The Color Purple or The Temple of My Familiar, Possessing the Secret of Joy follows the life of a barely-glimpsed character from those books. Combining fact and fiction, communing with the spirits of the living and the dead, Alice Walker in this novel strikes with graceful power at the heart of one of the most controversial issues of our time.
Particularize Books Supposing Possessing the Secret of Joy
| Original Title: | Possessing the Secret of Joy |
| ISBN: | 0671789457 (ISBN13: 9780671789459) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Rating About Books Possessing the Secret of Joy
Ratings: 4.08 From 14033 Users | 588 ReviewsRate About Books Possessing the Secret of Joy
the writing wasn't that bad but the pov changed a lot so that was really confusing.I don't like books about slaves so that's one of the big reasons i don't like it.Oh my heart, my heart, my feminist heart. There are very few authors who affect me as deeply as Alice Walker does.And FGM infuriates me more than any other misogynistic cultural practice. I'm most assuredly not a cultural relativist. If a culture (including religions) perpetuates the subordination of females, it is simply abominable. Males must develop ways of germinating (*haha*) self-worth beyond the ones that base status on one's ability to possess and dominate females (and other males).Alice
In 1991 Alice Walker first published the novel, Possessing the Secret of Joy. It introduced many readers to the ruthless, painful technique known as female genital mutilation (FMG) or female circumcision, suffered by 90 to 100 million women worldwide. Because the subject had long been taboo among those groups who practice it as well as throughout the rest of the world, the book was taken out of print. But fortunately for modern readers and current sufferers everywhere, Ms. Walker and others
"There was a boulder lodged in my throat. My heart surged pitifully. I knew what the boulder was; that it was a word; and that behind that word I would find my earliest emotions.- Alice Walker, Possessing the Secret of JoyTashi, an African woman from the Olinkan tribe, marries Adam, an American man, and spends most of her life in America. Witnessing her sister, Dura, die from a botched female genital mutilation (FGM) surgery, as well as undergoing FGM herself, Tashi becomes traumatized and has
The book details the life of an African girl, Tashi, from her youth through marriage - she meets the son and a daughter of missionaries and becomes friends with them - although still seeking acceptance from her village. The author, Alice Walker, gives us a unique perspective for each of the characters in each chapter. We see the wonderful youthful girl enjoying a crush and feeling the splendor of sex in the grass - yet - we learn that women in that village practice genital circumcision on every
I was shocked when I read this book. I had previuosly read another book on female "circumcision", Desert Flower by Waris Dirie. Desert Flower is non-fiction and should probably have made an even deeper impression on me. But Possessing the Secret of Joy, though fiction, was the one that truly unsettled me. When Waris Dirie was "circumcised" she was a little girl, she was forced and she didn't really know what was happening. Tashi however already has had sex, is living a life in America far away
I have never written a review before but after reading this I feel like I can't not say anything. This book made me feel so much and so intensely, I know the story is a work of fiction but the events and the horror that happens in the book is so terribly factual that it made me feel sick whilst reading it.It is a fast read in terms of content, however I could not sit for hours at a time because it took energy from me; I found myself taking regular breaks to reflect and, if I'm honest, cry. The
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