The Same River Twice [Paperback]

Alice Walker explores the struggles she’s had with art, motherhood, illness, and relationships, as well as reveals details from the controversy in the making of the movie based on her book,The Color Purple.

The Same River Twiceis a collection of work based on Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize­­­–winning novel,The Color Purple. The collection includes essays, journal entries, and the screenplay she never got to use. It covers topics such as art, motherhood, illness, and relationships. She also reveals her work with Steven Spielberg, Quincy Jones, Oprah Winfrey, and Whoopi Goldberg on the movie based on her book, and explores the controversy behind the movie surrounding Steven and Alice’s differing visions, and how it was received by critics. Behind the beautiful writing lies a vulnerability in self-doubt and worry in how the community will respond to her writing.The Same River Twiceexplores the complex experiences in her life and illuminates Walker as a woman, an artist, and healer.Alice Walker, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, is a canonical figure in American letters. She is the author ofThe Color Purple,The Temple of My Familiar,Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful,The Way Forward Is with a Broken Heart,Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart, and many other works of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Her writings have been translated into more than two dozen languages, and more than fifteen million copies of her books have been sold worldwide.Reading Group Discussion Points

1. Why might Walker have felt compelled to step intoThe Same River Twice,as her title implies? Why might it have been important for her to look back on her experience ofThe Color Purple?What do you get as a result? Is your conception ofThe Color Purpledifferent now that you've readThe Same River Twice?l“½