The Way Forward Is with a Broken Heart
by Alice Walker
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"The Way Forward Is with a Broken Heart begins with a lyrical, autobiographical story of a marriage set in the violent and volatile Deep South during the early years of the civil rights movement. Walker goes on to imagine stories that grew out of the life following that marriage - a life, she writes, that was "marked by deep sea-changes and transitions." These provocative stories showcase Walker's hard-won knowledge of love of many kinds and of the relationships that shape our lives, as well show more as her infectious sense of humor and joy."--Jacket. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
More so than any other book I’ve read this year, this book healed me.
It cradled me in its lush arms and affirmed my questions and my heartbreak, my love and my grief, my frustration and my need. When I felt on the verge of self-denigration, Walker’s stories saw me fully and invited me to self-compassion while challenging me to own more of my truth - in my personal relationships and in my writing too. I don’t know who I would be at the end of this year had I not given in to the impulse to grab this book from my childhood home the week my relationship ended. I’m grateful that I will never have to know and grateful this evocative, intimate work exists.
It cradled me in its lush arms and affirmed my questions and my heartbreak, my love and my grief, my frustration and my need. When I felt on the verge of self-denigration, Walker’s stories saw me fully and invited me to self-compassion while challenging me to own more of my truth - in my personal relationships and in my writing too. I don’t know who I would be at the end of this year had I not given in to the impulse to grab this book from my childhood home the week my relationship ended. I’m grateful that I will never have to know and grateful this evocative, intimate work exists.
I am really enjoying these stories. I love how easily she tells her experiences. It's fascinating to see into her life and feel what she's feeling. She's very good at allowing the reader to do that. The interview with the author at the end was fantastic, too!
There was not one story in this collection that I didn't like and something that I loved in every story. I was sometimes caught off guard by wonderful moments of beauty and wisdom.
I found these stories of varied interest. I was most interested in her analysis of her young married life.
Semi-autobiographical stories by Alice Walker, starting with a biracial mariage in the Deep South during the early years of the civil rights movement.
I read this in its entirety one rainy afternoon and snippets of it came to mind for weeks following.
Short stories: very good, positive.
[read 2001-18 yr ago]
[read 2001-18 yr ago]
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Author Information
96+ Works 40,776 Members
Alice Walker won the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award for her novel The Color Purple. Her other bestselling novels include By the Light of My Father's Smile, Possessing the Secret of Joy, and The Temple of My Familiar. She is also the author of two collections of short stories, three collections of essays, five volumes of poetry, and show more several children's books. Her books have been translated into more than two dozen languages. Born in Eaton, Georgia, Walker now lives in Northern California. Like so many characters in her fiction, Alice Walker was born into a family of sharecroppers in Eaton, Georgia. She began Spelman College on a scholarship and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1965. While still in college, Walker became active in the civil rights movement and continued her involvement after she graduated, serving as a voter registration worker in Georgia. She also worked in a Head Start program in Mississippi and was on the staff of the New York City welfare department. She has lectured and taught at several colleges and universities and currently operates a publishing house, Wild Trees Press, of which she is a co-founder. Walker began her literary career as a poet, publishing Once: Poems in 1968. The collection reflects her experiences in the civil rights movement and her travels in Africa. Her second collection of poetry, Revolutionary Petunias and Other Poems (1973), is a celebration of the struggle against oppression and racism. In between these two collections, she published her first novel, The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970), the story of Ruth Copeland, a young black girl, and her grandfather, Grange, who brutalizes his own family out of the frustrations of racial prejudice and his own sense of inadequacy. Walker's first collection of short stories, In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women (1973), established her special concern for the struggles, hardships, loyalties, and triumphs of black women, a powerful force in the rest of her fiction. Meridian (1976), her second novel, is the story of Meridian Hill, a civil rights worker. In her second collection of short stories, You Can't Keep A Good Woman Down (1981), Walker again portrays black women struggling against sexual, racial, and economic oppression. Walker's third novel, The Color Purple (1982), brought her the national recognition denied her earlier works. Through this story of the sharecropper Celie and the abuses she endures, Walker draws together the themes that have run through her earlier work into a concentrated and powerful attack on racism and sexism, and produces a triumphant celebration of the spirit and endurance of black women. The book received the Pulitzer Prize and was made into a successful film. Walker describes her most recent novel, The Temple of My Familiar (1989) as "a romance of the last 500,000 years." The book is a blend of myth and history revolving around three marriages. As the married couples tell their stories, they explore both their origins and the inner life of modern African Americans. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- First words
- Beloved, A few days ago I went to see the little house on R. Street where we were so happy.
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Statistics
- Members
- 503
- Popularity
- 59,661
- Reviews
- 9
- Rating
- (3.84)
- Languages
- English, German
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 14
- ASINs
- 4
