According to the amount of 5 star reviews on Goodreads this is a really popular book and to be honest I'm not totally sure why.

I hated the writing style. The way it was written was very tell rather than show. You can show that someone is poor and ill-educated in ways other than near illiterate writing. It made it hard for me to follow what was going on. Especially with all the references of Mr. — rather than using his actual surname.

The book seemed violent just for the sake of it. That opening chapter felt like trauma porn. You can indicate that she is a young person going through rape a lot less graphically. It wasn't necessary and it didn't add anything to the story. Then there were the beatings. We know that in those days men often hit their wives but did we need so many references to it? Also Sofia's excessive violence didn't make any sense.

I also didn't particularly care much about Nettie's letters, other than the fact that they were easier to read. She was an absent character for half the book and now we're supposed to care about all her ins and outs and missionary work. Sorry but not me.

I did like that Celie grew throughout the book and eventually started her own business and had her happy ending.