Alice Walker has lived a storied life. While one can write a biography on aspects of her life we find significant, being able to enter her mind via journal is illuminating. We find her struggling during the Civil Rights Movement, insisting on living in the South despite its hardships. We see her create The Color Purple as well as her incredulity at winning the Pulitzer (she didn't know there was a Pulitzer Prize for fiction and thought it was a joke). We see her at peace with her accomplishments.

A wonderfully intimate look into Alice Walker's life and thoughts. Passionate and complex. A wonderful thing to keep looking to for future advice.

This is a wonderfully written book in journal form of Alice Walker. It is very long but written so well you keep turning the pages reading. This spans a timeframe from the 1960s to the 2000s and is MS Walkers tribute to preserve the legacy of Soda Meals Hurston. She talks about her thoughts on marriage, relationships, being a mother,her career, her activism and sexuality.
MS Walker provides details about writing The Color Purple in developing the story and characters.
Thank you Herbalist and Simon & Shuster for an ARC of the book.
#Netgalley #SimonShuster

Man This book was Looong and gooood!

Gathering Blossoms Under Fire is the story of the journals of Alice Walker we get to know and learn more about her life during that period. there were many things I didn't know about Alice and this book really made me learn and understand more about her.

She is an amazing woman, amazing to a level that I can easily compare her with many of the strong feminist archetypes we have like Frida Khalo and Joan of arc, she always expelled strength and intelligence that's how I felt by reading her book, she is a woman with so much love and kindness to give but I feel like many took advantage of this.

Her relationships were always like a roller coaster, I felt like at times I couldn't keep up with what mood she was going to show for the next chapter but still, you could always feel through the pages the amount of power and strength she has.

Alice Walker, a famous writer whose famous novel the color of purple was made into a famous movie (i know I already wrote too many famous) with many great artists like Ophra and Whoopie Goldberg we get to relive all those years through the pages of Gathering Blossoms, her loves, her disappointments, her friendships, her family drama, and joys, her ups, and downs, the need or the feeling of comfort she felt whenever she bought a house.

Gathering Blossoms will take you through Alice's daily life, her love for Quincy, and Tracy, and the many heartaches she had during her marriage and after that with her lovers. she also describes the relationship with her daughter Rebbeca, they constantly had ups and downs, I felt like Rebbeca kept the blame for so long but hey everybody digests things differently, but still, I always felt like she was coming back to the same story even if we already read she was having a good relationship with Alice a few chapters later the drama will start all over again.

I cried with Alice, I laugh and also got angry so many characters were really at times very immature, I kept getting angry with Mel a lot, the way he treated Rebecca once he got a "new" partner was terrible I really dislike him so much when he was acting like that.

The part that I really enjoyed so much was the times she spend in Mexico, in the Careyes house, I love the way she describes her love for the country.

I feel like my review doesn't say enough about how wonderful this book is, I wish I could express more about it but this always happens whenever I love a book I don't have enough words to say what I really want to say.

Overall, I really enjoyed getting to know more about this beautiful woman, her talents, her dreams, her taste and likes, her kindness, and the way she always embraced everybody it was like you always felt welcome by her.

Thank you, Alice, for your journals for letting us see a piece of your heart, you're a beautiful soulful queen.

Thank you, NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced copy of Gathering Blossoms Under Fire: The Journals of Alice Walker 1965-2000 in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed reading this book. There is power in experiencing a person through their own thoughts, as she lives, writes, and wrests herself free.

In Gathering Blossoms Under Fire, we see the inner struggles of a woman becoming herself. We see the evolution of a writer, a thinker, a mother. We see the traditions she is a part of, from her admiration of Zora Neale Hurston to her involvement with the SCLC. Her relationships with other writers such as Langston Hughes, who mentored her, and Toni Morrison, her contemporary. We see the arc of a life not yet completed, but ever-evolving.

Valerie Boyd and Alice Walker provided a blueprint for not only aspiring writers, but young Black women trying to come into their own. Boyd's introduction and footnotes are extremely helpful in contextualizing Walker's experiences for the reader.

There aren't enough descriptive words to express how much I enjoyed seeing the evolution of an american icon in these journals. Loved it!

🌸Gathering Blossoms Under Fire🌸 The Journals of Alice Walker

What a special treat this was. 💜

GBUF is the collected diary entries of Alice Walker, the Pulitzer-prize winning author of The Color Purple, spanning the 1960s-1990s. Walker’s journals are housed at Emory’s Rare Book Library archives and were originally embargoed until 2040. Walker was inspired by Valerie Boyd’s work on Zora Neale Hurston’s biography to grant her early access to the archives to curate, transcribe, and edit them into this book.

Reading about Walker’s life through her own diaries made me feel like a curious, nerdy bookworm reading a leather-bound book with a flashlight under the covers. It felt salacious and yet comforting to read about her sexuality, specifically her bisexuality and polyamory. It’s one of those reminders that human sexuality has always been queer and diverse, even though we think of the decades past as prudish, conservative times. [Bonus– there’s hinting at a could-have-been affair with a prominent Hollywood figure]

You get to read some early idea formations of The Color Purple, follow her through the overnight literary acclaim, and her experience with the film adaptation. Of course, Walker includes her thoughts on racism, the civil rights movement, and feminism throughout, which was a lovely complement to have alongside her works of fiction. You also get a view of how her relationship with class and money changes as her stardom rises. I felt transported to the 70s and 80s and it was thrilling whenever Walker name dropped an encounter with a contemporary like Gloria Steinem or Toni Morrison.

How lucky are we that Walker so diligently kept up with her journaling!

#Readthis if:
💜 The Color Purple Meant everything to you.
💜 You count Walker, Hurston, Hughes, Angelou, Baldwin, and Morrison among your favorite writers of all time.
💜 You would love the chance to read a celebrity’s diary.

I just learned in writing this review that Valerie Boyd, the editor of this collection, sadly passed away this February, just two months shy of the release of the book. This led me down another reading rabbit hole of learning of Boyd’s impact in academia and legacy of mentorship on young writers, particularly women of color writers. What an incredible gift that we are left with her tributes to powerful Black women authors.

Gathering Blossoms Under Fire: The Journals of Alice Walker, 1965 - 2000

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

To have access into the intimate thoughts of a writer such as Alice Walker is a gift. She takes us on a journey that covers everything from relationships whether they be friends, lovers, husbands, other writers, motherhood, activism, sexuality in many forms, her body and spirituality. As the journals span 35 years, her views evolve in great detail on the page. She lays herself bare for all to see, the good, the bad, the insecure. She takes us on her travels. Exposes us to world’s we may not have seen, injustices we may not have known.

For those who only know Alice Walker for writing the Color Purple, they will be treated to plenty of insights into the development of the characters and storyline.

Walker is a woman of many layers, learning, growing, ever evolving. It is the story of a life still being written. I for one am grateful she is still alive and look forward to the second volume of Journals.

Thank you NetGalley, Simon & Schuster and Alice Walker for this ARC in exchanging for my honest review.

@NetGalley @simonandschuster

#NetGalley #GatheringBlossomsUnderFire #journal #memoir

What if you had the opportunity to read fifty (50) years worth of sixty-five (65) journals and notebooks from a Pulitzer Prize-winning author? Well you WILL in exactly one week!

For the first time ever, the edited journals of Alice Walker are gathered like blossoms for your reading pleasure. Journal entries from 1965-2000 reflect her complex, passionate, intimate details of her life as an award-winning author, artist, writer, human rights activist, women's advocate, friend, daughter, lover, wife, mother and citizen.

An array of events are shared with such great detail as if they happened yesterday. She explores how it felt to march in Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement, her interracial marriage in the South, the trials and triumphs of being a Black woman, enduring relationships both erotic and toxic, her bond with only daughter, the making of The Color Purple and insight into each decade.

Listen...I enjoyed Gathering Blossoms Under Fire more than any fiction she ever wrote. Classics included! It is something about her open thoughts, vulnerable prose, nonjudgmental observations and perception of life that was addicting to read. It kept me interested throughout and even prompted my own journal entries when it came to financial goals/savings. (Yes, she even shared personal budget entries!)

The format of Gathering Blossoms Under Fire is genius! Organized by decade, it is easy to follow and witness her personal growth. Major social issues are addressed and her opinion is not minced. It feels like a gift to read the diary of a literary legend. I dare not spoil its contents so let me stop this review here. Bookhearts, please know The Journals of Alice Walker is recommended to all Bookhearts that appreciate the work of Great Black American novelists.

Happy Early Pub Day, Alice Walker! Gathering Blossoms Under Fire will be available Tuesday, April 12.

~LiteraryMarie

Gathering Blossoms Under Fire
by Alice Walker
Pub Date: April 12, 2022
Simon & Schuster
Thanks to the author, Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. A pretty hefty read at 560 pages but I did it.
* Nonfiction * Memoir * Feminism
From National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker and edited by critic and writer Valerie Boyd, comes an unprecedented compilation of Walker’s fifty years of journals drawing an intimate portrait of her development over five decades as an artist, human rights and women’s activist, and intellectual.

For the first time, the edited journals of Alice Walker are gathered together to reflect the complex, passionate, talented, and acclaimed Pulitzer Prize winner of The Color Purple. She intimately explores her thoughts and feelings as a woman, a writer, an African-American, a wife, a daughter, a mother, a lover, a sister, a friend, a citizen of the world. 4 stars

Walker's voice rings clearly with significance in this collection, and reminds readers of the timeless necessity of voices like hers. I was hesitant to see how cohesively a collection of personal narratives or journals would be compiled within this title, but I was exceedingly impressed as I continued! I highly recommend this book to others.

Alice Walker’s journals are an awe-inspiring collection. They range from her early twenties all the way into her fifties, and you get the chance to follow along her whole adult life, a rare written journey. Starting in 1965 and ending in 2000 the world around her changes dramatically, but my favorite part was how her focus shifted inwards.

In her younger years she was more concerned about world issues and politics, but as she ages she focuses much more on personal relationships, on what’s best for herself, and connecting with nature. She learns lessons and thinks through situations through her writing, and another cool aspect was seeing her develop ideas for future published works. I really enjoyed this journal and I believe anyone who wishes to be a successful writer would enjoy reading Alice Walker’s journals.

Thank you to the publisher Simon and Schuster for providing an eARC of this book via NetGalley for review.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this book for an exchange for a review.

This book is about the journals of Alice Walker’s life. She has gone through fighting for rights, relationships, and mostly writing. The most thing about this story is her life through her writings, including her essays and her book “The Color Purple” in which is made into a movie. I love reading books that are put into a journal format.

No judgement zone. Raw, Beautiful & Powerful. This is why I love Alice Walker as a writer. I love the fact that she chose to be transparent & honest by sharing some of her deepest thoughts & her life with us. I love that she shared with us, who she was & is as a Black woman. I could not put my phone down while reading this book.

There is a point in the life arc of a prolific and talented author when the writer himself/herself becomes the story. Mark Twain, Langston Hughes, and James Baldwin come to mind. Studies are made on their technique. Courses are taught on their material. Biographies (authorized and unauthorized) are written on their lives. And, if the author kept such things, journals and diaries are published.

“People have called me brave so often that I almost believe it - if fear is brave I am brave.”

There is an intimacy in journals, if they’re written openly and honestly, that one does not find in biographies. This is not Alice Walker recounting and reflecting on things that happened fifty years ago. This is Alice Walker at that particular moment in time. A snapshot, if you will, of a fascinating life in progress.

I wanted to read this book to gain more insight into her relationship with Tracie Chapman and it didn't disappoint. Alice Walker is an interesting person to me and I find her writing honest throughout Gathering Blossoms Under Fire.

We all know that artists can be flaky and sometimes self-absorbed. I found Ms. Walker to be no different. However, partly due to her recognizing and growing from past mistakes or at the end of each relationships. She did a lot of self-reflection gaining strength and allowing one of the most amazing literary feminist voices to come through.

With every encounter, Alice Walker blossomed with each step through the blaze and her journals are vibrant, open book written with so much soul. We feel her struggles of living as an artist on the one hand, and following the expectations of publishers, family, friends, lovers, and child. I loved learning about her insecurities, her willingness to forgive and ensure her friends well-being. I enjoyed her conversations on body politics and how she viewed herself. And, I enjoyed learning abut her activism.

I look forward to reading more of Alice Walker's backlist, as well as whatever she has coming out in the future. I am a life-long fan!

The is review is based on my own opinion. Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for this arc.

I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from reading Alice Walker’s journal entries. I think, sometimes, we have a utopian view of our literary loves and believe them to come out of the womb as glorious writers with no struggle with how to write, what to write, how to find time to write, and so on and so on. Maybe it’s a reflection of what we hope for ourselves…the no struggle writing dreamworld. Reading Alice Walker’s journals grounded me in the reality of a writer’s life, but also in a woman’s life, one who dares to defy convention as a woman of color, as a mother, as a wife, and as an artist. Throughout the pages, I could feel the tension between what convention demanded of her and what her soul required in order for her to survive, not just as an artist, but as a living being in this physical world. There is just so much within these pages that spoke to me, but most prominent was how Ms. Walker continued to choose herself despite how difficult it was to do so; how shaped her life on her terms. She did not say “I cannot do this” when coming up against a racist, sexist culture, but instead did what needed to be done. She learned how to be financially secure one step at a time while bringing into the physical world the dreams she had for herself. I appreciated the inclusion of the struggle with relationships, the exploration of sexuality on her own terms, and the difficulties that being financially wealthy can bring to a person. Ms. Walker pulled back the curtain, dispelled the facade, and said “here’s my human experience in all its messy, glorious ups and downs, curves and cliffs,” and I’m so glad that she did.

Alice Walker has long been in my top two list of favorite authors. Her writing deeply resonates with me on a personal level. I am grateful that she has allowed her journals to be published and I devoured every word. It was fascinating to be able to read her innermost thoughts especially during very turbulent times in this country. Many thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC..

I'm in the final stretch of my ARC of Alice Walker's Gathering Blossoms Under Fire, and it's been such a worthwhile read.

This is an up close and privileged look into Alice Walker's evolution-- one that is both deeply compelling and deeply human. Her journals detail her perspective as a womanist , as a mother, as a partner, a writer, and as a friend. She navigates spirituality, mental health, & sexuality. She expresses her thoughts on the work of her contemporaries. There is so much, y'all.

In addition to the entries themselves, there are footnotes that flesh out understanding and add context that brings the reading experience full circle.

The sheer courage one must have to lay bare their most intimate thoughts, doubts, fears, and vulnerabilities. Just, whew! As someone who writes, it was deeply satisfying to witness Walker devote ink to what would otherwise be considered the minutiae of life, and harvest its magic and reflect on the complexities that they hold. I think sometimes we attribute these grand and mysterious creative processes to the authors we admire, when, truth is, in addition to skill, what elevates them is their dedication to observation, consideration, and simply showing up to the page. Show up, she did. Filling pages with not just epiphanies on life, but also musings that become the beginnings of some of her greatest works.

This will definitely be one to add to your libraries.

Reading a journal is to enter into a life and the discoveries made along ones journey.
Alice Walkers path multifaceted. It is revelatory, It’s contents are always built on the foundation of heart and soul.
Coming of age in a time of revolution, her words paint a picture of time and place. Of upheaval and unrest, Of learning to cope and work thru a myriad of emotions; happiness, disappointment, elation and anger. There are the ups and downs of relationships; mother, daughter and ex-husband and her associations with fellow writers, actors, musicians and politicians. Alice her relationship with singer/songwriter Tracy Chapman and infatuation with Quincy Jones
The entries on ‘The Color Purple’ share the development of the storyline, the characters and the intense involvement on the aspects of filming; the scenes, the soundtrack, each so essential in the mood of such a monumental work.
This is an exquisite book. It is truly a snapshot in time. The entries are what Ms. Walker thought and felt on that given day. It was not intended to be shared. It is openly honest and candid. It is about learning and deciding on which of life’s lessons you will take with you, mentally, physically and spiritually.
Above all else, it is the evolution of a brilliant and inspiring woman.
Highly recommended!
With thanks to NetGalley, Ms Walker and Simon & Schuster for an ARC in exchange for an honest book review.