Product Description

The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Color Purple, Possessing the Secret of Joy, and The Temple of My Familiar now gives us a beautiful new novel that is at once a deeply moving personal story and a powerful spiritual journey.

In Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart, Alice Walker has created a work that ranks among her ?nest achievements: the story of a woman’s spiritual adventure that becomes a passage through time, a quest for self, and a collision with love.

Kate has always been a wanderer. A well-published author, married many times, she has lived a life rich with explorations of the natural world and the human soul. Now, at fifty-seven, she leaves her lover, Yolo, to embark on a new excursion, one that begins on the Colorado River, proceeds through the past, and flows, inexorably, into the future. As Yolo begins his own parallel voyage, Kate encounters celibates and lovers, shamans and snakes, memories of family disaster and marital discord, and emerges at a place where nothing remains but love.

Told with the accessible style and deep feeling that are its author’s hallmarks, Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart is Alice Walker’s most surprising achievement.


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #142881 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-29
• Released on: 2005-03-29
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
Praise for Alice Walker:

“Alice Walker is a lavishly gifted writer.”
—The New York Times Book Review, about The Color Purple

“Amazing, overwhelming.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin, about The Temple of My Familiar

“Places Walker in the company of Faulkner.”
—The Nation, about The Color Purple

“Hugely original...once again demonstrates Walker’s gigantic talent.”
—Baltimore Sun, about By the Light of My Father’s Smile


From the Hardcover edition.

From the Inside Flap
The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Color Purple, Possessing the Secret of Joy, and The Temple of My Familiar now gives us a beautiful new novel that is at once a deeply moving personal story and a powerful spiritual journey.

In Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart, Alice Walker has created a work that ranks among her ?nest achievements: the story of a woman's spiritual adventure that becomes a passage through time, a quest for self, and a collision with love.

Kate has always been a wanderer. A well-published author, married many times, she has lived a life rich with explorations of the natural world and the human soul. Now, at fifty-seven, she leaves her lover, Yolo, to embark on a new excursion, one that begins on the Colorado River, proceeds through the past, and flows, inexorably, into the future. As Yolo begins his own parallel voyage, Kate encounters celibates and lovers, shamans and snakes, memories of family disaster and marital discord, and emerges at a place where nothing remains but love.

Told with the accessible style and deep feeling that are its author's hallmarks, Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart is Alice Walker's most surprising achievement.


From the Hardcover edition.

About the Author
ALICE WALKER won the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award for her novel The Color Purple. Her other novels include By the Light of My Father’s Smile and Possessing the Secret of Joy. She is also the author of three collections of short stories, three collections of essays, five volumes of poetry, and several children’s books. Born in Eatonton, Georgia, Walker now lives in northern California.


From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews

A heart-felt book
Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple, talks about her life and work. The latest literary phenomenon is 'Matron Lit': romantic fiction aimed at the older woman. Do older women want to see the reality of their lives reflected in romantic fiction or do they prefer their fantasy figures in pert good health, and without the family responsibilities and emotional baggage that maturity often brings? Alice Walker burst onto the literary stage in 1983 when she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, The Colour Purple. The book went on to sell more than 5 million copies, and in 1985 was made into a film by Steven Spielberg - bringing the experiences of a young black woman in the American South to a mass audience for the first time. In 1992, her novel, Possessing the Secret of Joy, raised awareness on the issue of female genital mutilation. She's been a controversial campaigner for black and women's rights - coining the term 'womanist' to describe African American women's experience of feminism. Now, at the age of 61, she's the author of 27 books - of poetry, novels, short stories and memoirs. Now Is The Time To Open Your Heart by Alice Walker,

Not in her list of best.
I have great respect for Alice Walker and have loved many of her books. This one I found hard to follow, unrealistic, and not very recommendable. I think she knew this before it came out, the dedication in itself is an apology basically stating that with all it's flaws it was time to publish the book anyway.

In many ways I thought this book read like a memoir disguised as a novel. Maybe the exact retreats or experiences aren't the same, but she is clearly trying to impart information learned in retreat like settings in real life.

The avid Walker fan will of course have to read this book, but if you haven't read her before, start with a different one to get a true flavor.

Disappointing
I've enjoyed other books Ms. Walker has written but I didn't care for this one much. Lovers Kate and Yolo go separately on spiritual journeys. I found her meandering style in this novel difficult to follow. I liked reading her unique perspective of the world even if I didn't agree with her opinions. I also Googled somethings that she mentioned that I found interesting. Because it's short I stuck with it to the end but can't recommend it. Read her early work instead.