- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Ballantine Books; Reprint edition (31 Mar 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0812971396
- ISBN-13: 978-0812971392
- Product Dimensions: 13.4 x 1.5 x 20.3 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,693,190 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
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.
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.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
KATE TALKINGTREE SAT MEDITATING IN A LARGE hall that was surrounded by redwood trees. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
KATE TALKINGTREE SAT MEDITATING IN A LARGE hall that was surrounded by redwood trees. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
20 reviews
34 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Now is the time to pick up this book!
20 April 2004
Format:Hardcover
Alice Walker has done it again. She has created a deeply rich world full of amazing characters that you hate to leave when the book is finished. Unlike most of her other works, this book has an extremely modern feel to it. It takes place in the present, and although it happens mostly in the jungles, it still feels like home.
Kate, the main character inspired by Walker's grandmother, channels a lot of Walkers feelings about the world today, and growing older. In the past, I've always felt the ancestors in Walker's work, but never much of herself. This book combines the two elements beautifully.
Do yourself a favor and big pick up this remarkable book, by one of the greatest voices of our time.
22 of 25 people found the following review helpful
top three??
17 Jan 2006
Format:Hardcover
Despite enjoying previous works by this author, I actually stayed awake last night contemplating whether this novel was in my top three worst novels of all time. Why? It is meandering, cliched, downright offensive in terms of stereotypes and the main characters Kate and Yolo generally bear no resemblance to real people. To compound the problem, the other characters who play supporting roles are hollow shells used merely to make didactic points about oppression and abuse. Being black is depicted in terms of such simplistic stereotypes as "being more tolerant than anyone else", being native American is "being in touch with the land" and being white has nothing positive to say for it at all.
For example, the author seems unaware that if Kate actually lived in Africa as I do, her sexuality would be enough to get her thrown into jail by virtually every African government of the day and would result in her being an outcast by local communities. That's the level of tolerance here in the Motherland.
My point ultimately is that this novel is ahistorical, ill-informed and in terms of simple entertainment value - particularly tedious if you have any interest in wit, irony, insightfulness or relevance. Don't waste your money.
For example, the author seems unaware that if Kate actually lived in Africa as I do, her sexuality would be enough to get her thrown into jail by virtually every African government of the day and would result in her being an outcast by local communities. That's the level of tolerance here in the Motherland.
My point ultimately is that this novel is ahistorical, ill-informed and in terms of simple entertainment value - particularly tedious if you have any interest in wit, irony, insightfulness or relevance. Don't waste your money.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Humanity pondered
9 Oct 2004
Format:Hardcover
When Alice Walker, the earthy literary wordsmith, releases a new book, I feel
an unmistakable pull that compels me to not only buy the book but to read it.
So, when NOW IS THE TIME TO OPEN YOUR HEART was released
I did as the unforeseen forces commanded, I bought and read the book
and I haven't regretted one solitary reflective moment since I did.
In NOW IS THE TIME TO OPEN YOUR HEART, we meet Kate, a successful author who
is pondering her life. She seems to have reached a crossroads of sorts where
she is trying to unearth the meaning of her existence. This search leads her
on a number of soul-searching journeys that ultimately leads Kate to a truer
understanding of herself and others around her.
In true Walker style, this novel is filled with wonderful symbolism and
experiences which draw the reader in and makes him/her a part of the main
character's quest. Walker's characters deal with a myriad of issues including
aging, sexuality, religion, abuse, and defining oneself. I found myself
disappointed when I read the final words. I wanted the journey to continue
and somehow, after reading NOW IS THE TIME TO OPEN YOUR HEART, I think Walker
wants it to as well.
Reviewed by Diane Marbury
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
an unmistakable pull that compels me to not only buy the book but to read it.
So, when NOW IS THE TIME TO OPEN YOUR HEART was released
I did as the unforeseen forces commanded, I bought and read the book
and I haven't regretted one solitary reflective moment since I did.
In NOW IS THE TIME TO OPEN YOUR HEART, we meet Kate, a successful author who
is pondering her life. She seems to have reached a crossroads of sorts where
she is trying to unearth the meaning of her existence. This search leads her
on a number of soul-searching journeys that ultimately leads Kate to a truer
understanding of herself and others around her.
In true Walker style, this novel is filled with wonderful symbolism and
experiences which draw the reader in and makes him/her a part of the main
character's quest. Walker's characters deal with a myriad of issues including
aging, sexuality, religion, abuse, and defining oneself. I found myself
disappointed when I read the final words. I wanted the journey to continue
and somehow, after reading NOW IS THE TIME TO OPEN YOUR HEART, I think Walker
wants it to as well.
Reviewed by Diane Marbury
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
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