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Courage & Madness
Date of Review: Dec 20, 1999
With this excellent novel, Alice Walker has done for the subject
of FGM (female genital mutilation) what Thomas Hardy did for that of the
seduction of young, poor women. Until "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" was
published, any female character who had sex outside of marriage had to
be dead by the end of the book. Even the compassionate Charles Dickens'
"Bleak House" was no exception. Likewise, until the publication of "Joy,"
and near the same time, the Oprah Winfrey show's airing of footage of a
clitoridectomy being performed on a little girl, even most feminists let
alone most people concerned with children's welfare would not discuss FGM.
This book succeeds where others have failed, in fictionalizing the
process of psychotherapy. The reader is drawn into the process without
the experience becoming too painful to read about.
Walker did leave one nit to pick: She could easily have done more
homework; for instance, she could have used the actual word "daya" for
"ritual 'circumciser'" rather than making up a word.
If you liked "The Color Purple," you'll love "Possessing the Secret
of Joy."
