Walker's Meridian and The Color Purple are the focus of this new title in Bloom's Major Novelists series. Bloom includes a brief biography of Walker and a plot summary of each text, but the majority of the book is an excellent selection of critical responses to the novels. Culled from a wide range of sources, they include both the straightforward and the radical, such as Gloria Steinem on storytelling style from Ms magazine; George Stade's Womanist Fiction and Male Characters, excerpted from Partisan Review Barbara Christian on The Myth of Black Motherhood; and Bell Hooks on the erotic metaphysic. Literature students will find much to guide them in analyzing the structure and ideologies of the novels and will be better equipped to form their own ideas of Walker's work within the greater body of literature. (Reviewed February 15, 2000)

Gr 9 Up-A complete research and study guide in one volume. This title includes detailed plot summaries that will be helpful to readers struggling with the books, lists of characters, and excerpts from 25 critical essays on two of Walker's novels-Meridian and The Color Purple-along with a brief biography of the writer and a thematic index. The list of critical voices ranges from Marge Piercy's praise of Walker's writing to Richard Wesley's criticism of the writer's portrayal of black men in The Color Purple to bell hooks's "The Erotic Metaphysic." However, the essays are somewhat limited in that the critics tend to address the subject matter and social concerns of Walker's works more than their artistic merit. Students doing research on one of these books will be glad to have all their work done for them and grateful for the compact package it comes in and libraries will find it chock-full of resources. Serious researchers would be better served by Bloom's Alice Walker (Chelsea, 1990), which includes full-length essays with a little meat on them.-Herman Sutter, Saint Agnes Academy, Houston, TX Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.