Now Is the Time to Open your Heart A Novel (Book) : Walker, Alice : The Pulitzer Prizewinning 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. This feature is not available right now. How does Kate come to identify with Grandmother, and in what ways does this give her peace and contentment? How do Yolo and Kate complement each other in their relationship? . Ultimately, they agree to get married. 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. A well-published author, married many times, she has lived a life rich with explorations of the natural world and the human soul. On her retreat, Kate is grappling with the fact that, after the first session, the Grandmother medicine has ceased to work for her. "Open Your Heart" is a campaign designed to target young adults and provide awareness for 'healthy hearts' via the use of online fundraising, social media trends, and viral cross promotion. They plan to have it at the perfect spot they find alongside a river. ... Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart, on April 28, at 7 P.M. First, she helps a woman named Lalika, who is struggling with the aftermath of an incredibly traumatic situation in which she and her friend Gloria were raped. How else do he and the other characters attempt to fill themselves up? Soon after returning from the Colorado River, Kate embarks on another spiritual journey. In the first chapter, Kate is at a meditation retreat. Finally, she places a small, snake-shaped clock in the lap of the Buddha statue. Under the guidance of the Devic Kingdom and a powerful shaman, Kate and several others ultimately transform themselves into newer, cleaner and more balanced versions of the people they once were. This Study Guide consists of approximately 47 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - The snake then bites the man, sending him to his death. Lalika killed the rapist. Deborah Plant, Editor and Presenter of Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston. Both entertaining and enlightening, Alice Walker’s latest masterpiece is right on schedule: now is the time to open your heart. What does the book’s title mean to you? I would recommend it to everyone who is ready for freedom and joy.”. This theme of being healed by nature is undoubtedly the predominant theme in the book, yet Walker also touches upon other issues including relationships, the human condition, wisdom and the seemingly hopeless current state of world violence. The Answer Is Yes. During the first chapter of Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart, I thought we were in for a treat. In which ways does Walker’s writing itself often attain a dreamlike quality? Author Alice Walker then directly tells the reader that her paternal grandmother, Kate Nelson, was murdered when her father was a young man. Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart by Alice Walker. When you open your heart, little by little, you will find that the only true guidance is within you. In the story, a man comes across a frozen snake on the road. help you understand the book. In  Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart , Alice Walker has created a work that ranks among her finest achievements: the story of a woman’s spiritual adventure that becomes a passage through time, a quest for self, and a collision with love. The novel is written in the third person, except for certain segments in italics where the Mother Earth concept (known in the book as “Grandmother”) speaks in first person. Finally, the group all works together to help a woman named Missy overcome the trauma of being sexually abused by her grandfather from a very young age until she was ten years old. About Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart. 14. Lalika tells Kate that, during their captivity, she and Gloria began praying to Saartjie Baartman, a woman whom they read about in an issue of Jet magazine. What do the others that Kate and Yolo meet on their journeys teach them about the world and about themselves? Kate has always been a wanderer. Though Kate cannot confirm this, she feels sure of it. What nonhuman forms does Grandmother take, and why is each of these forms significant? The story ultimately ends on a high note leaving room for the reader to imagine a more detailed ending of their own design. How is Yolo’s voyage of self-discovery similar to the one Kate embarks upon? In which ways does Saartjie become an icon to her and to others? What Does Truth Sound Like? In which ways do you think this mind-set parallels Walker’s experience with this particular book? Here are a few Heart-opening practices you can try: Practice 1 — Spend time in solitude and silence. NOW IS THE TIME TO OPEN YOUR HEART Alice Walker, Author. The story follows a woman named Kate Nelson whose existence is changing into something unknown. I bought this book on a whim along with four others by the author after watching the feature-length documentary Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth . How does this sense of self compare with that of the other women with whom she comes in contact, including Lalika, Missy, and Anunu? Listen. Tap Done. After this, Kate cannot help but notice how white the entire mediation retreat is being taught, both in terms of the people in attendance and the philosophies. OTHER BOOKS. How are reptiles and animals important, both in the cycle of life and in Kate’s and Yolo’s journeys? They share fears about their relationship. “I started to understand why to myself and often to other people I have felt invisible,” says Rick (p. 152). 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. Now is the Time to Open Your Heart  is her latest fictional offering and perhaps her most profound work to date. is her latest fictional offering and perhaps her most profound work to date. Cudd. What role does water play? Now is the Time to Open Your Heart is her latest fictional offering and perhaps her most profound work to date. Why are names, either given or created, so important to the characters? Kate writes a letter of support that they take with them to aid their cause. Why do you think Grandmother tells Kate, “You must live for at least two years in space”? In other words, your Heart knows exactly what you need let go of and love. Hugh explains how, each year, an old Native man would arrive on his property. Kate has always been a wanderer. When the land was later excavated by an energy company, they discovered a massive burial ground below the spring. But in the new millennium, when astral travel is all the rage and psychics are purportedly talking to entities on The Other Side — on their own television shows — this book couldn’t have emerged at a better time. Tap your profile picture in the upper-right corner. At the same time, Kate’s partner, Yolo, whom she has left behind in America, is undergoing his own spiritual metamorphosis. Past her mid-50s and already married many times, she is a loving mother as well as an extensively published and popular author. by Alice Walker. Definitions by the largest Idiom Dictionary. The snake tells the man that if he picks him up and thaws him, he will not bite the man. 18. "Open Your Heart" is a campaign designed to target young adults and provide awareness for 'healthy hearts' via the use of online fundraising, social media trends, and viral cross promotion. What is it about Kate’s dream that compels her to leave on her journey? He did not realize this until he was an adult. Still, something is not quite right with Kate’s life. Now, at 57, 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. 11. She writes, “When you witness the various peace talks that occur on a daily basis somewhere on the earth and you see how far everyone is from peace, and how they get no nearer the longer they talk, well, this gives an indication of the problem.” She also questions humankind by asking, “If you see a human being, really see them … how could you kill them?” She wonders, “What would happen if our foreign policy centered on the cultivation of joy rather than pain?” With an informal yet mature writing style, Walker targets a multicultural adult audience. Reason for Reading: I’ve never really heard anything about Walker beyond the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Color Purple (an assigned high school read), so I picked up Now is the Time to Open Your Heart out of curiosity. |  August 2004, Nicole Moses  is an author, a poet and a songstress. 3. [2004] [ Review in January Magazine], Queen Lili’uokalani was the beloved ruler of Hawaii from January 29, 1891 – January 17, 1893. In fact, she’s even contemplating selling it. In a small village, he comes across a funeral procession that turns out to be for the dead boy. Video: Patricia Gras interviews Alice Walker about Now Is The Time to Open Your Heart, August 2004 book review in www.januaryMagazine.com. Make time to spend alone. “Smoking had taught him about emptiness, the need to fill internal space,” thinks Yolo (p. 18). So when a recurring dream of a river spurs her to go out and find the real thing she journeys, with several other women, to the Grand Canyon to travel the Colorado River. One afternoon, Kate is visited by Armando and a group of shamans. In Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart, Alice Walker has created a work that ranks among her finest achievements: the story of a woman’s spiritual adventure that becomes a passage through time, a quest for self, and a collision with love. Devouring books and expressing herself creatively through words are her true passions in life. How have their solo journeys solidified their bond? Later, they go back to Alma’s home, where Alma explains that the boy died of a methamphetamine overdose. After this incident, Yolo struggles to enjoy his vacation. Get this from a library! In which way is Kate more mindful of these internal voices than of those that speak in the present? Yolo has created his; Kate thinks of changing hers to indicate her love of trees; the hula girl Leilani is really Alma; Lalika and her friend Gloria adopt the name Saartjie. 20. She also explains that she rides the motorcycle as a tribute to her father, who loved James Dean. A way that erases all boundaries and bullshit.” Describe the notion of the Grandmother in this novel. Knowing that the character of Kate was spurred by the author’s real-life grandmother, how does the constant refrain of Grandmother in the book resonate? 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