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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Stalking, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
HOLY FUCK ! THIS IS MY NEW FAVORITE BOOK NOW AND I DO NOT CARE ABOUT ANY OTHER BOOK!!!!
Wow . Wow . So many different emotions and I can't even sift through them enough to even emerge coherent . This book is ingenuity in its purest form and I do not think any words of mine could completely encapsulate how perfect it was .
Wow . Wow . So many different emotions and I can't even sift through them enough to even emerge coherent . This book is ingenuity in its purest form and I do not think any words of mine could completely encapsulate how perfect it was .
5 Stars!
“You think because he doesn’t love you that you are worthless. You think because he doesn’t want you anymore that he is right.”
… ”He can’t value you more than you value yourself.”
I had to read this for my AP Lit class, but honestly it was so good! Definitely one of my favorite school reads (The Great Gatsby is the favorite though… I’m sorry?)
The most memorable part of this book was Guitar comforting Hagar in the end. Definitely hit close to home but was very moving
The Seven Days aspect was horrifying and questioning. Pilate was the first girl boss. Milkman was the true fuck boy
“You think because he doesn’t love you that you are worthless. You think because he doesn’t want you anymore that he is right.”
… ”He can’t value you more than you value yourself.”
I had to read this for my AP Lit class, but honestly it was so good! Definitely one of my favorite school reads (The Great Gatsby is the favorite though… I’m sorry?)
The most memorable part of this book was Guitar comforting Hagar in the end. Definitely hit close to home but was very moving
The Seven Days aspect was horrifying and questioning. Pilate was the first girl boss. Milkman was the true fuck boy
If you forget who you are, if you lose the meaning of your name, if you lose the understanding of where and who you come from, that doesn't mean the past and those myths won't haunt you. If that past and those myths haunt you, they will drag you down and prevent you from flying and making your own myths.
This is my favorite Morrison book that I've read (so far).
While I do not have the experience that Black Americans have of their pasts, ancestors, and myths ripped away from them through chattel slavery, the failure of Reconstruction, and Jim Crow laws, the power of naming, family mythology, intergenerational trauma and "forgetting," and our pasts keeping us pinned to this earth highly resonated and felt more American than apple pie.
As someone who carries a powerful name that was randomly picked myself, I was particularly drawn to the character of Pilate and how she stood both in her name and outside of it. Pontius Pilate was, of course, the man who "killed" Jesus, and in many ways, by trying to keep her family stories -- but not having the full understanding of the family myths and then protecting Milkman, her nephew and the novel's center, who would, despite himself, undercover them more clearly -- she was cast out of family and of acceptable society. But then, she is the one who tries (even if she often fails) to save them from themselves and others.
Despite ultimately loving Song of Solomon, the first 100 pages were hard to get through. Morrison thickly layers on the book's themes and the community it surrounds, but in a way that we never quite understand until later. In those pages, Milkman is a minor, and perhaps this is all a child's understanding of what's going on or not going on. It is only when Milkman literally strikes back at his father, after his father hits his mother (not for the first time), that Milkman sheds his child's mindset, and even if he's a spoiled and selfish adult, he brings an adult understanding to the world around him.
There are also situations of child abuse, incest, and CSA that were just too much, and I needed to put it down, but I'm very glad that I picked it back up. (It didn't help that I unintentionally read a whole string of books centering around sexual assault trauma.)
When I was about halfway through, I found myself flipping back to those first pages to pull out the little things that I might've missed. Specifically, after Corinthians starts up her love affair with Porter, Morrison reminds us that he was Macon's tenant who was waving a gun and peeing out the window earlier in the story.
There are so many incredible layers to peel back, but Song of Solomon is also a very entertaining book. You can just read and enjoy. There are funny and absurd parts, especially as Milkman goes on a bumbling road trip through his family's history, accidentally, as he's really after gold (a family myth of his father's), and learns some lessons that many humans should. There are sad and poignant parts too.
Maybe, like Milkman, we can all earn our wings.
This is my favorite Morrison book that I've read (so far).
While I do not have the experience that Black Americans have of their pasts, ancestors, and myths ripped away from them through chattel slavery, the failure of Reconstruction, and Jim Crow laws, the power of naming, family mythology, intergenerational trauma and "forgetting," and our pasts keeping us pinned to this earth highly resonated and felt more American than apple pie.
As someone who carries a powerful name that was randomly picked myself, I was particularly drawn to the character of Pilate and how she stood both in her name and outside of it. Pontius Pilate was, of course, the man who "killed" Jesus, and in many ways, by trying to keep her family stories -- but not having the full understanding of the family myths and then protecting Milkman, her nephew and the novel's center, who would, despite himself, undercover them more clearly -- she was cast out of family and of acceptable society. But then, she is the one who tries (even if she often fails) to save them from themselves and others.
Despite ultimately loving Song of Solomon, the first 100 pages were hard to get through. Morrison thickly layers on the book's themes and the community it surrounds, but in a way that we never quite understand until later. In those pages, Milkman is a minor, and perhaps this is all a child's understanding of what's going on or not going on. It is only when Milkman literally strikes back at his father, after his father hits his mother (not for the first time), that Milkman sheds his child's mindset, and even if he's a spoiled and selfish adult, he brings an adult understanding to the world around him.
There are also situations of child abuse, incest, and CSA that were just too much, and I needed to put it down, but I'm very glad that I picked it back up. (It didn't help that I unintentionally read a whole string of books centering around sexual assault trauma.)
When I was about halfway through, I found myself flipping back to those first pages to pull out the little things that I might've missed. Specifically, after Corinthians starts up her love affair with Porter, Morrison reminds us that he was Macon's tenant who was waving a gun and peeing out the window earlier in the story.
There are so many incredible layers to peel back, but Song of Solomon is also a very entertaining book. You can just read and enjoy. There are funny and absurd parts, especially as Milkman goes on a bumbling road trip through his family's history, accidentally, as he's really after gold (a family myth of his father's), and learns some lessons that many humans should. There are sad and poignant parts too.
Maybe, like Milkman, we can all earn our wings.
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
coming back 10 days later & i don't know if i can say why i loved and enjoyed this so much. morrison has a distinct and wonderful writing style that paints a picture of a vivid world with rich characters. the book really takes you on a journey of self discovery, a man reckoning with his upbringing, how he is how he is, and where he can go, getting to his roots, and trying to make peace with it all.
i also love the strong, but sometimes wild & crazy women in this story as well.
milkman goes on a quest for gold, but ends up finding something worth more. i feel like such a dummy trying to even describe the brilliance of this novel, so i'll stop before i put my foot in my mouth. glad to have picked this up and need to read more of her work.
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i need this to sink in a bit before i review. but wow
i also love the strong, but sometimes wild & crazy women in this story as well.
milkman goes on a quest for gold, but ends up finding something worth more. i feel like such a dummy trying to even describe the brilliance of this novel, so i'll stop before i put my foot in my mouth. glad to have picked this up and need to read more of her work.
------
i need this to sink in a bit before i review. but wow