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chloe_hazel's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
angelbabe_cj's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
As much as I loved the writing, which was excellent, I found the narrative hard to follow. Like the music which provides its name it ebbs and flows in repeated rhythms and refrains in ways that I couldn't predict or keep up with. And some parts definitely left unfinished, possibly because I lost track of which bits connected to each other.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, and Racism
Moderate: Body shaming, Murder, Sexism, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Slavery
lamontslament's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Toni Morrison’s prose, as always, is immaculate. So many passages had me gasping for their beauty or cleverness.
I think what I didn’t like about this book is one of its features: the nonlinear, sketchy, call-back way the story is told feels very intentional. Jazz-like even. It just didn’t work for me. I felt I had to work too hard to figure out when/where/who was going on with the start of every new chapter.
A lovely read, I would recommend this to anyone who likes her work or wants to read an artful, complex book about the early 20th century black American experience. But of the 4 books by Morrison I’ve read, this comes in a distant 4th place for me.
I think what I didn’t like about this book is one of its features: the nonlinear, sketchy, call-back way the story is told feels very intentional. Jazz-like even. It just didn’t work for me. I felt I had to work too hard to figure out when/where/who was going on with the start of every new chapter.
A lovely read, I would recommend this to anyone who likes her work or wants to read an artful, complex book about the early 20th century black American experience. But of the 4 books by Morrison I’ve read, this comes in a distant 4th place for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Murder
michaelion's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
well. they can't all be hits.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Murder
Moderate: Stalking, Slavery, Violence, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, and Racism
Minor: Miscarriage, Abandonment, and War
kathischm's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Grief, Racial slurs, Racism, and Slavery
Minor: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Suicide, and Blood
sofipitch's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Morrison's prose is enchanting as always, the story is difficult to sum up but it makes sense in that way, shifting in time the way music itself does
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Violence, and Infidelity
stfrancisjude's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
beautiful descriptions of the city, and parties in the city. touching explorations of character and relationships, and the complexity of it all. some denser, less interesting sections but overall i got quite a lot out of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Racial slurs, Gun violence, and Murder
Minor: Miscarriage
mysimas's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Couldn’t finish the book on my first try; I just wasn’t in the mood for something as depressing.
It’s a beauty, though, and I’m glad to have come back. I’m not quite sure what to make of her yet — it unsettles me that she almost makes me forgive characters the unforgiveable. But maybe that’s the point, maybe people do bad things because they’re pushed to them by their circumstances and it takes a lot of work and willpower on their part not to give in — and sometimes they slip, and other times they don’t, and you can feel for them or disapprove of their shortcomings but once you try on their shoes, even if just for a moment, you can’t really go back.
It’s a beauty, though, and I’m glad to have come back. I’m not quite sure what to make of her yet — it unsettles me that she almost makes me forgive characters the unforgiveable. But maybe that’s the point, maybe people do bad things because they’re pushed to them by their circumstances and it takes a lot of work and willpower on their part not to give in — and sometimes they slip, and other times they don’t, and you can feel for them or disapprove of their shortcomings but once you try on their shoes, even if just for a moment, you can’t really go back.
I was so sure it would happen. That the past was an abused record with no choice but to repeat itself at the crack and no power on earth could lift the arm that held the needle. I was so sure, and they danced and walked all over me. Busy, they were, busy being original, complicated, changeable—human, I guess you’d say, while I was the predictable one, confused in my solitude into arrogance, thinking my space, my view was the only one that was or that mattered.
I still don’t know who, or what, the narrator is. I think Morrison tells us right at the end, but I’m still not sure.
The only thing I do know for certain is that there’s a lot of good going on among the grim. It’s no coincidence the story, chronologically, starts in the autumn and ends in the spring. It’s terrible in many parts but also, strangely, cleansing, like cleaning a wound of pus. And screwed up as the relationships in this book are, there are also heartfelt scenes that would’ve shone in a good romance book.
Recommended.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infidelity, Racism, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Violence, Murder, Animal death, and Death of parent
Minor: Gun violence, Miscarriage, Slavery, and Suicide
I’m not sure how old Dorcas was when she started her relationship with Joe — I think she was 18. Technically, their relationship wasn’t one of a minor and an adult then; but it sure read like one. It was her first relationship and Joe was 50 for crying out loud.infantcrayon's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Murder, and Racism
Minor: Miscarriage
egmamaril's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
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