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287 reviews for:
The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations
Toni Morrison
4.33 AVERAGE
287 reviews for:
The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations
Toni Morrison
4.33 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
The always brilliant, always wise Toni Morrison is my go-to when I need to be grounded or inspired.
I was surprised I didn’t like this more. Mostly, it was because there was a significant amount of repetition, like literal copy and paste, of large passages across the different pieces. Also, this is one of the few audiobooks I’ve read where the reader was detrimental to the experience.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
She’s the best to have ever literally breathed a word we should all be so lucky
Really brilliant, as expected. I thought that the essays on race (“Moral Inhabitants,” “The Slavebody and the Blackbody”) were the strongest. Some of these essays were very academic— I enjoyed them, but I’m not sure that all people reading would get warm and fuzzy feelings reading literary analysis/criticism.
Lots of brilliantly reasoned essays here. Morrison does a good job of leading the reader through her mind.
“The dishonor associated with having been enslaved does not inevitably doom one’s heirs to vilification, demonization, or crucifixion. What sustains these latter is racism. Much of what made New World slavery exceptional was the highly identifiable racial signs of its population[.]”
I’d like to return to the last 1/3 of the book after I read more of Morrison’s novels.
Lots of brilliantly reasoned essays here. Morrison does a good job of leading the reader through her mind.
“The dishonor associated with having been enslaved does not inevitably doom one’s heirs to vilification, demonization, or crucifixion. What sustains these latter is racism. Much of what made New World slavery exceptional was the highly identifiable racial signs of its population[.]”
I’d like to return to the last 1/3 of the book after I read more of Morrison’s novels.
I listened to this book and I would love a physical copy in my library! Morrison’s love of her work shines through. I love her unapologetic use of her work as examples of the larger project of her creative and artistic life. For a fuller review - I wrote about it in my second October newsletter - www.tinyletter.com/kjcfalcon
When I say I "read" the book, I am not being entirely honest. I skimmed Part 1. Maybe my book club should not have chosen this book to discuss. The collection is more likely a book to be picked up now and again. I will "stick my neck out" here and say that the collection of essays, speeches, and meditations in Part 1 were overwrought and repetitious. I am a dedicated reader; however, this was a work I could not finish. The book gave me a headache. Ms. Morrison's ideas do not shock or scare me. I agree with her points, though I do think she gets extreme about globalization. I was touched by her poem for the victims of 9-11. And her novels are considered great among modern American literature.
I am not a Black woman, so maybe I should not opine on this work. Perhaps, I do not understand. However, I am Jewish and am well educated and aware of the Holocaust and continued anti Semitism. I have two children who are Hispanic, so I have some notion of being "the other". My family members were immigrants to this country. My parents were different, and I had to find my way on my own.
One more caveat. Given all that the present "Resistance" has accomplished, read, discussed, and observed since 2016, perhaps Ms. Morrison's ideas were more original twenty years ago?
In addition, I mention that Ms. Morrison probably earned quite a bit of money from her transcontinental/global speeches and multi-translated books. If one tears down commonly-held ideas, institutions, and trends, one must be careful not to be part of the problem one is criticizing.
Finally, was this book her idea or her publicists, agents, and publishers? Why would there be incessant reduncy unless this work is an encyclopedia for future scholars?
I am not a Black woman, so maybe I should not opine on this work. Perhaps, I do not understand. However, I am Jewish and am well educated and aware of the Holocaust and continued anti Semitism. I have two children who are Hispanic, so I have some notion of being "the other". My family members were immigrants to this country. My parents were different, and I had to find my way on my own.
One more caveat. Given all that the present "Resistance" has accomplished, read, discussed, and observed since 2016, perhaps Ms. Morrison's ideas were more original twenty years ago?
In addition, I mention that Ms. Morrison probably earned quite a bit of money from her transcontinental/global speeches and multi-translated books. If one tears down commonly-held ideas, institutions, and trends, one must be careful not to be part of the problem one is criticizing.
Finally, was this book her idea or her publicists, agents, and publishers? Why would there be incessant reduncy unless this work is an encyclopedia for future scholars?
[ 4.5 stars ]
My first Toni Morrison book, a compilation of her essays and speeches over the years.
My overwhelming impression was she is way too brilliant and insightful for me to fully comprehend. I felt smarter just reading her, and ever once in awhile, I had a glimpse of understanding, and it was beautiful
My first Toni Morrison book, a compilation of her essays and speeches over the years.
My overwhelming impression was she is way too brilliant and insightful for me to fully comprehend. I felt smarter just reading her, and ever once in awhile, I had a glimpse of understanding, and it was beautiful
I first encountered Toni Morrison's work as a child when I was sneaking to watch HBO with my cousins and Beloved was playing. I have tried many a time to complete just one of her works and I finally did it. She is just so precise, thoughtful and masterful and I loved every minute of this collection. It truly has proven to me why it is imperative that I continue to try and try again when it comes to reading her published works.
This is serious academic discourse and summer gives me time to reflect on the points the author makes in this book. These essays offer a deeper dive into Morrison's fictional works because she goes to great lengths to explain her purpose and direction; her thinking about her writing.
The essays took me several months to complete because I re-read and re-read many of the passages with my dictionary at the ready. But do read this collection of essays; this is important reading, especially now in a climate of small, fearful, and irrational thinkers.
The essays took me several months to complete because I re-read and re-read many of the passages with my dictionary at the ready. But do read this collection of essays; this is important reading, especially now in a climate of small, fearful, and irrational thinkers.