Reviews

Following this narrative was sad. The whole book throws trauma and sadness at you at every single page. It's definitely not a feel-good read. But, also, something was missing to make me really feel all the feelings here.

I think that if the chapters were longer, if we could just sit a bit more of time with each character, would be easier to really get it. I wanted to hear more about their inner world and motives. Be taken along to the ride of despair, rage, fear, hopelessness, acceptance, grief, overwhelm... I know those things are there, I could read them between the lines, but I couldn't feel them. Just underlying sadness.

I understood people's actions and decisions, at the same time I condemned them for it. If anything, this book just makes my belief in the power of therapy + honest dialog. We need to be able to talk with and to people we love and care if we want any chance of stop being lead by our hurts, and if we want to stop hurting others in the process of coping, if we want to have any hopes to create better environment for children in this lifetime.

"God help the child" could've touched me deeper, but will left me with somethingsto digest, nevertheless.

missbookiverse's review against another edition

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3.0

Ach, ich weiß nicht. Irgendwie tue ich mich schwer mit Toni Morrisons Romanen (war erst mein zweiter). Ich habe gerne zugehört (auch wenn das deutsche Hörbuch selbstverständlich wieder von einer Weißen gelesen wird), die Schicksale der einzelnen Charaktere sind interessant und tragisch, mir gefiel wie sie alle zusammenhängen und ich in die einzelnen Lebensgeschichten einen kleinen Blick werfen konnte, aber über allgemeines Interesse ging das alles nicht hinaus. Es hat mich nicht berührt oder nachhaltig beschäftigt und wirkte eher wie die gekürzte Zusammenfassung einer längeren Geschichte. Was mir hingegen richtig gut gefallen hat, sind die kurzen Gedichte, die wir von Booker zu lesen bekommen. Morrison scheint leider nie eine gesonderte Gedichtsammlung veröffentlicht zu haben, aber vielleicht sollte ich mir stattdessen mal ihre Non-Fiction Werke anschauen.

tmosley5's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective 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

charlottekook's review against another edition

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4.0

i liked reading this, though found it quite different from her earlier work which i've read more of. it was quite refreshing to read contemporary references, and though it felt less powerful to me than her older works i think this is because it was more subtle.

near the start of the novel, i found myself thinking that it was unusual to read something written by morrison with a first person narrator integral to the story (rather than a distanced, first or third person narrator), though as soon as i thought this the narrative perspective changed. i like the switches between character, and the bookending of the novel by sweetness - who's actions loom over bride/lu ann for the whole novel - and it felt very authentically "morrison", taking the chair out from under you as soon as you had got comfortable with the narrative. the subject matter was often distressing, but this was always positioned as a memory - so a lot can be unpacked here about trauma, death, abuse and its impact on victims and bystanders. i feel like the novel is more complex than it lets on, which i would again put down to the subtlety and brilliance of morrison's writing.

it felt both similar and completely different from her other works formally (though thematically similar). with the novels of hers i've read (no means an exhaustive list), there always seems to be an element of detachment from events and a displacement of characters - the latter is more obvious here, but the second seems to be tackled formally for bride, with the use of her mother, "friend" and sofia's voice, as well as the third person view of bride, interjecting into her story and making us see her from a distance - frustratingly so as, like i said, it's unusual for a morrison novel to give us a character's first person thoughts. i also think that this fractured/split nature of the narrators, as well as the mirroring(?) with booker's story makes the aims of the novel/morrison more difficult to grasp. there is no resolution to the trauma and the outcome of the accusations so the message (and there always is a message with morrison) has to be picked over later.

the novel intrigued me more than it gave me enjoyment, but i love morrison because - and honestly do not want to be too cringe/corny - she makes you think.

hillaryreadseverything's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

readmoreyall's review against another edition

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4.0

Listened to this audiobook read by Morrison herself all in one day. The book is a excellent and hunting look at the scars parents and adults leave on children and the way that ripples into their futures.

michaelion's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-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? Yes

3.75

So it's come down to this huh. My last Toni Morrison fiction. This is heartbreaking. I liked the book; it's heartbreaking I have no more novels! But it does mean I can reread them for the first time now!

It's not her best work, but it's not her worst either. A breeze to read as usual. It hooked me more towards the end, or more than halfway through the book, which isn't good while reading but the parts before that were pleasant enough I didn't look at the book negatively. I'm sure it wasn't her intention but it is a little sad she didn't go out with a bang. This book is fine. I love Black love, and that was her primary love through all her books in all its different forms. All her books are about love! 🫶🏾

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