Reviews

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Only show reviews with written explanations

siggy89's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Awful! The writing is just a jumble of words and nonsense - the key “themes” are harrowing but not really given focus to play out. The narration jumps from character to character but never giving a complete timeline or picture of events/reality.
Not sure how this is pegged as a classic read…really not my writing style and a slog to get through in more ways than one.

astratton1027's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

sleeplikewolves's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

katyab's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

I have no idea how to understand this book, and part of me thinks that's a good thing. Beloved can't be boxed. It's difficult, elusive, slow, but all of those things are extraordinary: the language just eats itself with how winding and powerful it is; at times I wondered whether I was genuinely confused at what was happening, others, I wondered whether the point was to be confused. (I had Sparknotes open on my phone just to make sure...)

Of course, it's incredibly disturbing. Not just with the ghost and then the physical presence of Beloved herself, but with the current of slavery running through everything. In the soundtracks of horror films, there are often such low-frequency sounds that can't be heard but actually put people on edge. It's like that. Just a horror that's there all the time, and then it lifts its head to a point where I heard it clearly, when reading Morrison's descriptions of slavery and torture and punishment, of the racism still existing, before it drops away (but doesn't disappear).

This was hard to read, and it should be hard. Still, I was hesitant to pick it up again whenever I put it down, which is probably why it took me so long to get through, and I'm relieved that it's over. I felt the pressure to feel something more than I did, because this is one of the great American works, and yet I didn't feel like I'd had the breath knocked out me by the end. But then again, maybe it's like Piranesi, and the slow-burning after-feeling is just as valid as being blown away.

But I'm glad I've read it; I felt it was necessary to read it. It's going to gnaw at my bones.