Reviews

Beloved by Toni Morrison

lalawoman416's review against another edition

5.0

One of the best horror books I've read. It's a story of the horror of love. It's a ghost story. It's a descent into madness story. It's horrifically beautiful.

Sethe is a runaway slave who escapes to Ohio to reunite with her three children and mother in law. Along the way, she gives birth to her daughter Denver. For a while, she lives an idyllic life with her children and mother in law. But then tragedy strikes and Sethe spends the next 18 years in solitude with Denver.

Along comes Paul D. and reminds Sethe of what it's like to be alive. Then along comes Beloved, a stranger who demands everything from her at a time when she was just starting to live. What happens next is the story. It's heavy. It's tragic. It's heartbreaking. It's amazing.

samaguacate's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

omg__gigi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Toni Morrison's "Beloved" is a profound and haunting exploration of the complexities of memory, trauma, and the enduring scars of slavery. Set in the aftermath of the Civil War, the novel follows Sethe, a formerly enslaved woman who is haunted by her past and the ghost of her deceased daughter, whom she named Beloved. 

Morrison's writing is richly layered, weaving together the personal and collective histories of African American experiences. The narrative structure, which shifts between past and present, immerses the reader in Sethe's turbulent memories, revealing the horrors she endured and the choices she made in a desperate attempt to protect her children from the brutality of slavery.

jeffreybalch's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-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

3.75

carmonicat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racism, and Grief

cami19's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

5.0

cspiteri's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

3.0

This is one of those books where I can see and respect how great it is but I just didn’t love reading it. 

The only real criticism that I have is that the slaves in this book talk in a very broken English while also having the most obtuse sentences and metaphors intermixed. It is very challenging to read. 

alreadyemily's review against another edition

3.0

I understand that this is an important work, and one that stands alone in a genre all of its own making. I also believe it is important for people, and especially white americans, to have a good grip on what slavery really meant, what Reconstruction was like, and what it was when Jim Crow came on. None of these things were adequately taught to me in school, and are things I have had to come into on my own as an adult.

I also understand that the red heart (if you will) of this story is a true story, the story of Margaret Garner, and that that is important for people to know and understand. It’s important to realize that below the symbolism and allegory and supernatural horror, there was real horror, not one made up for this book, but real and perpetrated for centuries and that pushed a real woman to do the real things that lie at the heart of this book. This is all important.

This book came on dense and difficult for me to follow at first. Almost right away, I had to stop and use SparkNotes to see if I could understand what started without me. Somewhere in my mid-exposition research stint, I read a discussion of Toni Morrison’s work on difficult subjects that compared to her to such-and-so writers but said at least she didn’t punish you for reading the book like Cormac McCarthy.

I disagree with that assessment. Maybe it’s because I’m a mom to a 2-year-old. Maybe it’s because I’ve read Slave Narratives and 12 Years A Slave before. Maybe it’s because I read The Color Purple recently. Maybe it’s something else, but this book is absolutely a punishment to read. And that’s fine; Toni Morrison had a right to write it that way and to “make” me read it that way. I think it’s sometimes important to sit with the pain and horror and honor the suffering of folks that you are helpless to save. But I don’t pretend to have liked it.

billyfasig's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad 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

3.75

millbot's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad 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

5.0

Just a brilliant, beautiful, haunting, incredible story.