Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Beloved by Toni Morrison

308 reviews

jesliwen's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? Yes

3.0

oh my goodness

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Rape

artemisg's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.5

Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.

Once you settle into the way this is written it is absolutely gorgous and heartbreaking and atmospheric. There are several different timelines with no introduction and several different points of view - complete with narrative changes (from third- to first-person POV with no preamble). Once you have a moderate handle on that, you can appreciate the absolute beauty of the writing style. Every word is used with such purpose, and he sentence structures and so intentional and beautiful.

They were not holding hands, but their shadows were.

This book follows Sethe, a resident of 124 Bluestone Road. The house holds her and her daughter, Denver, and the ghost of another daughter who dies in infancy. Paul D, a man from Sethe’s past as a slave, joins the house. Then, a a mysterious woman with unlined hands and dark, dark eyes turns up. She calls herself Beloved, the word engraved on the gravestone of Sethe’s dead daughter. Us readers, and the characters, try to decipher where Beloved came from, and if she is the spirit of the dead daughter or not. We fall in and out of love and fear with her. We also follow the lives of Sethe and Paul D when they were slaves at a farm called Sweet Home (it is anything but either of those things) before they escaped. It is brutal and vile and violent and hard to read. All of this is hard to read while being beautiful and smooth.

Clever, but schoolteacher beat him anyway to show him that definitions belonged to the definers - not the defined.

This book is am accomplishment and I am glad to have read it, and understood it as much as I could. Gorgeous prose, a heartwrenching story that I know is based in history, with lovingly crafted characters.

“Me and you, we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Torture, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual violence

katariinatoivanen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racism, Racial slurs, Rape, Physical abuse, Grief, Confinement, Misogyny, and Child death

Moderate: Death

poisonlizzie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated

5.0

I feel like this book is so important to read and so difficult to stick with. Toni Morrison’s work always asks a lot of the reader, and she approaches with equal parts strength and vulnerability. I cried while reading this book and took frequent breaks, but this one will stay in my brain for a while. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Rape, and Racism

detroitbecame's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Rape

ctatu's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Child death, Death, Grief, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

kmshobbs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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

5.0

Beloved is a harrowing tale of what it is like to endure chattel slavery and love your children so much that you would do anything to prevent them from enduring it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Abandonment, Child death, Murder, Racial slurs, Rape, Racism, and Sexual assault

becann's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Death, Blood, and Child death

Moderate: Racism

rkorevenge's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

This was one of the most gut wrenching and beautifully written novels I have ever read. Sethe has a ghost story that will haunt you forever. Toni Morrison grabs your throat from the first page and chokes your hope right until the last line. Probably the most disturbing and important novel ever written. CHECK THE TRIGGER AND WARNINGS. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Dementia, Physical abuse, Rape, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Slavery, War, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Violence, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexism, Child death, Colonisation, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical content, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Body horror, Self harm, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Gore, and Sexual assault

eraserharris's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Racial slurs, and Child death

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Rape, and Adult/minor relationship