Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Beloved by Toni Morrison

47 reviews

kelly_e's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

Title: Beloved
Author: Toni Morrison
Series: Beloved Trilogy #1
Genre: Classic
Rating: 4.25
Pub Date: September 16, 1987

T H R E E • W O R D S

Complex • Haunting • Brilliant

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.

Sethe works at beating back the past, but it makes itself heard and felt incessantly in her memory and in the lives of those around her. When a mysterious teenage girl arrives, calling herself Beloved, Sethe’s terrible secret explodes into the present.

💭 T H O U G H T S

While scouring lists of challenged books to find something I hadn't yet read, Beloved stood out among the rest. While I have heard so many amazing and wonderful things about Morrison as a person, as well as her work, I had never read anything. I knew to be prepared for an unsettling and stunning story, but I don't think anything could have ever prepared me properly.

Morrison's storytelling is just phenomenal - combining history with a magical touch - the writing style is just so unique. Her prose is simply stunning. There were many times when I had to pause to re-read what I'd just read because it was so beautiful. Her descriptions of the imagery and use of metaphors are so poignant. The characters she creates are flawed and real. At it's core, this is a portrayal of mother/daughter relationships and generational trauma. Sethe is reliving her past, questioning her decisions. Her story evokes so much emotion.

What kept this from being a five-star read is the ending - I was left feeling underwhelmed. There's so much build up - heartache, trauma, life, - within the pages and it kind of just felt like it ended. Maybe that's because it's a trilogy, and I would get more of what I was wanting in those books, but it just didn't leave me satisfied considering everything else the rest of the book delivers.

I tandem read the audio, read by the author, along with a physical copy. I don't think I would have enjoyed the experience as much if I had done one or the other. Morrison's voice carries a level of emotion above the words on the page. I believe tandem reading is what allowed me to get the full grasp of the story, and I would highly recommend it to anyone considering picking it up.

Beloved was an uncomfortable read that required sharp focus and attention. One of those books that I wanted to slow down and savour, yet just wanted to keep going. Several times I had to set it aside in order to digest the heaviness - a certain reminder of how awful these years were. It's one of those important and impactful stories, told by one of of the greatest story tellers.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• classic enthusiasts
• readers looking for something impactful
• fans of beautiful writing

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Something that is loved is never lost."

"Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined."

"There is no bad luck in the world but whitefolks."

"I don't care what she is. Grown don't mean a thing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown? What's that supposed to mean? In my heart it don't mean a thing." 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Confinement, Abandonment, Slavery, Grief, Violence, Blood, Racism, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Hate crime, Death, Child death, Murder, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Rape, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Misogyny

Moderate: Child abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Body horror, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Miscarriage, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Mental illness

pearlpool's review against another edition

4.0

read for class I LIKED THIS A LOT!! very important book. such haunting magical realism and a really interesting exploration of mother daughter relationships interacting with generational trauma. i would be tempted to argue that this is actually a horror novel (a HIGH honor imo)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Violence, Body horror, Murder, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Slavery

quixie's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Racism, Suicide, Trafficking, Child death, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Slavery, and Violence

eggfartz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Murder, Racial slurs, Rape, Torture, Violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, War, Alcohol, and Body horror

flara's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.0

Beloved tackles many difficult themes, given its historical context (black community post-American Civil War). This was rather mysterious and confusing read. I found the pace quite slow, which wasn't helped by the 'mystical' mood and language used throughout. I struggled to distinguish what line belonged to which character; if what was said was an actual line or if it was a description, and so on. 

I didn't go into this blindly. I knew the basic premise of the book and therefore had high expectations. I did not expect it to be about a ghost that haunts its dysfunctional family and later materialises in flesh (and then dissolves into thin air altogether at the very end).

Certain passages are quite graphic and potentially triggering for some. I suppose that the supernatural elements offset some of the cruelty, but it just wasn't the right fit for me. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racism, Child death, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Grief, Rape, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Mental illness, Death of parent, Gore, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Murder, War, Abandonment, and Adult/minor relationship

lindalou22's review against another edition

4.5

It’s powerful, full of Black history and the ghosts that haunt us all. Vivid, shining, and sad. Underneath all the words is the shifting stream of emotional pain and an endless well of love. I found this book in the poetry category of Libby and I think it’s aptly filed. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Blood, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Murder

spossum's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Colonisation, Pregnancy, Rape, Child death, Blood, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Slavery, Sexual violence, Death, Physical abuse, Racism, and Torture

Moderate: War, Adult/minor relationship, and Death of parent

wornpagesandendlesscoffey's review against another edition

While I am absolutely certain that this book is phenomenal, it is not one that I was able to get through unfortunately. I was aware going in that child loss was a theme, but I was wholly unprepared for the way that that seem would play out within pages of this book. I will absolutely try another of this authors books at a later date. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Blood, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Racial slurs, Incest, Murder, and Slavery

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual assault, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Death, Torture, Violence, Rape, Slavery, Confinement, Grief, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Child death, and Medical content

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Self harm, Trafficking, Gun violence, War, Death of parent, Genocide, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Fatphobia, and Excrement

notthatcosta's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

I had read about Margaret Garner last year and it has stuck with me ever since. I was deeply moved by the ingenuity and vision it took to take that story and build a wider world around it that encompasses the horrors of slavery with themes of motherhood, family, shame, religion and community in a way that is tender and gut wrenching but also cathartic.

This book is difficult to rate because so much of my enjoyment of it stems from the lore around it and the inspiration, much of which comes from the forward of this edition. The book itself is of course excellent, but at times difficult to follow.

Although the more abstract passages and the tragedy of Beloved, Sethe and Denver as characters made it difficult to get through, this is a book that will remain with me for some time, I feel.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Racism, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Slavery, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence