Reviews

Beloved by Toni Morrison

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bigteo's review against another edition

challenging 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

The only reason I’m not giving this five stars is because I’m really strict to reserve it for books that won’t leave my mind for weeks or months afterwards. That being said, I think this is a really important book and something a lot of people should read provided they can stomach the dark themes.

Above all, this is a book about trauma. It’s obvious that every single part of the characters’ present lives are dictated by the trauma of slavery. It’s so much more than a ghost story. That part is almost irrelevant to the book. I feel like that’s important to say since I myself went into the book with the expectation of the “ghost” part to be a lot more present. It’s not a thriller ghost story. The horror doesn’t come from the paranormal, it comes from real life events that real life people had to suffer through, which is far more horrifying.

The writing style is amazing. It reads like a train of thought, which can get confusing at times, but that’s probably all on me. I didn’t really like the main characters, except Denver. I feel like that’s something a lot of people will say. For example, it’s obvious that Sethe is deeply flawed and that her decision (spoilers, I won’t say) is morally bad. Does that mean she deserves to be cut off from the society and effectively punished for 18 years? Denver certainly doesn’t. I just felt really bad for Denver and how she was held back from things like education because of the family’s bad omen that Sethe brought upon them. The characters being perhaps a bit unlikeable is only because of deep flaws that serves for an extremely interesting read. They all felt like real people.

Content Warnings

larqspur's review against another edition

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5.0

Beautiful book! Would love to revisit and annotate

fevvers's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious 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

stelhan's review against another edition

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5.0

This is the book. This is the American novel. Heartbreaking, joyful and deeply moving it highlights the best and worst of humanity and our incredible ability to overcome.

jolovesbookstbh's review against another edition

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4.0

This is a rightful fucking Pulitzer and Toni Morrison (obviously) a rightful nobel prize holder. Poetic, gorgeous, heartbreaking and artfully constructed in every single sentence. An unprecedentet portrait of the pain of slavery, grief and motherhood. This book so beautifully shows the effects of grief and paints out such well rounded, living, breathing characters. Especially Denver and Paul D go through such changes in response to Sethe’s and Beloved’s relationship.
One star off simply because I had a shit reading experience - entirely by my own fault (interrupted reading etc etc).