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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
This is my first time reading her work, and I'm now tagging life events as either BTM or ATM: Before Toni Morrison and After Toni Morrison
4.5 for me. This would have been a definitive five stars, but the ending took me out of this a bit. Otherwise, Toni Morrison knows how to craft a thoughtful story.
This book was intriguing, haunting, and downright creepy. Beloved left me unsettled and was a beautiful commentary about the past that haunts us- in this case slavery and the actions that trauma drove us to do. The end was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever read and I definitely teared up. Beloved will be a book I continually return to and treasure.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Sometimes I complain that a book is not deep enough and then Toni Morrison deliveres Beloved. One of the deepest books I’ve ever read. The writing is incredible and the story is as deep as you want to take it. So much to unpack! The only reason it wasn’t a 5 star book is that it was difficult to follow with lots of flashbacks and a style that was a struggle at times to understand. One chapter in particular made no sense to me. It probably says more about me than about the writer. It felt almost like a fever dream.
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
After having read Morrison for school I knew that I was interested in the political themes of her writing and her work as an editor of basically every influential black writer of the time. But I think because of the stress of an academic setting, and possibly from a lack of maturity, I didn’t really retain and connect to her actual prose in the way I am now. All of the intensity and rawness of The Bluest Eye was there, but there were spiritual connections to nature, the Bible, and to African spiritualism as well. I think these themes are not only there as a literary tool but as historical context for the lives that recently freed and escaped slaves lived. Even if trauma has taken away and distorted their ancestral connections to their homeland it still guides their way of living. I also found it so interesting how Morrison explores memory and trauma through botany.
Knew this going into reading Beloved that it would be jaw-dropping, because Toni Morrison is an unparalleled writer, but wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a brilliant use of cyclical imagery. You find shadows and hints of so many different images (turnips, necks, blood, birth, red; just off the top of my head) and each one sheds new light on the way trauma for Black folks is shared and reinvents itself in every new life. And the use of horror as a genre/literary device (one which is typically looked down upon in literature) to echo the horror of racism/slavery? Brilliant. And, side note, the fact that this doesn’t have a higher average rating is reason #193792 why I don’t trust Goodreads scores when it comes to my reading list lol. In what universe. Anyway. Beloved is brilliant and deserves the spot it has in the literary cannon.
The book is a masterpiece obviously, but … GOODREADS -STOP TRYING TO MAKE A SERIES OUT OF BOOKS THAT AREN’T PART OF A SERIES!
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes