Reviews - Beloved: A Novel

11.4k reviews for:

Beloved: A Novel

Toni Morrison

4.08 AVERAGE

codenameivy's review against another edition

5.0

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

i feel SICK. what a difficult read this was (not because of the writing; the themes in the story were very heavy. proceed with caution.)
toni morrison’s writing should be its own genre. i’ve quite literally never read anything like it!
morrison does not shy away from bringing to light the horrors of slavery. her characters are damaged, sometimes beyond repair, and yet they feel incredibly real.
i am lost for words. nothing i could write in this review will even come close to describing the emotional impact this book had on me.

nuts246's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-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

"124 was spiteful. Full of a baby's venom." Thus begins one of the most important novels ever written. The 'baby' is Beloved- at least that is the name on her headstone. One word Beloved because her mother couldn't afford to have 'Dearly Beloved' carved on the stone, even though that is what the congregation was addressed as at her funeral.
Beloved, the toddler daughter of an escaped slave who's mother was willing to do anything to ensure she was not taken back into captivity. Beloved, the granddaughter of free former slave, who had trained herself to forget all the children she gave birth to, because she knew she would not get to keep any of them. Beloved, who's mother would always fetch more in the slave market because she had the ability to procreate and multiply the property of her owner.
The book goes back and forth in time, and shifts perspective between several narrators, but at no point does it let up even the slightest. Loosely based on a real life incident, the purpose of the book is clear- to document the horrors of slavery and to commemorate the lives of the "sixty million and more" slaves. The book is not for those who are faint of heart, but it is unputdownable. Toni Morrison is a genius.