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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
this book is so gorgeous i love
it forever and ever
it forever and ever
challenging
dark
sad
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
Heartbreaking, powerful. What I loved most about this novel was that I'll be considering it and all its many meanings for some time to come. It's been a while since I've read a book that tested my analytical capabilities this way while at the same time providing so much raw emotion.
Beloved as the spirit of Sethe's daughter, as the representation of trauma that appears to Sethe, Denver, and Paul D as what enslavement denied them, as the spirit of all those wronged in one body. All of them are interpretations I love.
The epilogue was perhaps my favourite. Everyone forgets Beloved, deliberately, because remembering her isn't something that anyone can stand to do. "It was not a story to pass on." But even though she is forgotten, she remains, like weather: unremarked upon, but always there and always affecting lives. Something unnamed, but present and alive.
I'll be thinking about this book for a long time.
Beloved as the spirit of Sethe's daughter, as the representation of trauma that appears to Sethe, Denver, and Paul D as what enslavement denied them, as the spirit of all those wronged in one body. All of them are interpretations I love.
The epilogue was perhaps my favourite. Everyone forgets Beloved, deliberately, because remembering her isn't something that anyone can stand to do. "It was not a story to pass on." But even though she is forgotten, she remains, like weather: unremarked upon, but always there and always affecting lives. Something unnamed, but present and alive.
I'll be thinking about this book for a long time.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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:
Complicated
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
a tough but necessary read
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Violence
This book gave me a fantastic reminder of why I love reading outside of my comfort zone. I got a shameful amount through this book without it really hitting me. Sure, I was impressed with the prose and broadly interested in where the story was going, but I wasn't being blown away like how I expected to be. If I was just pursuing my own immediate pleasure to the furthest extent I would have dropped this book and picked up something in a lane I have traveled more heavily. But I stayed humble and let her cook. And my god did she cook.
The chapter with Paul D in Georgia, chained to other slave men and digging through the mud was so visceral and evocative. And the following chapter of Baby Suggs earning her freedom, reflecting on it, and drawing the ire of her community after being the spiritual leader for the is one of the best things I have ever read. The views into slavery provided by this book just place such a heavy rock in the pit of my stomach. To experience the inhumanity and indignity of the institution through the rememories and trials faced by the survivors trying to create a life for themselves was so deeply affecting.
I am so happy I made myself sit with the unfamiliarity of this style, I would have really deprived myself otherwise. I can't wait to explore more of Morrison's work.
The chapter with Paul D in Georgia, chained to other slave men and digging through the mud was so visceral and evocative. And the following chapter of Baby Suggs earning her freedom, reflecting on it, and drawing the ire of her community after being the spiritual leader for the is one of the best things I have ever read. The views into slavery provided by this book just place such a heavy rock in the pit of my stomach. To experience the inhumanity and indignity of the institution through the rememories and trials faced by the survivors trying to create a life for themselves was so deeply affecting.
I am so happy I made myself sit with the unfamiliarity of this style, I would have really deprived myself otherwise. I can't wait to explore more of Morrison's work.
The audiobook that I have access to was a really poor quality recording, I could not hear a thing. Will retry this in print.
It seems to me, as I read this novel, that Morrison's The Bluest Eye was not so difficult to read as Beloved is. Granted, I read the former in High School (it was one of my brother's assigned books for his english class). I'm going to try to finish it...but it appears it will be a struggle. EDIT: I'm deeper into the novel, and it did grab me. I can understand the style of Morrison's writing better now...the descriptions of slaves fucking cows because they could not get to Sethe, well...completely disgusting. I'll not change my rating, simply because there are several off-puting things about this novel that are hard to get past.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character