Reviews

Beloved by Toni Morrison

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biobabe's review against another edition

5.0

Probably 4.5. Genuinely painful and powerful, I did struggle with a few sections (a failing more on me than on Ms. Morrison; I understand why she wrote the sections as she did, even if I struggled)

hollyway's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

Trying and failing to find the words to describe this book and the experience of reading it. There is so much being explored here, approached in such a unique way, so distinctly Morrison. The way she paints love as a malevolent force is something I have never seen before and I can tell is going to stick with me. Of course this is both on the surface and at its core, a story about slavery, and is aptly galling and disturbing. This subject matter in fiction is often rife with worn-out tropes and platitudes, but Morrison easily avoids these by creating fully realised, idiosyncratic characters for us to follow. The universal exists in the specificity of these characters and their stories.

This is a novel with shifting points of view and non-linear storylines, two things that I usually avoid like the plague because they keep me at a distance from the characters and their experience. Morrison is one of the very few who can write in such a way and keep me not only engaged but enthralled and aching for the characters at every step, and I honestly don't know how she does it.

There are so many things to say about this novel; about oppression and subjugation, about freedom, about loneliness, about hauntings, about mothers and daughters - about love. More than I can articulate, which is why Toni Morrison did it for me. As unsettling as this was to read, I'm so glad to have read it.

richnickson's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

ovaltineplease's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

kirsten0929's review against another edition

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5.0

[1987] (Nobel Prize winning author) I had been avoiding this for quite some time because I knew it would be hard to read, and it was, but now I am so glad I read it. The writing was beautiful on every level, the story was dense, no filler, but didn’t feel overstuffed. An intricately woven story, jumps a lot through time but was easy to follow and each character’s story was revealed as we needed to know it but not sooner. The characters are fully fleshed out, complex and human, each on his or her own journey. You can feel the emotion, the fear, the courage, the injustice, the joy, the rage, all of it. It’s exhausting (in a good way). Books like this are the reason I read.

moonboy's review against another edition

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4.5

Toni Morrison has the ability to weave language in ways that truly make me amazed. Simple words but paired together just flaw you. The book plays with trauma and freedom and guilt in profound ways, I just know there are layers to it that I still haven’t realized.

sblank99's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

I wish I read this in school so I could understand it more but what a poetic, tragic, beautiful story of post-slavery living told through a multi-generational magical, spiritual house and family.

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