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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
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
Yet another wonderful Toni Morrison book. It reads like poetry, you get inside the heads of the characters to see just how multifaceted people can be. So complex, so beautiful, so interesting. She paints with words to create 3 dimensional, believable characters and situations.
For readers who enjoy books like 'Where the Crawdads Sing' - eat your heart out, because Paradise is so much better.
For readers who enjoy books like 'Where the Crawdads Sing' - eat your heart out, because Paradise is so much better.
I could not figure out what was going on. The author jumped around so much and so many new people were introduced that I could not keep up. I made it 1/3 of the way through and had to re-read pages. I don’t like to struggle when I read and this book felt like work.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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
I just realized while writing this that I rated the other two Morrison books I have read as four stars (the first two in the trilogy), and I'm not sure if that is because I just didn't fully comprehend them or if I truly didn't enjoy the read; however, this was an absolutely incredible book and my favorite Morrison novel so far. This book is magnificent, moving, poignant, tear-jerking, and the prose is spot on. She weaves a captivating narrative and you just want to suck every drop of marrow from her words. You really begin to comprehend the scope of this trilogy as this novel comes to a close and I can't wait to do research on the impact and rhetoric of these three texts being an unseeming trilogy. Morrison is, of course, brilliant and arguably the best American novelist; I highly recommend this book, even though it is one of her less read texts, and reading it in the context of the entire trilogy. I was very satisfied with this read and am very happy to have finally read all the works in this trilogy--again, this is my favorite Morrison book so far.
very good story but i found it hard to follow her sometimes. i love her writing and she tells a story in such an intelligent and unique way, though i often got lost in her metaphors and her fragmented story structure felt incomplete. this is definitely a book your read a few times
After reading "The Bluest Eye" I was tremendously excited to discover Morrison's other works, but I was slightly underwhelmed.
This novel is set in a fictional town called Ruby and stretches numerous decades through the use of various perspectives and flashbacks. The novel begins by showing you the ending; the crime that is committed and then tries to illustrate to the reader how the motive for this event came about.
The differing perspectives are quite confusing as it switches quite frequently along the towns timelines. It seems to be an attempt to try and tell the story in a different way but ends up being slightly clumsy. There were also in my opinion too many characters, their offspring and their ancestors which meant keeping track harder than other novels I've read.
The concept and execution of the novel was an interesting one and Morrison's prose is always a joy to read and I look forward to discovering her other works.
This novel is set in a fictional town called Ruby and stretches numerous decades through the use of various perspectives and flashbacks. The novel begins by showing you the ending; the crime that is committed and then tries to illustrate to the reader how the motive for this event came about.
The differing perspectives are quite confusing as it switches quite frequently along the towns timelines. It seems to be an attempt to try and tell the story in a different way but ends up being slightly clumsy. There were also in my opinion too many characters, their offspring and their ancestors which meant keeping track harder than other novels I've read.
The concept and execution of the novel was an interesting one and Morrison's prose is always a joy to read and I look forward to discovering her other works.
Hovering between 4 and 5 stars. I'll start with the negative that brought it down to 4: While I love Toni Morrison's approach to modernism, I think this one was a bit much. Another reviewer pointed out that if you have like 40 different characters, and you mention one on page 15 and she doesn't show up again until page 300, you can't expect the reader to remember who that character was and her whole deal. And that basically sums up my issue with this book lmao.
On to the positives: As always, Toni Morrison's writing is SO GOOD and rich and vibrant and full of heart. The vignettes of each individual Convent woman and her backstory were the best part: just the nature of womanhood, the way metaphor and symbolism filled each story like nutrients in soil. The way each character had a poetic relationship with life, but each in a different way: Gigi's obsession with the magical lovers, vs. Connie's horror at her own power, vs. Mavis' simple grappling at images like the flowers she saw when she escaped. I loved the setting of the town of Ruby as well, and the unfolding of its history. And, like all Toni Morrison novels, it grew like a vine towards my heart until it touched my innermost feelings: those about needless violence, about hatred, about what it means to free yourself of those who hurt you, about what it means to root yourself in the past until you've rotted your present. So I do recommend persevering through the sometimes-exasperating prose if that sounds good to you. But I also would fully understand DNF-ing this one because it does require a lot of patience before it blossoms.
On to the positives: As always, Toni Morrison's writing is SO GOOD and rich and vibrant and full of heart. The vignettes of each individual Convent woman and her backstory were the best part: just the nature of womanhood, the way metaphor and symbolism filled each story like nutrients in soil. The way each character had a poetic relationship with life, but each in a different way: Gigi's obsession with the magical lovers, vs. Connie's horror at her own power, vs. Mavis' simple grappling at images like the flowers she saw when she escaped. I loved the setting of the town of Ruby as well, and the unfolding of its history. And, like all Toni Morrison novels, it grew like a vine towards my heart until it touched my innermost feelings: those about needless violence, about hatred, about what it means to free yourself of those who hurt you, about what it means to root yourself in the past until you've rotted your present. So I do recommend persevering through the sometimes-exasperating prose if that sounds good to you. But I also would fully understand DNF-ing this one because it does require a lot of patience before it blossoms.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
challenging
dark
emotional
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
Toni Morrison's writing is so so good. The story telling is amazing and truly such a treat to read. Seeing the start of the book and how it makes the women seem demonic and horrible, but then as you progress you see that they are just traumatized women who came together and are just trying to live. It shows how often times people try to blame their problems on other things rather than realize it is their own fault, and this book shows that we must realize it or nothing will get better. Seeing all the different relationships in Ruby and at the commune. It is so sad knowing that one of them had to die and wasn't able to live with the others still, but being able to still take her along when escaping shows how deeply theses women were connected. Toni Morrison is able to talk about race, community, and female identity so beautifully in this novel. It is a must read, and I can't wait to read more of her work.