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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
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.
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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
This is possibly one of my favorite Toni Morrison novels I’ve read. Despite the high volume of characters, almost all of them feel like fleshed out, fully-realized people, especially in regards to the women of the Convent. Like other Morrison novels (such as Jazz and Love), Paradise explores the complex relationships that exist among Black women under patriarchy. The novel highlights the ways in which patriarchal standards create misogyny and fear of women’s agency, sexual or otherwise, amongst both Black men and other Black women. Paradise has given me a lot to think about concerning Black feminism and forces driving intraracial violence. I’d recommend it to anyone that has read Morrison before (I don’t think it’s the best novel of hers to start with since it is one of her most complex) and I think it would pair well with Audre Lorde’s essays in Sister Outsider.
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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:
Complicated
I just finished Paradise, and can I say... what a ride! I originally picked it up at a fundraiser book table, put it off because I wanted to read the whole series, and decided that this was what my summer vacation would be about. The whole series took me about three weeks, but I will probably go back and re-read it.
Paradise is the most "linear" of Morrison's trilogy, but also the most heartbreaking. It starts with The Convent and a group of men invading The Convent to murder the women inside. Then the book doubles back and tells the stories of the women in The Convent and Ruby, the nearby town of all black people that has become this near utopia created by 9 families who settled there after being rejected from everywhere else. While not the most poetic of the three, I appreciated the way the stories intertwined. A very good read.
Paradise is the most "linear" of Morrison's trilogy, but also the most heartbreaking. It starts with The Convent and a group of men invading The Convent to murder the women inside. Then the book doubles back and tells the stories of the women in The Convent and Ruby, the nearby town of all black people that has become this near utopia created by 9 families who settled there after being rejected from everywhere else. While not the most poetic of the three, I appreciated the way the stories intertwined. A very good read.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes