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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-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:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Beloved of Beminde, ik las het boek in het Nederlands, stond al heel lang op mijn wenslijst. Ik zag er altijd een beetje tegenop, enerzijds omdat het zo bejubeld wordt door bijna iedereen die het las, anderzijds omdat ik opzag tegen het mogelijk confronterende verhaal op zichzelf.
Beloved bleek voor mij een verhaal dat zich niet zo maar liet begrijpen/ontrafelen. Ik moest me overgeven aan de mystieke en spirituele componenten in het verhaal wat me vrij gemakkelijk afging. Juist door de wijze hoe het boek is gecomponeerd greep het me hield het me vast.
Het is praktisch niet te bevatten dat slavernij en eigenaarschap van een ander mens een geaccepteerd en geïnstitutionaliseerd idee is binnen samenlevingen. De schade die iemand wordt toegebracht fysiek en vooral ook psychisch is meer dan misdadig. Toni Morrison had het talent om dit trauma in woorden te vatten.
Beloved bleek voor mij een verhaal dat zich niet zo maar liet begrijpen/ontrafelen. Ik moest me overgeven aan de mystieke en spirituele componenten in het verhaal wat me vrij gemakkelijk afging. Juist door de wijze hoe het boek is gecomponeerd greep het me hield het me vast.
Het is praktisch niet te bevatten dat slavernij en eigenaarschap van een ander mens een geaccepteerd en geïnstitutionaliseerd idee is binnen samenlevingen. De schade die iemand wordt toegebracht fysiek en vooral ook psychisch is meer dan misdadig. Toni Morrison had het talent om dit trauma in woorden te vatten.
challenging
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:
Yes
sad
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:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Very difficult read. Beautiful but difficult
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
What a miracle of a book! Took me months to finish because it demands so much of the reader (in the best way). I've encountered a lot of amazing writing this year, but Toni Morrison in full flight is on another level. What better way to defy dehumanisation, of which slavery is the ultimate expression, than by imbuing formerly-enslaved characters with the richest and most profound inner lives. I full-on sobbed multiple times at the stubborn hopefulness that permeates this novel, the redemptive potential Morrison insists lies within our reach.
When I began Pale Fire the other day, it struck me that while Morrison's writing is every bit as linguistically dazzling as Nabokov's, it has none of his peacocking lol. Beloved is such a generous and unselfconscious work, and gift I'm eager to one day return to
When I began Pale Fire the other day, it struck me that while Morrison's writing is every bit as linguistically dazzling as Nabokov's, it has none of his peacocking lol. Beloved is such a generous and unselfconscious work, and gift I'm eager to one day return to
challenging
dark
sad
tense
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
One of the most complex and haunting reads I’ve experienced yet. Beloved centers around several former slaves who are still haunted by their experiences. It is essentially a ghost story where the scary aspect of the story doesn’t stem from the ghost itself but rather the horrors of slavery that created the ghost.
As a white person who can’t even fathom to horrors of slavery, a of the themes hit me hard. Sethe was described as “property that reproduces it self” implying that her children are not her own. Paul D talks about how learned to love only partially to avoid the hurt of loss. White slave owners did everything they could to control the speech of enslaved people because speech is what most separates human from animal. Denver’s monologue suggests that even in freedom the black family still suffers from fragmentation and destruction.
Toni Morrisons writing is impressively poetic and lyrical. She continuously switched between timelines and revisited a few events to build the tension and add more clarity. Beloved is written with a rhythm that was magical when I was able to follow it but often times I found myself losing the beat and having to re-read. As much as I loved her poetic prose, there were moments where it was hard to decipher what exactly she was trying to say.
Beloved is definitely not a light read and takes a lot of analyzing to fully appreciate the gravity of this work.
