Reviews

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

parenthesis_enjoyer's review against another edition

the audiobook narration was extremely jarring

ceryswilliams's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

lulucent's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

read it for book club! reserving reviews for when i’m done chatting about it

gwynethblythe's review

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective 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

5.0

I was perplexed by the ending, soooo good! Angelou level similies. I thought the detachment of the narrator at times was interesting - attempted murder felt almost casual. 

maryanno's review

challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

ky_is_a_fae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

jess_mango's review

4.0

It's been awhile since I've read something by Toni Morrison and I love most of what I've read by her. I'd previously read [b:Beloved|6149|Beloved|Toni Morrison|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347984578l/6149._SY75_.jpg|736076] , [b:The Bluest Eye|11337|The Bluest Eye|Toni Morrison|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388208495l/11337._SX50_.jpg|1987778], [b:Sula|11346|Sula|Toni Morrison|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1441578153l/11346._SY75_.jpg|3207953], and [b:Home|13152998|Home|Toni Morrison|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1333576666l/13152998._SX50_.jpg|18153294]. I was excited when I saw that one of the Reading Women 2020 Challenge tasks was to read a book by Toni Morrison. I picked Song of Solomon in part because (according to goodreads) it is the most popular Morrison book that I hadn't read yet.

This had everything I loved about Morrison: lyrical prose, magical realism, deep family connections, strong characters. The central character in this book is Milkman Dead. He travels from the city where he lives to the small town where his family traces their roots to. Throughout his journey and the course of the book we meet members of his family and others. Excellent story telling as usual from Morrison.

dinasamimi's review

5.0

This novel is all the things. I find it overwhelming to analyze what Ms. Morrison does in her writing. The themes, the symbolism, the genre-bending. The care and agency put into these characters is really unparalleled. Even though this is a book about the journey of a Black man, adrift, the love of Black women is what really comes across in these pages. I could easily read entire books on any of the "secondary" characters. On both my reads, I was engrossed with this story and came out with totally different frames of mind.

maiariba's review

dark reflective sad medium-paced

allison_ball's review

dark emotional reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5