Reviews

Beloved by Toni Morrison

nichecase's review against another edition

4.0

morrison realises every facet of the novel in her development of the plot and tone. she obviously has complete control over her craft, but she never lets the reader into that secret as they are reading. rather, beloved has the feeling of something gone off the rails, in the same way we might expect a real situation to go wild.

part of this is achieved through the style, which vacillates wildly between a sharp, jagged and journalistic third person and an intimate yet confused and complicated perspective. the former opens and closes the book, lending the entire proceedings an air of veracity. morrison gives the facts of slavery just as matter of factly as she constructs a ghost story. it's only when this style is firmly established does morrison's more avant garde stylings become apparent (and only for short periods of time). here, the avant garde does not cast a new light of skepticism on the traditional, the magical realist - rather, morrison uses the avant garde to create a brilliant intimacy between ghost & haunted.

it's brilliant.

bedbugbeyond's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

4.75

tjlr04's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.25

channingdae's review against another edition

I had to read this for class and use it to write a paper. I was going to be a good student and read the whole thing but I procrastinated too long and ran out of time. And I did not have the willpower to finish it anyways. 

megalobob's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

primerasita's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

This is the best book. Objectively.

gooddogvegas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

mermaidstories's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

rach260's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

always_reading_ashley's review against another edition

3.0

I really wanted to like this more than I did. I was enjoying it but lost interest in the second half. I wanted to give the author another try, but I think her writing style just isn't for me.