Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Beloved by Toni Morrison

87 reviews

seapotatohowisitalrtaken's review

dark reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Racial slurs, Child death, Torture, Physical abuse, Murder, and Grief

ssummar's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Violence, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Infidelity, Rape, Grief, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Torture, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, and Slavery

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Eating disorder, and War

kristinebraley's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.5

This book was beautifully written and narrated by the author. The story was brutal and difficult and that was part of the beauty, especially following the story arc of the character called Denver. There were many lovable characters, hate-able as well.  The magical realism was masterfully written. I will most likely have to read this with my own eyes in order to grasp a few of the more esoteric scenes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Grief, Sexual violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Slavery, Torture, Infidelity, and Racism

bluecanarylite's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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

Beautiful, powerful, haunting.  Not an easy read but worthwhile.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, Slavery, Racism, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Violence, Trafficking, Torture, and Hate crime

artemisg's review

dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.5

Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.

Once you settle into the way this is written it is absolutely gorgous and heartbreaking and atmospheric. There are several different timelines with no introduction and several different points of view - complete with narrative changes (from third- to first-person POV with no preamble). Once you have a moderate handle on that, you can appreciate the absolute beauty of the writing style. Every word is used with such purpose, and he sentence structures and so intentional and beautiful.

They were not holding hands, but their shadows were.

This book follows Sethe, a resident of 124 Bluestone Road. The house holds her and her daughter, Denver, and the ghost of another daughter who dies in infancy. Paul D, a man from Sethe’s past as a slave, joins the house. Then, a a mysterious woman with unlined hands and dark, dark eyes turns up. She calls herself Beloved, the word engraved on the gravestone of Sethe’s dead daughter. Us readers, and the characters, try to decipher where Beloved came from, and if she is the spirit of the dead daughter or not. We fall in and out of love and fear with her. We also follow the lives of Sethe and Paul D when they were slaves at a farm called Sweet Home (it is anything but either of those things) before they escaped. It is brutal and vile and violent and hard to read. All of this is hard to read while being beautiful and smooth.

Clever, but schoolteacher beat him anyway to show him that definitions belonged to the definers - not the defined.

This book is am accomplishment and I am glad to have read it, and understood it as much as I could. Gorgeous prose, a heartwrenching story that I know is based in history, with lovingly crafted characters.

“Me and you, we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Torture, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual violence

rkorevenge's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

This was one of the most gut wrenching and beautifully written novels I have ever read. Sethe has a ghost story that will haunt you forever. Toni Morrison grabs your throat from the first page and chokes your hope right until the last line. Probably the most disturbing and important novel ever written. CHECK THE TRIGGER AND WARNINGS. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Dementia, Physical abuse, Rape, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Slavery, War, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Violence, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexism, Child death, Colonisation, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical content, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Body horror, Self harm, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Gore, and Sexual assault

b_easelbub's review

challenging dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Genocide, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Grief, Slavery, Child death, Child abuse, Torture, Death, Blood, Violence, and Gore

thimbler's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racial slurs, Slavery, Racism, and Torture

Moderate: Rape

lavenderdolmeh's review against another edition

5.0

Toni Morrison’s Nobel prize was extremely deserved.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, and Child death

ashlyn922's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Grief, Murder, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Torture, Racism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail