Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Beloved by Toni Morrison

28 reviews

jenmcvay's review against another edition

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? Yes

5.0

Holy Shit. Why did it take me so long to read this book? And, why is it not required reading in all U.S. high schools? (Scratch that question. I know why.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Torture, Death, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Body horror, Sexual violence, Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Racial slurs

Minor: War

katsbooks's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

"That anybody white could take your whole self for anything that came to mind. Not just work, kill, or maim you, but dirty you. Dirty you so bad you couldn’t like yourself anymore."

"...we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow.” 

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

“You are your best thing”

I don't even know how to formulate my thoughts on this novel but I'm going to try. If you are a faster reader, like me, my best advice when reading this book is to slow down. This book is not meant to be inhaled in 1-2 sittings. The writing is gorgeous, obviously. Morrison won a Nobel for this book for a reason. However, there is so much symbolism and allegory that takes a hot minute to unpack. I am not ashamed to admit that I had to look up the SparkNotes for this book to understand some of the underlying symbolism. I'm incredibly glad I did because when I finished the book, I honestly felt let down. I felt confused and unsure of what I had read. I often found myself questioning whether certain passages were meant to be taken seriously. What would have helped me going in was understanding that there are two timelines. The one that begins when Paul D arrives at 124 ("present time") and the timeline told through flashbacks. There are two significant climaxes, one for each timeline. After the first one, I was really confused about where the rest of the novel could possibly be going just to get when the final climax occurred. I also wished I would have looked up some of the themes so I could have made more connections as I read. As soon as I understood how one of the major themes is how slavery destroys identity, so many things clicked for me. (And to be completely transparent, the fact that that theme didn't click for me until I saw it written out explicitly says a lot about my own privilege.) I completely understand why this novel receives as many accolades as it does. It is truly impactful but I don't think it's the type of book you can go into blind unless you have a really fundamental understanding of race and the generational trauma of enslavement. As a history teacher, I thought I "got it" but I think what I appreciate about this novel is how personal it made the history. It reminded me that it's not enough to sit around and intellectualize about the impacts of the horrors of history. This novel really makes you feel the very real personal implications of it and that is absolutely awe-inducing to me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Body horror, Colonisation, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, War, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Gaslighting, Gore, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Child death, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

marissasa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

Beloved is deeply somber and at times painful. It's Toni Morrison's most well-known book and after reading it I can see why. It's full of tension and grief and symbolism, all reflecting to themes of how our pasts shape our present and future. It doesn't shy away from any of the harsh realities of slavery and how even for survivors of enslavement, their memories and trauma of torture will forever live within them even as they try to forge new identities as free colored people in their own communities. Sethe's past literally haunts her through the form of Beloved, a character that was fascinating in that she constantly bent the line between ghost of a dead child and reincarnation of a living child and as a reader you are left wondering which she is throughout the whole narrative. I am glad that I read this story and definitely want to continue reading Morrison's other books. The literary style and elegant writing she uses reflect her talent and free-thinking mind as an author who paved the way for Black writers and Black historical books to this day.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Violence, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Child abuse, Death, Sexual assault, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Racial slurs, and Sexual content

patterson_cj's review

dark sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Slavery, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence

orlagal's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Racism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, and Murder

kylieqrada'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

4.0

Another book that I am woefully inept to review. Toni Morrison's books are modern classics, but Beloved is... transcendent. I guess I will start by saying that I don't do ghost stories. I am at a point in my life where I know what freaks me out and I don't need to expose myself to those things. This is most certainly a ghost story (not a spoiler, it's in the synopsis). And the ghost is scary. She's not a nice ghost. No Caspers here. However, I didn't feel the need to put this book down or not read it before bed at any point. I wasn't scared by the ghost. The rest of the story on the other hand... It's almost as though Ms. Morrison was trying to contrast the horrors of slave life with the horrors of living with a violent poltergeist. And for Sethe and Denver, the horrors and consequences of slave life were so, so much worse. There were innumerable other themes and topics explored in this book, and the narrative style was very unique, in Ms. Morrison's classic way. It took me much longer than usual to read a book of this length, due to the incredible complexity of the work and the different facets to explore. I'm sure I'm missing so much, but what I did grasp, I will be thinking about and ruminating on for a long time.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Mental illness

lou_o_donnell's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, and Torture

nbrockbank's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, and Torture

Moderate: Sexual assault