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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
Love reading Toni Morrison. You really feel involved in what she has to say. The Sarah Lawrence commencement speech in particular is one I will return to regularly from this book.
This is the final book of Toni Morrison‘s to be published while she was still alive. An absolute tour de force. It’s a collection of essays, speeches, and some ‘meditations’ that previously had not appeared anywhere else. She was quite simply one of the most brilliant people to ever walk the earth, and reading these essays felt quite often like having my brain stretched. I had to really work to keep up with her, not because her writing lacks clarity, but just because she’s operating at a level that’s pulling so much together that it’s almost overwhelming. I’ve only read three of her novels and reading these pieces made me want to both revisit those as well as read everything else she’s ever written.
I did have one structural complaint about the way this book is presented. If you turn to the back of the book there is a list of each individual piece and information about its origin: where and when it was published, or delivered if a speech. I think this was done very much on purpose and probably to make a totally valid point: which is that the problems of society that Toni Morrison is writing about in the seventies eighties and nineties and oughts are still around today. Most of what she says is (often sadly) timeless. But I really would’ve preferred if information about each piece is origin was presented beneath the title or at the end of the piece. Maybe that’s just me and my need to find at least one thing to nitpick in everything I love.
Last thought: this book was published in America under the title The Source of Self Regard, with a very toothless cover design predominantly pale pink in color. I picked up this U.K. edition, Mouth Full of Blood, while in Scotland. Oh how I wish I could ask Tony Morrison which title/design she preferred and what her feelings were about the difference. It’s impossible not to read this difference thru a racial lens (and that’s...beyond ironic...considering the contents of the book) and it seems like the American version is trying to put forth the image of polite, thoughtful intellectual—don’t let the black woman author appear angry or excited!—whereas the U.K. version speaks to the fire in her words and the major power of her thinking. I wonder.
Anyway. Great book!
I did have one structural complaint about the way this book is presented. If you turn to the back of the book there is a list of each individual piece and information about its origin: where and when it was published, or delivered if a speech. I think this was done very much on purpose and probably to make a totally valid point: which is that the problems of society that Toni Morrison is writing about in the seventies eighties and nineties and oughts are still around today. Most of what she says is (often sadly) timeless. But I really would’ve preferred if information about each piece is origin was presented beneath the title or at the end of the piece. Maybe that’s just me and my need to find at least one thing to nitpick in everything I love.
Last thought: this book was published in America under the title The Source of Self Regard, with a very toothless cover design predominantly pale pink in color. I picked up this U.K. edition, Mouth Full of Blood, while in Scotland. Oh how I wish I could ask Tony Morrison which title/design she preferred and what her feelings were about the difference. It’s impossible not to read this difference thru a racial lens (and that’s...beyond ironic...considering the contents of the book) and it seems like the American version is trying to put forth the image of polite, thoughtful intellectual—don’t let the black woman author appear angry or excited!—whereas the U.K. version speaks to the fire in her words and the major power of her thinking. I wonder.
Anyway. Great book!
I wish I could rate this treasure of a book merely by its content. Morrison's wisdom is laid out in elegant writing and I can't get enough of it. This is where my three stars go to.
However, I can't think of a collection as badly edited as this one and it's a pity. There are entire paragraphs "copied" and "pasted" in various chapters completely unchanged, which is not only aesthetically unpleasant but also distracting, as I caught myself trying to remember in which chapter I saw these exact sentences written before. By now, I think I have memorised perfectly the beautiful descriptions of Hannah Peace, even though there were far more interesting things one could memorise instead.
However, I can't think of a collection as badly edited as this one and it's a pity. There are entire paragraphs "copied" and "pasted" in various chapters completely unchanged, which is not only aesthetically unpleasant but also distracting, as I caught myself trying to remember in which chapter I saw these exact sentences written before. By now, I think I have memorised perfectly the beautiful descriptions of Hannah Peace, even though there were far more interesting things one could memorise instead.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
informative
reflective
slow-paced
informative
reflective
Some of the content of some of the speeches/essays was the same, so I found it a bit repetitive in places. It was interesting, though, and I appreciated reading her perspectives as such an influential author.
It was a little repetitive in terms of some of the material. I'm not a big non-fiction fan, and I just wasn't enjoying it.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced