Reviews

I read this in high school and was moved by Toni Morrison's mastery of language and description. Decades later, I am surprised by many things: 1) That I had absolutely no recall of the plot!, 2) That passages from this book, published in 1979, could have been written today, particularly around everyday racial injustices (okay -- maybe not surprised, but saddened), and 3) That the story has such rich and interesting female characters but revolves around the male protagonist (The Bluest Eye and Beloved make me think of Toni Morrison as a female-focused author -- that is naive.) I still love the language, but admit to being confused by quite a few plot points. It would be helpful to read this with a class to get a better understanding of some of the symbolism Morrison uses and choices she makes.

annareadsbookssometimes's review against another edition

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5.0

this book was absolutely incredible and i need to reread this to fully process it, and even after that, i’d have to read it several more times to dissect and absorb it. there was so much entrenched within this book. the ending left me speechless. wow.

dyno8426's review against another edition

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5.0

There is something wonderful that I always find with books with extraordinary character names (Macon Dead, Pilate, Hagar, Guitar Bains, First Corinthians, Magdalena called Lena, to name a few). This is the coming-of-age story of Macon Dead Jr., born into a rich African American family, who goes on a quest for his family’s lost treasure and finds his own ancestral origins in the journey through South America. With a Gabriel Garcia Marquez type brilliance in narrative style and a similar genre, Toni Morrison has created a rich dense work, with a lyrical quality and extremely vivid description for all your senses. Within the plot lies memorable characters rich with the flaws, passions and pursuits of human spirit. The story, being set up post the American Civil War when slavery was abolished, was expected to carry the plasma of the troubled dynamics of their societies and the rise of the long enslaved and discriminated to assert their power and capabilities. But within this plasma, the blood which renders life to this historical fiction is the idea of baggage that humans carry with themselves, sometimes under complete oblivion. It’s not only genes that we pass on but also the burdens shared and borne by our ancestors. And the heaviest and most accumulating of it is the time, the mistakes which sometimes leave their imprints exponentially. The awareness of being the product of the decisions of our forefathers while make us feel powerless and threaten our sense of identity, it also puts the reins of our future generations’ destiny right in our living fingers. Macon Dead’s name is the very beginning of how this story makes us realize the baggage that time forces us to carry. As his own life is unraveled, we see him being weighed down by people in his life who leave him only with a sense of being used. He decides to leave them behind with the purpose of starting afresh, but his assertion of his own identity comes only with the understanding and acceptance of his past. And only then does his present begins to make sense to him and he is able to leave, not the baggage, but its sense of weight behind. I absolutely loved this crazy melancholic story.

butternubbin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective tense slow-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

my first toni morrison book! this was a christmas gift from years ago that i'd picked up but didn't finish, so i gave it a reread. absolutely wonderful, i'll definitely be reading more of her work.

quinnlindell's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective slow-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

3.5

shimmery's review against another edition

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5.0

A remarkable story of family and bloodlines and the stories that travel along them. I really liked the way an incident or character would appear without much explanation to the point where I’d wonder if I had missed something, and then the plot would continue on before circling back to explain who the person was or the significance of the incident. The novel looks at the seemingly random nature of life and then looks closer at the things that weave everything together. The whole plot is unravelled this way with such control. Truly masterful writing and storytelling.

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