A review by deedireads
Beloved by Toni Morrison

challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

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


I’ve been looking forward to reading Beloved since I started my project of reading all of Toni Morrison’s fiction (in order) earlier this year. It’s “the big one” — the one that won the Pulitzer and led her to win the Nobel Prize. I was obviously not disappointed. Incredible.

While the story is wholly original and not meant to be a retelling, Beloved was inspired by the story of an escaped enslaved woman named Margaret Garner, who killed her 2-year-old daughter to spare her from capture when slave hunters eventually found them. In Beloved, the house of the main character, Sethe, is haunted by the actual ghost of the daughter she killed. The book overall is about what it means to be free, how slavery impacts identity and memory, the impacts of community, and whether it is safe to love even if it means getting hurt.

Morrison draws you in and forces you to not to look away like pretty much nobody else who has ever lived. This book is raw and scathing and pulses like the open wound it means to expose.

I’ve said this with pretty much every Morrison novel I’ve read so far, but I can’t imagine reading this one without listening along to the audiobook at the same time. Morrison herself reads it, and her narration style is just as unique and breathtaking as her writing. It adds a whole layer of experience and meaning. Please listen to it.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings