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carojust 's review for:

Beloved by Toni Morrison
4.25
challenging mysterious sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was intense, horrifying and beautiful. It is necessary reading on the evils of American slavery, and the uncertain period following emancipation, soaked in trauma and violence.

Toni Morrison wraps history with something unearthly, and has this amazing way of grounding you, and fighting your sense of reality on the next page. 

Stream-of-consciousness writing has always been difficult for me, so "Beloved" was challenging, sometimes a few pages in a sitting. If you have trouble with this, as well as indiscriminate POVs, I understand why it's not for you. But the magical, unique storytelling and the haunting, brave characters are well worth the read.

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