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A review by lukuisa
Beloved by Toni Morrison
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
5.0
“Even in that tiny shack, leaning so close to the fire you could smell the heat in her dress, her eyes did not pick up a flicker of light. They were like two wells into which he had trouble gazing. Even punched out they needed to be covered, lidded, marked with some sign to warn folks of what that emptiness held.”
It’s the early 1870s, the civil war has ended a few years ago. A woman named Sethe is living with her 18-year-old daughter Denver in a house that the neighbours avoid because it’s haunted. Then Paul D, Sethe’s fellow slave on her former plantation called Sweet Home, arrives. He drives the raging ghost away, but then a mysterious young woman shows up to the house. Who is she? And why her name is Beloved, the word that is engraved on Sethe’s dead baby’s headstone?
Beloved is a ghost story but not an ordinary one. It’s about the haunting of the soul, things you can’t forget. The role of memory is important in understanding past and dealing with trauma. As a former slave, Sethe has experienced horrible things in her past: killings of her fellow slaves, sexual abuse, taking away her babies, violence. Furthermore, she is forever haunted by the death of her baby.
I can’t emphasize enough how extraordinary writer Morrison was. Her novels flow like poetry. I read Jazz a few years ago and it went straight to my top ten favourite books. It now has a new companion.
Beloved is a hauntingly beautiful novel about one woman’s attempt to free her children from the same dehumanising fate she has managed to escape from. But at the same time Sethe represents all hurt black women and men: it’s about the central horrible tragedy of American life.
It’s the early 1870s, the civil war has ended a few years ago. A woman named Sethe is living with her 18-year-old daughter Denver in a house that the neighbours avoid because it’s haunted. Then Paul D, Sethe’s fellow slave on her former plantation called Sweet Home, arrives. He drives the raging ghost away, but then a mysterious young woman shows up to the house. Who is she? And why her name is Beloved, the word that is engraved on Sethe’s dead baby’s headstone?
Beloved is a ghost story but not an ordinary one. It’s about the haunting of the soul, things you can’t forget. The role of memory is important in understanding past and dealing with trauma. As a former slave, Sethe has experienced horrible things in her past: killings of her fellow slaves, sexual abuse, taking away her babies, violence. Furthermore, she is forever haunted by the death of her baby.
I can’t emphasize enough how extraordinary writer Morrison was. Her novels flow like poetry. I read Jazz a few years ago and it went straight to my top ten favourite books. It now has a new companion.
Beloved is a hauntingly beautiful novel about one woman’s attempt to free her children from the same dehumanising fate she has managed to escape from. But at the same time Sethe represents all hurt black women and men: it’s about the central horrible tragedy of American life.