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unladylike 's review for:
Song of Solomon
by Toni Morrison
5 stars for Morrison's writing itself; 2 stars for this particular audiobook production and the story
Wow, I didn't even know today was both Toni Morrison's and Audre Lorde's birthdays until I just randomly saw an e-mail about them in the Black History Bootcamp's newsletter. Having read [b:White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism|43708708|White Fragility Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism|Robin DiAngelo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1548478235l/43708708._SY75_.jpg|58159636] over the previous two days, today I had a strong desire to start a book by either Morrison or Lorde. Because I was limited to audiobooks currently available through the libraries' apps, I ended up listening to the entirety of Song of Solomon during my four hour shift at work. I feel bad giving a beloved (pun intended) book by Toni Morrison a low rating, and on her birthday no less! But I have to be honest.
For me, the story did not start getting good until at least halfway through. It's her precise sequencing of words that make this novella so poetic and worthy of a Nobel Prize apparently. But the real problem I had was this: the audiobook I listened to is advertised as being read by the author, which is awesome. But without any warning or explanation, fragments of it are instead read by a robotic-sounding white guy (I think, though I couldn't find the person credited)!! The first time it happened, I reasoned that the original recording must have been corrupted or degraded, and so they had to splice this one little snippet with someone else's voice. But then it happens more and more, all the way to the end! Couldn't they have at least tried getting a fill-in reader who sounds even a little bit like Toni Morrison?! This experience was just cringey and jarring. I might give the book another shot down the road with either the text alone or the other audiobook that's out there, whose reader is praised for the job she does.
Wow, I didn't even know today was both Toni Morrison's and Audre Lorde's birthdays until I just randomly saw an e-mail about them in the Black History Bootcamp's newsletter. Having read [b:White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism|43708708|White Fragility Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism|Robin DiAngelo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1548478235l/43708708._SY75_.jpg|58159636] over the previous two days, today I had a strong desire to start a book by either Morrison or Lorde. Because I was limited to audiobooks currently available through the libraries' apps, I ended up listening to the entirety of Song of Solomon during my four hour shift at work. I feel bad giving a beloved (pun intended) book by Toni Morrison a low rating, and on her birthday no less! But I have to be honest.
For me, the story did not start getting good until at least halfway through. It's her precise sequencing of words that make this novella so poetic and worthy of a Nobel Prize apparently. But the real problem I had was this: the audiobook I listened to is advertised as being read by the author, which is awesome. But without any warning or explanation, fragments of it are instead read by a robotic-sounding white guy (I think, though I couldn't find the person credited)!! The first time it happened, I reasoned that the original recording must have been corrupted or degraded, and so they had to splice this one little snippet with someone else's voice. But then it happens more and more, all the way to the end! Couldn't they have at least tried getting a fill-in reader who sounds even a little bit like Toni Morrison?! This experience was just cringey and jarring. I might give the book another shot down the road with either the text alone or the other audiobook that's out there, whose reader is praised for the job she does.