A review by rosemarieshort
Beloved by Toni Morrison

5.0

I don't know that I've read anything before where pain and beauty are so intertwined. The topic at the heart of Beloved is slavery - this is addressed both allegorically and with unflinching directness, with the present and long-lasting echoes of trauma and abuse coming through every page. Beloved also deals with the idea of freedom, of family and of what it is to live. The writing made each page fly, going from raw conversation between characters, to unfiltered descriptions of experiences they had as slaves, followed by magical realism through the guise of the titular character. I never knew where Morrison was going next and I was never disappointed when I found out. A vital and crushingly wonderful read.