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A review by njdarkish
Beloved by Toni Morrison
3.0
This was a difficult book-- in part because of the subject matter (which is the horrors of what slavery did to people, even after they were freed), and, less worthwhile to me, because of the way the story was written.
I see why many people consider this to be one of the great American horror novels, though it didn't quite work for me. There was some gorgeous imagery, as well as some terrifying moments, but so much of that was confusing because of the ways that the story slipped from past to present in a very stream-of-consciousness sort of way (which is a style I almost never like reading). It was difficult at times to follow who was talking. It jumped from subject to subject so much that I felt like sometimes it was being heavy-handed with its themes, and other times it didn't know what its themes were.
I listened to the audiobook, which made some of these problems even more difficult (plus, the reader, Morrison herself, read very unevenly and slowly-- I sped it up to 1.4x speed and even then it felt slow in places).
I see why many people consider this to be one of the great American horror novels, though it didn't quite work for me. There was some gorgeous imagery, as well as some terrifying moments, but so much of that was confusing because of the ways that the story slipped from past to present in a very stream-of-consciousness sort of way (which is a style I almost never like reading). It was difficult at times to follow who was talking. It jumped from subject to subject so much that I felt like sometimes it was being heavy-handed with its themes, and other times it didn't know what its themes were.
I listened to the audiobook, which made some of these problems even more difficult (plus, the reader, Morrison herself, read very unevenly and slowly-- I sped it up to 1.4x speed and even then it felt slow in places).