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A review by mikkiokko
Recitatif by Toni Morrison
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Look, going into my first Toni Morrison I knew I was going to experience a literary legend's work, but that doesn't mean I wasn't unable to keep my jaw off the floor.
It is actually incredible how much Morrison is able to pack into 40 pages. In Recitatif she performs an experiment on the reader by telling a story of two friends (Roberta and Twyla), one black one white, but never clarifies who is what race and makes their racial identity crucial. The experiment on the reader comes in as they try desperately to identify the race of Roberta and Twyla, but it is impossible. Morrison forces us in our spiral of trying to pick out speech patterns, cultural identifiers, stereotypes, etc. to confront our why we insist on identifying when she hits us with the powerhouse of the last line, "Oh shit, Twyla. Shit, shit, shit. What the hell happened to Maggie?"
As soon as I finished Recitatif all I could think was how similar Twyla and Roberta were. For all of their crucial differences, they both could not help trying to other each other, and, as I was hit with, Maggie. This is what Morrison is trying to do though, she is forcing the reader to ask why they want, no need to identify the characters' races. As Zadie Smith says in her excellent introduction (though I read it second) to the book, "Oh, I urgently wanted it straightened out. Wanted to sympathize warmly in one sure place, turn cold in the other. To feel for the somebody and dismiss the nobody. But this is precisely what Morrison deliberately and methodically will not allow me to do". We are desperate to find a nobody, someone to exploit and withhold our empathy and understanding from. Whether it be by their race, their class, their gender, or their history we refuse to listen to even though our history shares a part in it. Morrison lets the reader do that act, participate in it, then be terrified by themselves for it. That is a genius' magic.
I desperately need someone in my life to read this book so that I can talk about it for hours.
It is actually incredible how much Morrison is able to pack into 40 pages. In Recitatif she performs an experiment on the reader by telling a story of two friends (Roberta and Twyla), one black one white, but never clarifies who is what race and makes their racial identity crucial. The experiment on the reader comes in as they try desperately to identify the race of Roberta and Twyla, but it is impossible. Morrison forces us in our spiral of trying to pick out speech patterns, cultural identifiers, stereotypes, etc. to confront our why we insist on identifying when she hits us with the powerhouse of the last line, "Oh shit, Twyla. Shit, shit, shit. What the hell happened to Maggie?"
As soon as I finished Recitatif all I could think was how similar Twyla and Roberta were. For all of their crucial differences, they both could not help trying to other each other, and, as I was hit with, Maggie. This is what Morrison is trying to do though, she is forcing the reader to ask why they want, no need to identify the characters' races. As Zadie Smith says in her excellent introduction (though I read it second) to the book, "Oh, I urgently wanted it straightened out. Wanted to sympathize warmly in one sure place, turn cold in the other. To feel for the somebody and dismiss the nobody. But this is precisely what Morrison deliberately and methodically will not allow me to do". We are desperate to find a nobody, someone to exploit and withhold our empathy and understanding from. Whether it be by their race, their class, their gender, or their history we refuse to listen to even though our history shares a part in it. Morrison lets the reader do that act, participate in it, then be terrified by themselves for it. That is a genius' magic.
I desperately need someone in my life to read this book so that I can talk about it for hours.