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challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
"Trying to get to 124 for the second time now, he regretted that conversation: the high tone he took; his refusal to see the effect of marrow weariness in a woman he believed was a mountain. Now, too late, he understood her. The heart that pumped out love, the mouth that spoke the Word, didn't count. They came in her yard anyway..."
there is something so compelling about magical realism that always captures my attention. ever since i started reading as a snotty first grader, i knew that everything sweet and childlike could hide some tragedy. and guess what, Toni Morrison took me by the collar and decided to show that i was right.
this book was challenging from all angles. the prose was winding and excessively flowery i had to go back and re-read some paragraphs over and over again. Despite feeling frustrated with myself, i could still recognize that storytelling, especially when it comes from the pen of a literary genius, is supposed to conjure the image in your mind slowly....and only by slowing down my reading did i begin to digest it properly.
baby suggs, denver, and stamp paid were characters i was eagerly invested in. my gosh what would i give to have someone like baby in my life rn. could not get enough of her wise and gentle nature.
the horrifying scars of slavery run so deep within America. simply being reminded that men were actively shoved under metal cages with damp soil underneath, deep in a trench that slowly filled with torrential rain, made me squirm in my chair. so much violence and so much hatred dominated the history and culture for way too long. Whoever denies its permanence must be willfully ignorant.
beloved is like a siren's call. a beautifully written book that lures you to the endless abyss of destruction built by the white man. generations upon generations impacted by trauma, poverty, and ultimately loss of oneself, without ever being given the chance to own themselves in the first place.