A review by kingofthehillxl
Beloved by Toni Morrison

5.0

I put this book down and picked it back up, and I want to give the honest impression of why it took me so long to finish. Because once I picked it back up at the beginning of the month I got through it no problem. This book is a little more on the complex side for modern audiences I think. Not because it’s particularly heady, but almost in the way that it isn’t. This book is primed for analysis. The metaphors, the language, the context. This book just sticks with you in a way some things never could.

This isn’t the first Morrison novel I’ve read. I read Sula in 12th grade and this is much longer so I understand why we read Sula instead, and I’m glad we did because the topics in this novel would make me want to combust upon hearing a white teenager discuss. There’s a point beyond conviction where this novel is nestled, and where Morrison’s writing brings you were you get frustrated that the others characters just aren’t understanding where Sethe has been led. The place where a lot of the characters are led to. I could not bear to hear someone who could never comprehend discuss this in real life.

There’s a stickiness to this novel that I’ll probably never be free of, and that’s one of the reasons it’s referenced so often today I reckon.